A partnership for human rights: civil society and national human rights institutions

The realisation of human rights relies on several factors. Most important, however, is the consistent determination of governments to respect human rights and adhere to democratic governance. The rapid expansion and strengthening of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in the Commonwealth during the 1990s could be taken as a sign that Commonwealth governments understood that human rights governance was needed and that political will existed to do something about it. This was a welcome development for civil society actors, many of whom campaigned for the promotion and protection of human rights as their central undertaking and saw themselves as natural allies of the new institutions.

Over time, however, civil society’s early optimism about the potential of NHRIs has, in many cases, turned to disappointment. The result is a loss of opportunity for collaboration to embed a genuine culture of human rights within the member states of the Commonwealth - both NHRI mandates and civil society goals would be better served if the two would mend fences and work together.

This report focuses on the relationship between civil society and NHRIs in the Commonwealth. It asserts that, with over 30 NHRIs and countless civil society actors working to further human rights in the Commonwealth, there is an urgent need for effective engagement between the two. Furthermore the authors illustrate that a strong partnership is a keystone for the effective protection and promotion of human rights, and supported by international standards and best practice. It showcases an array of examples from the Commonwealth where collaboration and consultation have proven to be mutually enhancing.

The report offers a number of recommendations to encourage better engagement between civil society and NHRIs. These include:

• Commonwealth Governments should ensure that civil society is fully involved in the creation of an NHRI through meaningful and substantial consultations that are broad-based, with a diverse range of civil society groups and other stakeholders from across the country
  
• They should also allow civil society to nominate Members of an NHRI and include representatives of a broad cross section of civil society groups on the panel which makes the final selection
  
• Commonwealth NHRIs should go beyond informal contact to create formal platforms for civil society engagement that ensure regular, substantial, inclusive and consultative interaction with a diverse range of civil society actors
  
• Commonwealth civil society should advocate for a participatory, inclusive and transparent process in the establishment of Paris Principle-compliant NHRIs in jurisdictions without them.