RES/27/18 National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights

GE.14-18000 (E)



Human Rights Council Twenty-seventh session

Agenda item 8

Follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration

and Programme of Action

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council

27/18

National institutions for the promotion and protection of human

rights

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling all relevant Human Rights Council resolutions and relevant resolutions of

the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights concerning national

institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, and recalling Council

resolution 24/16 of 27 September 2013,

Reaffirming the importance of establishing and strengthening independent,

pluralistic national human rights institutions1 in accordance with the principles relating to

the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the

Paris Principles),

Reaffirming also the important role that such national human rights institutions play

and will continue to play in promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental

freedoms, in strengthening participation and the rule of law, and in developing and

enhancing public awareness of those rights and fundamental freedoms,

Reaffirming further the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the

World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, which reaffirmed the important and

constructive role played by national human rights institutions, in particular in their advisory

capacity to the competent authorities and their role in preventing and remedying human

rights violations, in the dissemination of human rights information, and education in human

rights,

1 National human rights institutions are those national institutions for the protection and promotion of

human rights referred to in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and the principles

relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the

Paris Principles).

United Nations A/HRC/RES/27/18

General Assembly

Welcoming the role of national human rights institutions, within their respective

mandates, in contributing to the prevention of human rights violations and abuses,

Commending the important role of the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights in assisting the development of independent and effective

national human rights institutions, in accordance with the Paris Principles, and recognizing

in this regard the potential for strengthened and complementary cooperation among the

Office of the High Commissioner, the International Coordinating Committee of National

Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, regional coordinating

committees of national human rights institutions and national human rights institutions in

the promotion and protection of human rights,

Noting with interest the twenty-seventh annual meeting of the International

Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of

Human Rights, held from 12 to 14 March 2014,

Welcoming the strengthening in all regions of regional and cross-regional

cooperation among national human rights institutions, and between national human rights

institutions and other regional human rights forums,

1. Welcomes the most recent reports of the Secretary-General submitted to the

Human Rights Council on national institutions for the promotion and protection of human

rights2 and on the activities of the International Coordinating Committee of National

Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in accrediting national

institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles;A/HRC/27/40.

2. Encourages Member States to establish effective, independent and pluralistic

national human rights institutions or, where they already exist, to strengthen them to enable

the effective fulfilment of their mandate to promote and protect human rights and

fundamental freedoms for all, as outlined in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of

Action, and to do so in accordance with the Paris Principles;

3. Recognizes that, consistent with the Vienna Declaration and Programme of

Action, it is the right of each State to choose the framework for national institutions for the

promotion and protection of human rights that is best suited to its particular needs at the

national level in order to promote human rights in accordance with its international human

rights obligations and commitments;

4. Also recognizes the role of independent national human rights institutions in

working together with their Governments to ensure full respect for human rights at the

national level, including by contributing to follow-up actions, as appropriate, to the

recommendations resulting from international human rights mechanisms;

5. Encourages national human rights institutions to continue to play an active

role in preventing and combating all violations and abuses of human rights as enumerated

in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and relevant international instruments;

6. Commends the International Coordinating Committee for making the role of

prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights the overarching theme of its

twenty-seventh annual meeting;

7. Encourages national human rights institutions to assist, advise and engage

with the State and other stakeholders in the prevention of violations and abuses of human

rights, including by promoting the ratification of international treaties, promoting legal and

2 A/HRC/27/39.

procedural reforms, conducting practical and relevant human rights training and education,

and raising public awareness and advocacy about the promotion and protection of human

rights;

8. Stresses the importance of financial and administrative independence and the

stability of national human rights institutions for the promotion and protection of human

rights, and notes with satisfaction the efforts of those Member States that have provided

their national human rights institutions with more autonomy and independence, including

by giving them an investigative role or enhancing such a role, and encourages other

Governments to consider taking similar steps;

9. Recognizes that national human rights institutions and their respective

members and staff should not face any form of reprisal or intimidation, including political

pressure, physical intimidation, harassment or unjustifiable budgetary limitations, as a

result of activities undertaken in accordance with their respective mandates, including when

taking up individual cases or when reporting on serious or systematic violations in their

countries;

10. Recognizes the role that national human rights institutions can play in

preventing and addressing cases of reprisal as part of supporting the cooperation between

their Governments and the United Nations in the promotion of human rights, including by

contributing to follow-up actions, as appropriate, to recommendations made by

international human rights mechanisms;

11. Emphasizes that any cases of alleged reprisal or intimidation against national

human rights institutions and their respective members and staff or against individuals who

cooperate or seek to cooperate with national human rights institutions should be promptly

and thoroughly investigated, with the perpetrators brought to justice;

12. Welcomes the growing number of Member States establishing or considering

the establishment of national human rights institutions in accordance with the Paris

