National inquiry into extra-territorial human rights situations Many NHRIs undertake national inquiries into human rights situations. National inquiries are public investigations into systemic patterns of human rights violation. NHRIs conduct these inquiries either under a specific inquiry function in the law or under more general functions of research, advice and education. The Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission, for example, has a specific inquiry function under its law: “to inquire generally into any procedure or practice whether governmental or non-governmental, if it appears to the Commission that human rights are, or may be, infringed thereby”.17 An NHRI can undertake an inquiry into an extra-territorial human rights situation that has an impact on the enjoyment of human rights in its own country. This kind of inquiry is not entirely extra-territorial as at least some core element of the human rights violations occurs in the NHRI’s home country. The national inquiry process is very suitable for investigation of the conduct of a country’s military forces engaged in a foreign war. Wars involve collective violations of human rights rather than merely individual ones and they are associated with systemic patterns of violation. The national inquiry process enables the necessary holistic examination of the situation as a whole. Because of the involvement of military forces from the NHRI’s own country in the war, the NHRI has responsibility to act, in spite of the extraterritorial nature of the violations. Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines National Inquiry on Climate Change18 Between 2015 and 2019, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines conducted a national inquiry into how climate change is related to the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters and how the human rights of Filipinos are affected by them. The inquiry was a response to a petition to the Commission from 14 civil society organisations and 18 individuals requesting an investigation of the “responsibility of the Carbon Majors for human rights violations or threats of violations resulting from the impacts of climate change”. The petition named 47 respondents, investor-owned oil, natural gas and coal producers and cement manufacturers, referred to as the Carbon Majors. The petitioners argued that the adverse effects of climate change threaten the enjoyment of a range of internationallyprotected human rights, most critically the rights to life, the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, food, water, sanitation, adequate housing and self-determination. The Commission continually invited the Carbon Majors to join the process but it could not force them to do so as they were based outside the Philippines. Some of the Carbon Majors challenged the Commission’s jurisdiction to conduct the National Inquiry. They said that the Commission had no power in relation to entities not present in the Philippines. In its report the Commission said, 17. Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission Act 2009 section 12(d). 18. Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines National Inquiry on Climate Change at https://chr.gov.ph/nicc-2/. 18 National action on international issues