Chapter 1: National human rights institutions and national inquiries KEY QUESTIONS • What is a national human rights institution? • What are the Paris Principles? • How do national inquiries relate to the core functions of an NHRI? 1.1 WHAT IS A NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTION? National human rights institutions (NHRIs) are official, independent State institutions established by law to promote and protect human rights. Some NHRIs are established under the constitution of their country. Others are established by an act of the legislature (the parliament). They have broad mandates for the promotion and protection of human rights. The establishing laws give the institutions certain functions and should provide them with the powers necessary to perform those functions. In all cases NHRIs have functions of researching, advising and educating on human rights issues. In most cases they also have responsibility to investigate violations of human rights and to seek to resolve complaints of violation. Very early in its history, the United Nations (UN) recognised the need for States to establish their own domestic institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights. In 1946, the UN Economic and Social Council passed a resolution inviting UN Member States to consider establishing local institutions. Then in 1978, more than thirty years later, the UN convened a seminar for States on national institutions. However, very few institutions were established before the 1990s. The Second World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna, Austria, in 1993, provided a strong boost to the establishment of NHRIs. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted unanimously by the Conference, declared 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, until its replacement by the UN Human Rights Council in 2006, the UN Commission on Human Rights passed a resolution reaffirming international support for NHRIs and encouraging all States to establish them.2 The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on NHRIs at its session in June 2011 in which it reaffirmed “the importance of the establishment and strengthening of effective, independent and pluralistic national institutions for the promotion and Chapter 1: National human rights institutions and national inquiries | 3