Bureau Meeting of the International Coordinating Committee of
National Human Rights Institutions (ICC-NHRIs)
UNDP REMARKS: OPENING SESSION
Room XIX, Palais des Nationes, 21 March 2016
Thank you, Chairperson of the ICC and distinguished leadership of the ICC, my esteemed OHCHR colleague, commissioners, distinguished guests and colleagues.
On behalf of UNDP I would like to thank you for the invitation to address the ICC Bureau Meeting and share some thoughts on the highlights of the tri-partite partnership since our Meeting last March 2015 as well as key priorities for UNDP going forward in our partnership.
Last year was a landmark year for global development with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, the Sendai disaster risk reduction framework, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development. All of these historical agreements have major implications for the human rights agenda and for the contributions that National Human Rights Institutions can play in these agendas.
Commissioners and Colleagues,
Ler me highlight a fez key contributo. Of the Partnership for the strategic positioning of NHRIs at the international level.
2015 and 2016 have been very busy times for the ICC and for all of us present here today championing and advocating for the importance of national institutions in the international agenda. Together we have been stronger in making NHRIs voices heard at the global level. Under the guidance of the ICC, UNDP has been using all opportunities to advocate and position NHRIs in promoting, protecting and monitoring the implementation of human rights in the 2030 Agenda. UNDP holds Goal 5 on gender equality, Goal 10 on reduced inequalities, and Goal 16 on peace, justice, and strong institutions, very close to its heart, and the support of NHRIs in their implementation even closer.
Alongside with the ICC, OHCHR and other likeminded partners we have advocated for NHRIs in the indicator framework with the Interagency and Expert Group (IAEG). We are delighted with the recommendation of the UN Statistical Commission for adoption of indicator 16.a.1 - Existence of independent national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles as well as the recommendation for an overarching principle of data disaggregation to accompany the list of indicators.
The third annual seminar series on national human rights institutions co-hosted by the ICC-UNDP-OHCHR in June 2015 was a joint success in showcasing the relevance of the participation of NHRIs in the 2030 Agenda, with the New York based constituency. Some of you were there and witnessed how well attended and vibrant the Seminar was. More importantly, it provided the space with member states to highlight the importance of the participation of national institutions in the international human rights system, including in the General Assembly mechanisms and their role as institutions of accountability.
It was also an opportunity to share experiences and stress the potential role of NHRIs as early warning mechanisms for the prevention of serious human rights violations, under the Secretary-General’s Human Rights Up Front Initiative.
Thanks to this positioning we went a mile further in sensitizing member states in NY on the critical role and challenges faced by national institutions operating in conflict contexts. We will have the opportunity of listening to the message of Deputy Secretary General addressing the Annual Conference this year on the important role of NHRIs in conflict and linkages with HRuF.
We were also very privileged to support and actively engage with the 12th International Conference of National Institutions held in Mexico. What a successful event for the ICC and NHRIs in the beautiful state of Yucatan. UNDP was represented by our Resident Coordinator and spoke specifically on post-2015 and the role of NHRIs and was happy to contribute to the drafting of the Merida Declaration.
In October last, the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, together with ENHRI and with UNDP support organised the International Conference on the Roles of NHRIs in Conflict and Post-Conflict Situations, held in Kyiv. I know that many of you contributed to the enormous success of the event that culminated with the Kyiv Declaration. This was an important landmark to highlight the roles that national institutions play in all phases in relation to conflict contexts. This role will be fundamental in the support to states and monitoring of the implementation of Goal 16 on peaceful and just societies.
Last month the UNDP Administrator Ms. Helen Clark was delighted to address the 31st Session of the Human Rights Council. Her closing words at the high level panel were directed at NHRIs and I quote - “National human rights institutions will have an important role to play in building the more peaceful and inclusive societies envisaged under Agenda 2030. The UNDG counts on the support of all partners in realizing the development and human rights aspirations reflected in Agenda 2030.”
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In 2015 UNDP continued to strengthen and expand its work also with the ICC regional networks as well as its country support to NHRIs, through our decentralised presence in 170 countries and territories. Allow me a few examples.
In this past year, in partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, we have provided support to processes towards the establishment of NHRIs and sub-national offices in Jamaica, Madagascar, Swaziland and Jamaica.
We continue to develop new projects with and in support of NHRIs in many countries. Just during the first quarter of 2016, UNDP developed two new projects to support national institutions in Nepal and Bangladesh and is now working for the same objective in Sri Lanka.
In Rwanda, UNDP supported the Government, the CSOs coalition and the NHRI in collecting data and preparing reports for the UPR and strengthened itscapacity to implement the relevant recommendations. Similar support took place in Turkmenistan and in Honduras in support of NHRAP and policy developments based on UPR recommendations.
In Ethiopia we provided technical advice for the development of the NHRI’s strategic plan and in Sierra Leone we supported capacity building of the Human Rights Commission, focusing on investigation and reporting on potential human rights abuses in the country.
