The situation for people with disabilities in Palestine for example was further
aggravated by COVID-19. Accordingly, the Palestinian Commission called on the
inclusion of persons with disabilities in Emergency committees, government
committees or mixed committees. It is important for the recommendations to be
implemented, in order to mitigate the impact of crises, such as the COVID-19.
Additionally, NHRIs could and should advocate for a greater access to information,
especially during a pandemic.
b. They know the human rights obligations
NHRIs are experts in the field of human rights obligations, in order to enable them to
act and take action to ensure the full implementation of human rights obligations.
Women in the Arab region suffer from multiple problems including discrimination,
inequality, absence from participation in decision-making, policy and development
planning, in addition to domestic violence. In Palestine,, the Commission has utilized
its mandate to issue a memorandum of understanding and a set of letters to the
Ministry of Social Development. These actions included specific guidelines to ensure
the full implementation of women's rights during the COVID-19 crisis, and
recommendations to address the weak enforcement of measures and policies for
social diversity in national institutions, which increased and exacerbated during the
COVID-19 crisis.
c. They can help work with governments on a response that has human rights at
the center
NHRIs are able to work with and suggest to governments a line of action and response
to the situations at hand, while ensuring that it has human rights at its core.
The crisis situation in Iraq has resulted in the limiting of some of powers of NHRIs,
however, the Iraqi Commission continued to advocate for their powers by
recommending to the concerned authorities to reduce the prison population over
concerns of increased COVID-19 transmission among detainees. As a result, 1,000
people have been released, in order to offset the rising spread of COVID-19 in prisons.
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