The accreditation body of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC) recently released its report of the March 2010 session, involving three APF member institutions: the Maldives, Nepal and Qatar.

The ICC Sub-Committee on Accreditation noted the “constructive approach and advocacy” taken by the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives in seeking amendments to its founding legislation, notably the requirement that all Commission members must be Muslim.

In re-accrediting the Maldives Commission with ‘B’ status, the Sub-Committee encouraged the institution to continue these efforts in order to address the need for pluralism set out in the Paris Principles.

The Sub-Committee also reviewed a number of issues in relation to the NHRIs of Qatar and Nepal.

In relation to the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal, the Sub-Committee noted that it will recommend to the ICC that the institution be given ‘B’ status accreditation.

The decision reflects concerns that a draft bill currently before Parliament to amend the NHRC’s founding legislation would mean that the institution would no longer comply with the Paris Principles.

In particular, the Sub-Committee noted concerns about its potential to undermine the Nepal Commission’s independence and autonomy, the process for appointing Commission members and the definition of ‘human rights’ currently in the draft bill.

The Nepal Commission has been given a year to address these issues, during which time it will retain its ‘A’ status accreditation.

A draft law to strengthen the National Human Rights Committee of Qatar has been approved by the Council of Ministers and is currently proceeding through the legislative process.

The Sub-Committee commended the steps taken by Qatar NHRC to revise the legislation and recommended that the review be deferred until its next session in October, with the institution retaining its current ‘A’ status accreditation.

In addition, the Sub-committee made recommendations concerning the accreditation status of Scotland, Serbia and Cameroon (‘A’ status); Slovenia, the Netherlands and Belgium (‘B’ status); Switzerland (‘C’ status); and Algeria (deferred).

NHRIs that are considered to fully comply with the Paris Principles are accredited ‘A’ status, while those that do not fully comply are accredited as either ‘B’ or ‘C’ status.

‘A status’ institutions are eligible for full membership of the ICC and APF. In addition, only ‘A status’ NHRIs have independent participation rights at the UN Nations Human Rights Council and its subsidiary bodies.

During the March 2010 session, the Sub-committee also considered issues of concern regarding the NHRIs of Azerbaijan, Great Britain, Honduras, Republic of Korea and Niger.

General Observations

An additional task undertaken of the Sub-Committee is the development of General Observations, which provide guidance to NHRIs on the interpretation and application of the Paris Principles.

There are currently 25 General Observations that address a broad range of compliance issues. However, some ICC member institutions have raised questions and identified challenges with the existing General Observations.

A suggestion was also made at the APF’s 14th Annual Meeting (Jordan, 2009) that a review of General Observations be undertaken “to ensure consistency of approach and application, to delineate between fundamental requirements and best practice, and to ensure procedural fairness in the accreditation process”.

During the March 2010 session, the Sub-committee considered a discussion paper to determine what, if any, steps should be taken to review the existing General Observations, how a proposed review should be conducted and what process could be used in the development of future General Observations.

The Sub-committee has established a Working Group to develop a proposal on the review of General Observations, which will be considered by the ICC’s decision-making body.

Find out more

• Report of the March 2010 session of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (including the discussion paper on General Observations)
• General Observations developed by the Sub-Committee on Accreditation