Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Migrant Workers The Role of National Human Rights Institutions The final National Action Plan will normally include a range of broad objectives and practical activities to strengthen: • the national legal framework • civil and political rights • economic, social and cultural rights • the rights of vulnerable groups • human rights education • the work of NHRIs and civil society. Actions to promote and protect the rights of migrant workers and migrants in an irregular situation can be included under many of these thematic areas. Alternatively, recommendations made to the State through the UPR can be used to guide the development and structure of the National Action Plan, including its key priority areas. The regular reporting process required under the UPR can also inform the establishment of a monitoring programme to assess progress towards achieving the objectives of the National Action Plan. Once the National Action Plan has been finalized: ... [t]he role of NHRIs should be essentially to monitor implementation, to provide expertise and to make recommendations to government regarding appropriate action. This general point notwithstanding, there may be areas in which an NHRI itself will be the implementing body for one or more areas of the plan, such as human rights education for the general public ... Where the activity of NHRIs under the plan goes beyond their normal functions, government should ensure that adequate resources are made available.209 In undertaking its independent monitoring role, the NHRI can remind the Government and other stakeholders of the specific obligations they have made to advance the rights of migrant workers. They can also provide advice when required to support the effective implementation of those commitments. As most National Action Plans will be implemented over a specific timeframe – for example, five years – NHRIs can play an important role in evaluating the effectiveness of the plan and identifying areas where progress has been made, as well as highlighting areas where further work or new strategies should be undertaken in the subsequent National Action Plan. NHRIs should also seek to ensure that the National Action Plan supports and supplements their country’s national action plan/strategy on human rights education, developed as part of the UN World Programme for Human Rights Education.210 While the first phase of the World Programme (2005–2009) promoted human rights education in the primary and secondary school system, the second phase (2010–2014) focuses on higher education and on human rights training programmes for teachers and educators, civil servants, law enforcement officials and military personnel. As important contributors to the development and implementation of national action plans on human rights education, NHRIs should ensure that training programmes for these different target groups address the rights of migrant workers and the practical ways that these groups can promote and protect their rights through their day-to-day work. 209 Handbook on National Human Rights Plans of Action; Professional Training Series No. 10; OHCHR; 2002; p. 51. 210 Information on the World Programme for Human Rights Education, along with examples of country-level strategies, can be found at: www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/education/training/programme.htm. 82 | Chapter 6: Promoting reform of law, policy and practice