Jennifer Lynch QC, International Coordinating Committee

“You define a good organisation as one that can live up to its commitments,” says Jennifer Lynch QC, who in March 2007 took up the position of Chair of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC).

Shortly after her appointment, the ICC and ‘A’-accredited national human rights institutions were given a greater role to participate in discussions and debates at the United Nation’s newly established Human Rights Council.

This recognition brought with it the need to update the way the ICC operates, said Ms Lynch.

“The ICC functioned very well in its first 15 years with a more informal structure. However, with the establishment of the Human Rights Council, it was clear we needed a new governance model.

“For instance, we were not incorporated, we couldn’t receive money, we couldn’t pay out money and we couldn’t contract people,” she said.

Drawing on her expertise in corporate governance, Ms Lynch, who is also Chair of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, has overseen the development of a new governance model, which was adopted unanimously at the 20th meeting of the ICC in April this year.

The ICC will shortly be incorporated under Swiss law and changes to the rules under which the organisation operates will be voted on at the upcoming ICC International Conference, to be held in Nairobi between 21-24 October.

“These changes in our governance and operations will help move the ICC to the next level of maturity, which is what’s needed if we are going to live up to the commitments we’ve made to the international community,” she said.

Fairer accreditation process

Another area of change is a revised process for accrediting national institutions with the ICC.

“We are the only organisation that self-accredits before the United Nations and that puts an important responsibility on us to make sure that we have a rigorous accreditation process in place,” Ms Lynch said.

Under the new accreditation system, also to be approved at next month’s International Conference, national institutions that are applying for accreditation or re-accreditation will be given 30 days to respond to the recommendations of the ICC’s Accreditation sub-committee. Their comments will be included in the written report presented to the 16-member ICC Bureau, which then makes a final decision.

In addition, submissions from civil society organisations on a national institution’s application will also be included in the written report considered by the ICC Bureau.

“I believe this is a much fairer system,” Ms Lynch said. “It is more transparent and gives national institutions sufficient time to consider and respond to issues that are raised.”

A voice for national institutions

A key role of the ICC is to help national institutions participate effectively in the processes of the new Human Rights Council.

Ms Lynch says that two major barriers have limited the ability of national institutions to engage with the international human rights system: a lack of information and the time and cost involved in being physically present in Geneva.

“We now have an interim ICC representative, Katharina Rose, in Geneva and an important part of her role is to let our members know what issues are coming up for discussion at the Council,” she said.

“Accredited national institutions can also request that she read a statement on their behalf to the Council, which goes a long way to removing those physical barriers that many national institutions previously faced.”

Ms Lynch says a growing part of the ICC’s role will be to assist national institutions to participate in the new Universal Periodic Review mechanism, as well as support them to engage with governments and other partner organisations to implement the recently adopted Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons.

“We also plan to be more strongly thematic in our work and one issue that is high on the agenda is the role of national institutions to work with business,” she said.

Building on regional partnerships

According to Ms Lynch, a key strength of the ICC comes from building cooperation and collaboration between the four regional groups of national institutions: the Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

“The structure of the ICC draws very much on the regions working effectively and then, through their representatives on the ICC Bureau, informing and advising the Chair on the issues that need to be addressed and the joint positions we adopt,” she said.

Since her appointment as ICC Chair, Ms Lynch has visited all four regional groups.

“They are all quite different and each one operates to suit their own particular needs and situation,” she said.

“I have been very impressed by how smoothly, proactively and effectively the APF functions, which is a credit to its Forum Council and Secretariat.”