We continue to embark on many of these initiatives in partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Also we work collaboratively with many of the regional networks including the Ásia Pacific Fórum in the Being LGBTI initiative in the region. My Bangkok colleagues informed also of the potential further collaboration under a regional project on Business and Human Rights with a strong component on the role of National Institutions in the drafting of the National Action Plans. The NHRIs in Philippines and Malaysia have been taking the lead in drafting pre-NAPs and advocating for its completion with the Government. UNDP wants to build on these successful stories and is encouraging other NHRIs in the Region to undertake a similar exercise.
Likewise in 2015 we engaged with NANHRI on capacity assessments, on the Development of State of Human Rights Report and the domestication of the AU Luanda Guidelines on Pre-trial Detention and I hear that collaboration with with ENNHRI with respect to NHRIs in conflict and post-conflict settings is vibrant following the mentioned joint conference in Ukraine on the topic.
With the Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ANNHRI) UNDP in partnering to support capacity building efforts of its members. The areas of work identified include human rights and elections as well as reinforcing NHRIs capacities in the Universal Periodic Review Process. As part of this agreement UNDP and ANNHRI co organized a workshop on Human Rights and Elections for all national institutions in the region including external partners.
The examples of country and regional level work amongst UNDP and NHRIs are vast and rich and we hope to be able to build a body of knowledge on some of these good practices to support the ICC impart experiences between NHRIs and across regions.
Zooming in on specific developments in regards to decisions from the last Annual Bureau Meeting under the ICC-UNDP-OHCHR partnership.
We have now completed the Global Principles for Capacity Support for NHRIs which can be applied across the different regions and adapted as necessary at the regional and country level. We hope that the final product will be useful in terms of sharing common guidance, lessons learned and challenges, from different CA approaches so that it can be used by all national institutions embarking on new CA exercises.
The final report has been finalized with inputs from all the Regional Networks and validated in partnership with the ICC and OHCHR. It is now being published to be launched at our Tri-Partite Meeting and Seminar in June this year in NY.
Also, following discussion during the Fifth Annual Strategic Partnership Review meeting in June last, UNDP supported a knowledge management needs assessment for the ICC-NHRIs. This comprehensive study has been concluded and presented to the ICC and regional networks. This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the close engagement and valuable inputs given by a large number of those present here today.
We believe that the Knowledge Management Needs Assessment can be a powerful tool to advance the important role that the ICC and its networks play as knowledge brokers and in its mandate of capacity development for and with NHRIS.
As you may recall from UNDP presentation in the Bureau Meeting last year, UNDP Global Strengthening Human Rights Programme was finishing in the end of 2015. The programme underwent an independent evaluation for 3 months and the final report that came out November last, had significant positive feedback in regards to UNDP contribution on advancing the realization and promotion of rights. One of the most commended results refers to our support in building the capacity of NationalHuman Rights Institutions to carry out their vital mandates in country and in advocating for NHRIs at a global level. Other significant remark was related to how UNDP helped shift the organizational culture and procedures towardapplying ahuman rights-based approach to development programming including through the new UNDP Social and Environmental Standards.
As expected, gaps and shortcomings also came out such as the absence of good monitoring frameworks to oversee results, lack of good data and evidence to showcase some of the good work done by NHRIs supported by UNDP often with OHCHR. The evaluation also pointed to the need of UNDP future undertakings at a global level to have more direct support at national level to glean information on results and, in turn, generate more visibility of NHRIs.
This takes me to the last point I wanted to highlight in regards to UNDP priorities on the work with national institutions going forward, noting that some of these also emerged from the forward looking recommendations of our global evaluation exercise. The evaluation suggested four broad directions for the future on UNDP’s global human rights offering. Three of them are directed at our work with NHRIs, and I quote:
· Supporting integrating and implementation of human rights within the 2030 Agenda with focus on advocacy and building capacity of NHRIs to track progress, follow up and monitoring of implementation of the key human rights elements of the SDGs
· Continue supporting countries to strengthen their NHRIS including by building institutions and capacity to promote, protect and fulfill human rights and build knowledge and evidence of the impact of this work
· Strengthen UNDP capacity to fully participate in the roll out of HRUF in countries, including support to NHRIs in conflict and prevention of serious human rights violations at regional and country level
In conclusion - in the short, medium and long term, UNDP priorities in the partnership will focus on the ICC institutional capacity-building and emphasize advocacy and New York-based activities in support of NHRIs; Showcase and build evidence on the value and relevance of NHRIs; support NHRI capacity-building in-country and regions with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals and NHRIs in conflict including through the Human Rights Up Front Initiative.
Under the guidance of the tri partite partnership UNDP will support seed funding for a grant proposal to strengthen the institutional capacity of the ICC for scaling up its advocacy and strategic positioning of NHRIs at international level. This is a first symbolic contribution to assist profiling and raising the visibility of national institutions in the global development agenda and discourse. The following step will be to develop a longer term joint project under the tri-partite partnership covering some of the priority areas mentioned and fully aligned with the ICC 2017-2020 Strategic Plan. The ultimate goal is to ensure that NHRIs not only play a leading role on human rights promotion and protection at the global, regional and national level but are also fully recognized as human rights champions and adequately supported by other partners for their stellar performance of this role.
Thank you all and best wishes for the proceedings of this meeting.
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