Strengthening NHRIs in the Asia Pacific

National human rights institutions from across the Asia Pacific region recently gathered to share ideas and consider strategies to build long-term solutions to the common challenges they face.

The regional workshop, organised by the APF and the UN Development Program, was held to identify the capacity development needs of NHRIs in the Asia-Pacific and to explore how a new capacity assessment tool trialed with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) could be adapted for use with other NHRIs in the region.

Representatives from 10 NHRIs attended the meeting: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Nepal, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Timor Leste.

During the two-day workshop, they identified a number of shared challenges, including:

• the need to engage constructively with both government and civil society organisations
• ensuring NHRIs administrators have both management skills and technical skills
• operating with financial and staffing constraints, especially with new NHRIs, and the need to negotiate with government/parliament to get more support
• ensuring the physical security of staff in cases of conflict and threats, and
• making use of the international human rights system to advance human rights at the national level.

Participants contributed to a lively discussion on capacity development needs and strategies in relation to four key areas of their work: complaints handling; education and awareness; monitoring; and policy development and advocacy.

They also discussed the lessons learnt from a new capacity assessment project involving staff and Commissioners of SUHAKAM in December 2008 and February 2009, run jointly by the APF and UNDP, and how this assessment tool could be developed to help them strengthen them in their work.

Assessing the capacities of NHRIs is complex but crucial process, said Chris Sidoti, who is representing the APF on the project, which will shortly undertake pilot assessments with a further two APF member institutions.

“NHRIs handle complaints of human rights violations, provide advice to government on laws and policies, train public officials, educate the public and monitor the human rights situation,” he said.

“A capacity assessment provides NHRIs with a systematic analysis of what strengths and resources they have and what additional capacities may be required to meet and strengthen the mandate of NHRIs.”

The self assessment process used in the APF-UNDP project is a key first step in identifying the most pressing concerns facing a NHRI and then developing a long-term, integrated and strategic plan to address them, said Mr Sidoti.

NHRI participants at the workshop agreed that capacity assessment was a valuable tool that could be used to strengthen their institutions. However, they also underscored the importance of being able to secure the necessary capacity development support following the assessment process.