Principles, and welcomes in particular the large number of States that have accepted

recommendations to establish national human rights institutions through the universal

periodic review and, where relevant, by treaty bodies and special procedures;

13. Also welcomes the continuing number of national institutions seeking

accreditation status through the International Coordinating Committee, and encourages

national institutions, including ombudsman institutions, to seek accreditation status;

14. Further welcomes the important role of the International Coordinating

Committee, in close cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights, in assessing conformity with the Paris Principles and in assisting States

and national institutions, when requested, to strengthen national human rights institutions in

accordance with the Paris Principles;

15. Encourages the Secretary-General to continue to give high priority to

requests from Member States for assistance in the establishment and strengthening of

national human rights institutions in accordance with the Paris Principles;

16. Welcomes the efforts made by the High Commissioner to strengthen United

Nations system-wide coordination on national human rights institutions, and encourages all

United Nations human rights mechanisms, as well as its agencies, funds and programmes,

to work within their respective mandates with national human rights institutions;

17. Calls upon the Secretary-General to continue to encourage national human

rights institutions to interact with and advocate for independent participation in all relevant

United Nations mechanisms, in accordance with their respective mandates;

18. Welcomes the important role played by national human rights institutions in

the Human Rights Council, including its universal periodic review mechanism, in both

preparation and follow-up, and the special procedures, as well as in the human rights treaty

bodies, in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 60/251 of 15 March 2006 and

65/281 of 17 June 2011, Council resolutions 5/1 and 5/2 of 18 June 2007 and decision

19/119 of 22 March 2012, and Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/74 of 20

April 2005, and encourages national human rights institutions to continue to participate in

and contribute to these mechanisms, including by continuing to engage with the treaty

bodies by, inter alia, providing parallel reports and other information;

19. Commends in particular the increasing engagement of national human rights

institutions at all stages of the universal periodic review mechanism, and encourages

national human rights institutions to promote and support the implementation of accepted

recommendations in their respective national contexts;

20. Welcomes the increased engagement between the special procedures and

national human rights institutions, including during country and follow-up visits and on

thematic reports, and encourages the deepening of such engagement, including through the

participation of national human rights institutions following the presentation of country

mission reports to the Human Rights Council;

21. Also welcomes the participation in and contribution of national human rights

institutions to the process of strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the

human rights treaty body system, as noted by the General Assembly in its resolution 68/268

of 9 April 2014;

22. Further welcomes the endorsement by the General Assembly of the

strengthening of opportunities for national human rights institutions compliant with the

Paris Principles to contribute to the work of the Human Rights Council in its resolutions

65/281, 66/169 of 19 December 2011 and 68/171 of 18 December 2013, and urges the

Assembly to explore the feasibility of enabling national human rights institutions compliant

with the Paris Principles to participate in the Assembly based on the practices and

arrangements agreed upon in Assembly resolution 60/251, Human Rights Council

resolutions 5/1 and 5/2, and 16/21 of 25 March 2011, and Commission on Human Rights

resolution 2005/74, while ensuring their most effective contribution;

23. Commends the work of the Office of the High Commissioner with national

human rights institutions, including through technical cooperation, capacity-building

activities and advice, and encourages the High Commissioner , in view of the expanded

activities relating to national human rights institutions, to ensure that appropriate

arrangements are made and budgetary resources provided to continue and further extend

activities in support of national human rights institutions, including by supporting the work

of the International Coordinating Committee and its regional coordinating committees, and

invites Governments to contribute additional voluntary funds to that end;

24. Welcomes the strengthening of international cooperation among national

human rights institutions, including through the International Coordinating Committee, and

encourages the Secretary-General to continue to provide the assistance necessary for

holding international, regional and cross-regional meetings and conferences of national

human rights institutions, including meetings of the International Coordinating Committee,

in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner;

25. Also welcomes the important role of national human rights institutions in

supporting cooperation between their Governments and the United Nations in the

promotion and protection of human rights;

26. Further welcomes the strengthening in all regions of regional cooperation

among national human rights institutions, and notes with appreciation the continuing work

of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions, the Network of National

Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Americas, the Asia-

Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions and the European Network of

National Human Rights Institutions;

27. Encourages all States and national human rights institutions to continue to

take appropriate steps to promote cooperation, the exchange of information, the sharing of

experience and the dissemination of best practices concerning the establishment and

effective operation of national human rights institutions;

28. Invites national human rights institutions to include in their cooperation the

exchange of best practices on strengthening their liaison role between civil society and their

Governments;

29. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Human Rights Council, at its

thirty-third session, a report on the implementation of the present resolution, and a report on

the activities of the International Coordinating Committee in accrediting national

institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles.

39th meeting

25 September 2014

[Adopted without a vote.]