CHRAJ urges human rights institutions to comply with UN Paris Principles

The Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has entreated the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) to comply with the United Nations Paris Principles in the implementation and protection of the rights and freedoms of all persons. Mr Joseph Whittal, CHRAJ Commissioner, also urged NHRIs to hold governments accountable for their human rights obligations. Mr Whittal made the call during an experience sharing visit of a three-member high level delegation from the National Human Rights Commission of Mali (Commission National des Driots de l’Homme) (CNDH). The CHRAJ Commissioner, who also doubles as the President of the Network of National Human Rights Institutions in West Africa (NNHRI-WA), said international human rights performance standards such as the Paris Principles would ensure independence, competence, credibility, and accountability of NHRIs, and empower them to be effective in their work. Mr Whittal recalled a study of a comparative analysis of African NHRIs and whether their legal frameworks met the effectiveness criteria of the Paris Principles. He said the study analyzed the independence, competencies, responsibilities, funding, and financial autonomy of NHRIs, and discovered some limitations in their legal framework, as well as their operational, financial, and appointment autonomy. He observed that restrictive mandates imposed by enabling legislation, including poorly written legislation, inadequate protection within the enabling legislation regarding the security of tenure, and ambiguous laws on the powers and functions of these institutions were pointed out as major threats to the legal autonomy of NHRIs. The CHRAJ Commissioner disclosed that the report revealed the inadequate ability of some NHRIs to execute their mandates without external interferences, controls, influence or obstruction from any branch of the government, private bodies, and other powerful individuals. He noted that withholding of finances by the State to exert controls and inconsistencies in the appointment or removal of Commissioners along with harassment, arbitrary arrests, and murder of human rights defenders, threatened the independence and effectiveness of NHRIs. Mr Whittal emphasized that African Governments ought to be conscious of human rights and adopt transparency in the appointment of Commissioners to guarantee the designation of people with integrity, skill, qualification, and competence to head the NHRIs. He said a substantive level of political will was required to promote and protect human rights by guaranteeing NHRIs a secure and conducive operating environment. He, therefore, urged the delegation from CNDH to resist interference in their operations and to continuously work at implementing the Paris Principles, coupled with adhering to the recommendations of GANHRIs Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) which are aimed at strengthening NHRIs. The President of the Mali CNDH and head of the delegation, Mr Aguibou Bouare, also stated that the visit to CHRAJ was critical in the light of the new challenges facing Mali under its Military Regime to draw inspiration from the experience of the Commission, which has maintained its ‘A’ status since 1996. He said CHRAJ was a relevant institution beyond Ghana, which inspires a lot of African NHRIs, and so was excited to learn and benefit from its rich experiences to enable them “maintain and consolidate their ‘A’ status”. Mr Bouare assured CHRAJ that they would spare no effort in discharging their duty to promote a human rights culture, and adopt the knowledge gained from CHRAJ, as well as implement the SCA’s recommendations in Mali. The Paris Principles are a set of standards that frame and guide the work of NHRIs which were drafted at an international NHRIs workshop in Paris in 1991 and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in its Resolution 48/134 of 1993. The criteria of these Paris Principles require NHRIs to be independent in law, membership, operations, policy and control of resources. They also require that NHRIs have broad mandates, pluralism in membership, broad functions, adequate powers, adequate resources, cooperative methods, and engagement with international bodies to be credible and independent.