Orest Nowosad's views on national institutions

OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
5th EUROPEAN MEETING OF
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS
Berlin, Germany (26-27 November 2004)
Mr. Orest Nowosad
Co-ordinator
National Institutions Unit
UNITED NATIONS

Mr. Chairman, Members of the European Group, Colleagues, and friends,
It is a pleasure for me to be here in Berlin and see the fruits of the hard
work of the German Institute for Human Rights and the Chair of the European
Coordinating Group of National Institutions, the Commission nationale
consultative des droits de l’homme of France. I congratulate you on your work
and thank you for the opportunity to be with you during your discussions.
All of us agree that national human rights institutions are a cornerstone of
the work of the international community to ensure the promotion and protection
of human rights at the national level. We are also now all familiar with the
report of 9 September 2002, of the Secretary General which placed a priority on
the development of the capacity of national institutions by the United Nations.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights -
OHCHR - has for a long time been involved in projects and programs meant to
support the work on National Institutions. The National Institutions Unit of
OHCHR is the Secretariat for the International Co-ordinating Committee of
National Human Rights Institutions – ICC - and works closely with the
Chairperson, each of the four regional co-ordinators and the ICC’s
Accreditation Committee.

The need for strong national human rights institutions as part of an
effective national protection system is greater than ever. OHCHR continues to
support national human rights institutions as a priority. In accordance with
United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution 2004/75 which called
for the strengthening of OHCHR’s National Institutions Unit we are doing so.
By early 2005 the Unit will have six professionals and two administrative staff
supporting you in your work. I am grateful to the Government of Denmark for
supporting the provision of an Associate Expert to our Unit.

To achieve the Secretary-General’s objective of his goal regarding
enhancing national protection systems, OHCHR works to strengthen the
capacities of national human rights institutions, it seeks to improve international
support to them, and seeks to work with national institutions as partners. It is
evident that part of our work is not only to establish and strengthen institutions
– whether in Europe or elsewhere – but also as the Director of the German
Institute for Human Rights noted, providing face to face opportunities to help
you find solidarity upon which you can rely in times of crisis but also to build
your knowledge and expertise on substantive issues. As you will have
witnessed we increasingly do so in partnership with you, the national
institutions.

Critical to our success is that we recognize that the world is large,
coordination is essential and the needs are great. While there are 50 institutions
accredited by the ICC’s Accreditation Sub-Committee, as a National Institutions
Unit we now work with around 100 institutions and a large number of
governments and partners. In this regard we are very much focusing on better
informing our partners – in particular those within the United Nations – on your
work, mandates, functions and powers. Our aim is to enhance the overall
United Nations awareness about the centrality of your work but also of the
importance of ensuring that new and existing institutions are independent and in
conformity with the international standards adopted by the General Assembly in
1993 – the Paris Principles.

In summary, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights has as its present strategy the following regarding national
institutions:

􀂾 Enhancing support to national institutions as part of the overall efforts of
OHCHR at strengthening national protection systems;

􀂾 Finding effective ways of ensuring that the experience of national
institutions is utilized at the international level including through the
Commission on Human Rights, Treaty Bodies and Special Mechanisms;

􀂾 Providing advice concerning the establishment and strengthening of
national institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles;

􀂾 Enhancing guidance and advice to OHCHR colleagues as well as to other
United Nations colleagues in connection with national institutions as well
as quality control with respect to the application of the Paris Principles;

􀂾 Developing tools, training materials and information mechanisms to
better inform on the work of national institutions and assist you in your
work;

􀂾 Providing assistance and support to the regional networks of national
institutions; and

􀂾 Creating a space for you to engage on issues including in relation to
conflict prevention, prevention of torture, good governance, migration,
gender issues and economic, social and cultural rights.

OHCHR is implementing specific projects to improve the investigative,
fact-finding and monitoring techniques of national human rights institutions
through activities and training at the national, regional and international levels.
A new project providing distance learning training on conflict prevention –
which responds to your call for focus on this area at your Belfast and Dublin
meetings – and the prevention of torture is just being launched.
OHCHR is also striving to provide more visibility to the work of national
institutions and their findings. As part of the efforts to strengthen national
human rights protection systems, OHCHR is preparing country profiles that

reflect the findings and recommendations of international human rights
mechanisms and that also contain information on each country’s national human
rights institution. Such profiles are shared with partners in United Nations
country teams. OHCHR is also encouraging the United Nations system to base
its work on findings and recommendations they contain and to mainstream
human rights into their activities and programmes. This often translates into
activities aimed at increasing national protection capacities and at supporting
national actors in their efforts to improve the human rights situation.

To the same end, OHCHR also regularly provides information on the
existence, nature and work of national institutions to human rights treaty bodies
and we bring to the attention of the special procedures of the Commission on
Human Rights the finding and recommendations that national institutions put
forward. This is perhaps one of the most exciting and evolving areas of our
present work. There has been a tremendous increase in interest by the treaty
bodies regarding national institutions – there is hardly a session where a State
party is not queried on a national institution related issue. Members of treaty
bodies in general welcome information concerning national institutions, their
positions regarding the human rights situation in their country – including
through the presentation of parallel reports - and our Office’s efforts to better
engage you to ensure effective follow-up on the Concluding Observations of the
respective treaty bodies.

As part and parcel of this process, through a specific initiative financed
by the European Commission, OHCHR is encouraging national human rights
institutions to participate more actively in the review process undertaken by
human rights treaty bodies by bring national institutions to the treaty bodies to
see how they work and get a better appreciation of you can more effectively
engage with them.

Another very welcome development is interest in enhancing the
participation of national human rights institutions in the Commission on Human
Rights and in the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights. We must encourage this for it is a significant and promising
development. At the Office we do not limit this interest to that of participating
in the six-week session of the Commission or the sub-Commission.
We also are making efforts – with success – to ensure that the mandate
holders of the Special Procedures of the Commission are briefed on your work
before their missions, meet with you when they come to your country, and seek
your assistance in following up on their recommendations. This also holds true
with the Working Groups such as that relating to Minorities. A fact sheet on
National Institutions and Minorities was developed at the request of the
Working Group and the Group has agreed to call national institutions to
dialogue with it at its next session. The Chairs of the Treaty Bodies and the

Special Procedures have agreed to work on a general recommendation
concerning their work with national institutions.

This engagement at the international level however is not a sine qua non.
As you yourselves have called for – and as have international non-governmental
organizations – there is a need to ensure that national institutions which afford
themselves of the opportunity to engage in international fora are indeed credible
and effective. It is of no service to any of us who are concerned with the
promotion and protection of human rights to have fig-leaf institutions
representing you. In this regard we have been working with the Chair of the
International Coordinating Committee to strengthen the Accreditation Sub-
Committee review process. This strengthening is critical to the possibility of
enhancing the ways and means of national institutions participation in
international fora. Greater participation rights will be determined by who we
are asking such rights for – independent, credible national institutions based on
the Paris Principles or others.

As the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights mentioned
when speaking with you at your 7th International Conference of National
Institutions in Seoul, Republic of Korea, we are working with the International
Council for Human Rights Policy, in consultation with national institutions, on
the development of benchmarks and indicators concerning the work of national
institutions in relation to the Paris Principles. We hope that this initiative will
provide tools for you to evaluate your work in your continuous efforts to meet
your challenging mandates.

We have a full and rich programme of work in support of you. We also
recognize that without you it serves no purpose. In this regard you will have
noticed, and will continue to witness, concerted efforts on the part of the Office
to engage you directly in our work.
Thank you.