When: Wednesday 22 July 2009

Where: Melbourne Law School

Theme: 'Creating change?: NHRIs (In)Action in the Asia-Pacific Region'

Hosts: Institute for International Law and the Humanities and the Postgraduate Law Students Association, University of Melbourne

Since the 1990s NHRIs have been promoted as a possible bridge between international human rights standards and their domestic implementation.

The international community, through the UN, has seen these institutions as part of a long-term strategy to advance sustained human rights change.

In the Asia-Pacific region, NHRIs have an important role to play in the absence of a regional human rights mechanism.

As scholarship about the experiences of particular Asia-Pacific NHRIs develops, and in the context of practical efforts to found new institutions across the region and support existing ones, the NHRI Workshop presents an opportunity to further collective efforts in this area.

The NHRI workshop will provide an in-depth analysis of specific achievements or particular challenges which NHRIs in the Asia-Pacific region face.

It aims to assess the extent to which these achievements and challenges have facilitated change in the promotion and protection of human rights. 

For further information, contact the workshop convenors:

• Professor Dianne Otto, Director, International Human Rights Law Research Programme at d.otto@unimelb.edu.au, or
• Ms Meg Brodie, PhD Candidate, Melbourne Law School, at m.brodie@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au