9.4 Funding

NHRIs in many regions are under-resourced. Governments have to fund their own administration, the military, security forces, the judiciary, and law enforcement bodies, and these areas tend to take precedence over NHRIs. NHRIs are therefore rarely viewed as being priority or high-ranking areas of spending, except as a strategic area of focus in the early years. This reality exists in both developing and the developed countries.

It is not unusual to see that the financial situation of NHRIs worsen with time. These institutions have been "kick-started" into existence with external donor funds, and then budgetary responsibility is handed over to national authorities after a few years. Funding may then be decreased or responsibilities added with little regard for the additional burden. It has been noted that only wide popular support for NHRIs is likely to change this situation and result in public pressure on governments to fund NHRIs.3

UNCTs should therefore be careful about monitoring government spending allocations for NHRIs after the first few years. Is spending being maintained or increased, depending on whether the NHRI is being asked to take on new areas of responsibility? Is the government clawing back funding when donors provide funding? Funding pressures affect the independence and autonomy of the NHRI, and may affect the accreditation of the institution, as discussed in Chapter 10.

3 Carver and Korotaev, "Assessing The Effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions" 2007. Study Commissioned by the UNDP Regional Centre in Bratislava.