The meaning of ‘human rights’ The Paris Principles do not define the term ‘human rights’. For the purposes of the Paris Principles, the term must be given its ordinary meaning in international law as ‘those rights recognised in international law as human rights’.5 Most laws establishing NHRIs use the generic term ‘human rights’. These laws do not provide a definition of what constitutes ‘human rights’. In these cases, the term should be interpreted, in accordance with international law, as those rights recognised in international law as human rights. They include rights recognised in international treaties and international customary law. Some national laws give their own definitions of ‘human rights’, sometimes by reference to international human rights treaties to which the particular State is a State Party and at other times by reference to particular categories of rights. Some laws limit the term to those rights that the particular State recognises. This has been found inadequate as the basis for an NHRI mandate. Institutions that are so restricted in their mandate have not been accredited as NHRIs in compliance with the Paris Principles. Accepting the broad definition as ‘all those rights recognised in international law as human rights’ does not, however, in itself resolve the issue of defining ‘human rights’. There is no authoritative statement of what rights international law recognises as human rights. Certainly, internationally recognised human rights include rights recognised in the International Bill of Rights, that is, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). They also include rights recognised in other human rights treaties, those dealing with specific groups (racial and ethnic groups (CERD), women (CEDAW), children (CRC), people with disability (CRPD) and migrant workers (CMW)) and with specific issues (torture (CAT), death penalty (OP2 to ICCPR) and enforced disappearances CED)). They include customary international law relating to human rights, including that expressed in declarations such as those on indigenous peoples and human rights defenders. They should also include international humanitarian law and international criminal law, both of which are based in human rights. Again, there are treaties (the four Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court) and customary international law. Some NHRI laws specifically include jurisdiction in relation to international humanitarian law.6 Each NHRI must look to its own law to determine the scope of its ‘human rights’ jurisdiction in general and in relation to specific functions. In doing so, it should interpret its mandate as broadly as possible consistent with the terms of the law. 5. Asia Pacific Forum A manual on national human rights institutions 2018 p 82 at https://www.asiapacificforum.net/resources/manual-on-nhris. 6. See for example National Human Rights Commission of Lebanon Law No. 62/2016 articles 15 and 16 at https://en.nhrclb.org/archives/801. 10 National action on international issues