International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions Chapter 1: Introduction KEY QUESTIONS • What has been the role of the international human rights system in promoting the establishment and development of NHRIs? • What does the international human rights system expect of NHRIs in their interaction with the international system? National human rights institutions (NHRIs) are the creations of their own domestic laws and processes but their existence is closely connected with the international human rights system. Although the first NHRIs were established in the late 1970s and 1980s, their growth can be traced directly to the strong endorsement they received from the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna, Austria, in 1993. The World Conference on Human Rights reaffirms the important and constructive role played by national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, in particular in their advisory capacity to the competent authorities, their role in remedying human rights violations, in the dissemination of human rights information, and education in human rights. The World Conference on Human Rights encourages the establishment and strengthening of national institutions, having regard to the ‘Principles relating to the status of national institutions’ and recognizing that it is the right of each State to choose the framework which is best suited to its particular needs at the national level.1 Each year following the Vienna World Conference, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights passed a resolution re-affirming international support for NHRIs and encouraging all States to establish them.2 The Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted its first resolution on NHRIs in 2011, with wide cosponsorship and unanimous support, perhaps reflecting that this is now an uncontroversial issue and that the position and importance of NHRIs are well accepted.3 There have been similar resolutions in the General Assembly (GA), most recently at the end of 2011.4 Treaty monitoring bodies have added their voices, often including recommendations for establishing or strengthening NHRIs in their concluding observations.5 And since the commencement of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure in the HRC in 2008, recommendations on NHRIs have featured prominently in the reports adopted by the HRC on individual States. Since 1995, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) has responded to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and to the resolutions of United Nations (UN) bodies by supporting the establishment and strengthening of NHRIs. From 1995 to 2003, this support was provided first by a senior Special Adviser.6 More recently it has been provided by a specialist unit within 1 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action; Part 1; para. 36. 2 Resolution 2005/74 was the last such resolution of the Commission on Human Rights. 3 HRC Resolution 17/9, adopted on 16 June 2011. 4 GA Resolution 66/169, adopted on 19 December 2011. 5 The International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has prepared a compilation of recommendations made by treaty monitoring bodies concerning NHRIs region; see: http://nhri.ohchr.org/EN/ IHRS/TreatyBodies/Pages/default.aspx. 6 The Special Adviser was a very experienced practitioner, Brian Burdekin, who had been the Australian Human Rights Commissioner from 1987 to 1994. Chapter 1: Introduction | 1