Ational Human Rights Institutions Implementing Human Rights N (original) (raw)

The Role of Human Rights Non-Governmental Organisations in the

2003

the international community to imminent or unfolding human rights tragedies. In many cases, this watchdog capacity has proven the key to the mobilisation of opposition to the perpetrators of abuses and of support to their victims. Our partnership with NGOs in the field is particularly important to the success of our work in support of human rights. The information and expertise of the specialised NGOs reinforce promotional and educational programmes and promote a culture of human rights as part of wider efforts to foster democratic and peaceful change in countries throughout the world.'

THE ROLE OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHT INSTITUTIONS IN PROMOTING AND PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) play a crucial role in the promotion and protection of human rights within a country. This paper explores the multifaceted role of NHRIs in advancing the principles of human rights, emphasizing their significance in upholding justice, accountability, and social progress. NHRIs act as independent entities, bridging the gap between government and civil society, and fostering a culture of human rights awareness.

Human rights: non-governmental organisations

The role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has changed rapidly over the last decades. In the aftermath of WWII, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and other international organisations pledged to provide more robust and effective responses to human rights challenges by strengthening the international and regional systems of human rights protection. The universality of human rights and the increasing growth and popularity of human rights movements across the globe, led to the progressive institutional development of NGOs and saw their responsibilities for the protection of human rights increase significantly. This brief commentary outlines some of the unique features that make NGOs an integral part of a democratic society and an important non-state actor for the promotion, development and enhancement of human rights law.

Assessing factors influencing human rights around the world: three case studies Assessing factors influencing human rights around the world: three case studies Dissemination level PU Lead Beneficiary Danish Institute for Human Rights Acknowledgments List of abbreviations

2016

Under the auspices of the FP7 project Fostering Human Rights among European Policies (FRAME), this report is part of Work Package 2 on 'factors which enable or hinder the protection of human rights'. A more comprehensive understanding of the internal and domestic contextualization of historical, legal, political, economic, social, ethnic, religious, and technological factors hindering or facilitating human rights protection in third countries is vital for the continuous endeavor of the EU to promote human rights in its external actions. The purpose of this report is to deepen this understanding. The report contains three studies on the dynamics and interactions of factors hindering or enabling the protection of human rights in selected third countries. The following countries, from three different continents, have been selected: India, South Africa and Peru. From this country-based contextualisation of factors a case study was chosen for each country highlighting the influences of factors in a particular human rights area. Chapter II focuses on India and evidences that various factors impede the realization of human rights in the country. The study zooms in on economic, social and political factors, which are often structural in nature and which prevent individuals and groups from accessing institutional mechanisms for the enforcement of human rights. The chapter includes a case study on 'encounter killings', which in India are generally referred to as those incidents in which there is a loss of life of individuals in the hands of police and security forces when they resort to use of force for the purpose of maintaining law and order. Chapter III assesses the current human rights situation in South Africa by setting out the historical, political, legal, economic, social, cultural, religious, ethnical and technological factors that both enhance and militate against the promotion of human rights. Against the backdrop of the legacy of apartheid and the country's socioeconomic challenges, the chapter provides an evaluation and literature review of the various constraints that impede against the promotion of basic rights in South Africa. The chapter proceeds to a case study of factors that impede the realisation of socioeconomic rights and the role of NGOs and social movements to remedy the situation through protest, advocacy and litigation. Chapter IV analyses factors facilitating and hindering human rights protection in Peru. The chapter provides an overview of historical, legal, political, economic, ethnic, religious, and technological factors facilitating or hindering the promotion and protection of human rights in the country. The chapter then focuses on identifying the social and institutional factors that explain the weak participation of civil society directly involved in human rights policies. Three cases of national councils involved in promoting and protecting human rights are object of analysis: the national human rights council, the national health council, and the national education council. The results emerging from the case studies feed into the overarching theme of the Work package 2, namely factors that facilitate or hinder human rights protection in the EU, and among its internal and external policies. The report affirms the need for a holistic and contextualised approach to factors hindering and enabling human rights in third countries. The factors explored in each selected case study are in many respects intertwined and interrelated in contextualized dynamics. This complex intersection requires that the EU in its external actions pay careful attention to the factors that come into play in each country and their societal contextualisation. The report also illustrates the complex role played by civil FRAME Deliverable No. 2.5 iv society in third countries, and demonstrates that the EU in its endeavours to support the human rights agenda of civil society in third countries, would have to pay careful attention to the diversity of factors which in each country puts limitations to or offer possibilities for civil society. FRAME Deliverable No. 2.5 v List of abbreviations AEC Anti-Eviction Campaign FRAME Deliverable No. 2.5 x FRAME Deliverable No. 2.5 2 in selected third countries. Furthermore, whereas the reports D 2.1, D 2.2, D.2.3 predominantly have EU policies as their reference point, the present report will reverse the focus and take its point of departure, not in EU policies but in selected third countries, and the factors and policies of these countries. B. Three case studies in selected third countries With a view to complementing and deepening the analyses of the reports of Work package 2, in this report three in-depth qualitative case studies on the dynamics and interactions of factors in selected third countries have been conducted. The following countries, from three different continents, have been selected: India, South Africa and Peru.

National incorporation of global human rights: worldwide expansion of national human rights institutions, 1966–2004

Social Forces, 2009

Using an event history framework we analyze the adoption rate of national human rights institutions. Neo-realist perspective predicts adoption rates to be positively influenced by favorable national profiles that lower the costs and make it more reasonable to establish these institutions. From a world polity perspective adoption rates will be positively influenced by a world saturated with human rights organizations and conferences, by increasing adoption densities, and by greater linkages to the world polity. We find support for both perspectives in the analysis of the human rights commission. Only the changing state of the world polity is consequential for the founding of the classical ombudsman office. We discuss the national incorporation of international human rights standards and its relevance to issues of state sovereignty and national citizenship. The rise and expansion of the international human rights regime is a recent focus of sociological theory and research. Much theorizing revolves around the question of what such a regime implies for state sovereignty and national citizenship, and has accordingly centered on issues of treaty ratification and membership in international rights organizations. For both theory and research the crucial question is to ascertain the degree of importance to attach to national factors and historical legacies on the one hand, and on the other, the extent to which the outcomes of interest are driven by transnational dynamics. The literature includes those who assert that there are some discernable national economic, political and cultural