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New app set to transform the work of NHRIs

Graphic: Staff of the Office of the Ombudsman of Samoa

Samoa’s national human rights institution is the first in the world to benefit from a website app that supports NHRIs to carry out their unique work.

The Office of the Ombudsman of Samoa is the first national human rights institution (NHRI) in the world to benefit from a new website application that supports NHRIs to carry out their unique work.

Developed with support from the APF, NHRI Hub is a user friendly app that helps NHRIs to work more efficiently, identity trends in human rights violations and better report on their outcomes.

After a testing and training program in late 2016, Samoa became the first NHRI to start using the tool in June 2017.

Following the launch, the Ombudsman hailed NHRI Hub as a "great step forward in the development of our organisation".

Director for Human Rights Kini Vili agreed, saying "it is fantastic to have everything we need online and in one place".

"It also has a great security system to ensure all of our data is properly protected," she said.

NHRI Hub offers a broad range of functionality, which can be turned on or off to suit the needs of the organisation, including:

  • Electronic case management system, which includes automated email reminders, case file uploads, communications log and a full search function for previous or ongoing cases
  • Strategic planning tool, allowing the organisation to enter their plan and for all work subsequently recorded in NHRI Hub to be automatically tracked against the relevant indicators
  • Internal document library, providing a repository for all internal documents for those organizations that do not have a shared internal network
  • Media archive, to track and index all relevant media articles allowing for future searches by human rights topic, persons affected, date range and so on
  • Human rights indicators, based on the UN human rights indicators framework to allow NHRIs to track indicators of their choosing.

Tracey Mikaele, Communications and Education Officer

"We are in the middle of a National Inquiry into Family Violence and now have all of our documents for this project in one place to be accessed by anyone, anytime, whether we are in the office or out on the road doing consultations."

Tracey Mikaele, Communications and Education Officer


NHRI Hub is an independent, open source piece of software that it is freely available to all APF member institutions.

To find out more or access the demonstration site of NHRI Hub, please contact project coordinator Ash Bowe.

Date: 10 July 2017


Image credits

  1. Staff of the Office of the Ombudsman of Samoa - APF
  2. Tracey Mikaele, Communications and Education Officer - Ash Bowe