8.6.5 Stakeholder Engagement

This area of capacity is linked to the requirements of the Paris Principles, and is an important aspect to consider when establishing a NHRI.

Securing strong ties and partnerships with human rights stakeholders is a core responsibility of all NHRIs. As noted earlier, there should be meaningful and transparent participation of stakeholders in the strategic planning process in order to ensure quality, community ownership, and coordination and cooperation between stakeholders.

NHRIs can create capacity to work with civil society in public awareness and knowledge development or knowledge management, by creating advisory bodies, creating research teams for preparation of reports and policy documents.

Many NHRIs rely heavily on civil society and especially on human rights NGOs to obtain information about alleged human rights violations. This is linked to investigations and monitoring capacity of NHRIs, even if there are concerns about NHRI effectiveness. Consider the following observations:

It is often neglected that precisely the same considerations [of working with NGOs] apply in receiving and investigating complaints. It was striking in our field research that a large proportion of complaints, especially from remote areas of the country, were channelled through NGOs. This was particularly so in Indonesia and Mexico, where NGOs have a far broader geographical implantation than the national institution – but also, noticeably, where the NGOs have considerable misgivings about the independence and effectiveness of the institution.

Source: International Council on Human Rights Policy.21

As well, stakeholder engagement can support public inquiries and, of course, promotional activities.

Implications for the Establishment Phase: UNCTs can support this engagement by supporting the integration of stakeholders into strategic planning, and also with respect to other activities that offer opportunities to build links with stakeholders. These include human rights dialogues, learning events and advocacy campaigns, as well as targeted thematic or cross-cutting research projects.

Simple yet effective strategies include establishing regular meetings between NHRIs and key stakeholders, and feedback mechanisms, including perceptions of accessibility and responsiveness to human rights issues.

21 Performance & Legitimacy: National human rights institutions, 2nd ed., 2004. International Council on Human Rights Policy (Versoix, Switzerland).