4.2 NHRIs and the Rule of Law

The rule of law is a state responsibility. It informs and structures the effectiveness and integrity of the entire justice system, including the work of NHRIs.

States are obliged to respect, protect (or ensure) and fulfil human rights.1 Mechanisms must be established to give effect to these rights, and NHRIs are among those mechanisms.

NHRIs have a strong voice and role in promoting respect for the rule of law in the following areas, all of which are central to promoting and protecting human rights:

• Ensuring that the State complies with its own laws and other legal instruments, as well as with relevant international norms;
• Promoting the development of administrative accountability systems;
• Ensuring that the administration of justice conforms to human rights standards and provides effective remedies particularly to minorities and to the most vulnerable groups in society; and
• Proposing and commenting on legislative reform undertaken so that national laws are harmonised with international human rights instruments ratified or acceded to by the State Party.

1 Eide, A., “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Human Rights” in Eide et al. (eds.), Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Textbook (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijho" Publishers, 1995); as regards ICCPR rights, see M. Nowak, “The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” in Hanky and Suki (eds.), An Introduction to the International Protection of Human Rights: A Textbook, 2nd rev. ed. (Turku: Abu Academy University, Institute for Human Rights, 2004).