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STATEMENT OF BERTRAND RAMCHARAN, ACTING HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TO UN RESIDENT COORDINATORS/RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVES
10 October 2003
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Tarrytown, N.Y. – Friday, 10 October 2003
Mr. Administrator,
Distinguished Coordinators and Resident Representatives,
Dear colleagues,
The Unique Role of Resident Coordinators/Resident Representatives
I can think of no more important United Nations group for the future realization of human rights than you, the Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives of the United Nations across the globe. We are at a stage in the history of the United Nations and the history of its human rights programme in which the practical efforts that you make on the ground can help us, more than most, to take us forward in this vital mission of the United Nations: the universal realization of human rights.
Appreciation of the need for subtlety
Allow me to take this opportunity to thank the UNDP Administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, and you all for the contribution you are already making and for your readiness to enhance that contribution. Let me say at the outset that I see your roles as that of facilitators, advisors, implementers and indispensable partners. I have full understanding that the circumstances in which you work vary, that you have to deal with local circumstances, that you have to deal, oftentimes, with sensitive situations. It is therefore understandable that each of you will make your human rights contribution in ways that you best can – keeping in mind the broad range of responsibilities that you have as Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives. I want to say this so that you understand that in looking at the roles of Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives in contributing to the realization of human rights, we in the Office of the High Commissioner have full understanding of the subtleties and the nuances that sometimes need to be taken into account.
The Millennium Development Goals; the right to development
I know that each of you will have in your minds the emphasis being placed in the United Nations on the implementation of the right to development and on the implementation of the UN Millennium Goals. Above anyone else, you will understand best what the right to development means in your particular countries and the very fact that you are there signifies that you wish to contribute to the implementation of this core right to which developing countries in particular attach such importance.
The visions of the Charter and the International Bill of Human Rights
Against this background, let me now turn to the roles of Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives in contributing to the universal realization of human rights. In order to develop this theme, we need to remind ourselves of the strategic vision of the United Nations that we are all endeavoring to implement: the Charter of the United Nations places peace, development and respect for human rights in an interdependent relationship. Put simply, neither peace nor development can be achieved without respect for human rights. By the same token, respect for human rights requires peace and efforts for development.
Alongside the vision of the United Nations Charter, there is the vision of the founders of the United Nations for an International Bill of Human Rights which would be a companion document to the United Nations Charter. During the drafting of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, there were proposals for the inclusion of an International Bill of Human Rights. Due to lack of time, the drafters decided to entrust this task to the Commission on Human Rights provided for in Article 68 of the Charter. When the Commission on Human Rights began to work on this mandate, it set about the vision of an International Bill of Human Rights which would have three parts: a Declaration, one or more treaties and measures of implementation. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) elaborated on the human rights principles of the Charter. The International Covenants and subsequent treaties cast those principles in binding form. The third part, measures of implementation, is what we are all now engaged in.
It is important for us all to have in view these complementary visions of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration, and the International Bill of Human Rights. The Secretary-General’s reform programme of 1997 marked a watershed in the way that human rights responsibilities are shouldered by the UN system. It emphasized the role of human rights as an essential, cross-cutting element of the UN programme and the collective responsibility of the entire UN system. In the second round of reform to strengthen the Organization, the Secretary-General moved the human rights agenda further, advancing a key strategic concept focusing on three foundation areas: assistance to Member States in developing their promotion and protection systems, the better implementation of United Nations human rights treaties; and the strengthening of the special procedures system.
Promoting a culture of human rights through diffusion and education
Keeping in mind the three visions, the first question that arises when it comes to the roles of Resident Coordinators/Resident Representatives is what you might be able to do to promote awareness of the international norms of human rights in the countries where you are stationed and what you might be able to do to encourage human rights education based on the international norms. One of the great achievements of the United Nations in the field of human rights has been to develop awareness of the importance of human rights standards and thereby to help foster a universal culture of human rights.
This simple act of dissemination in local languages and the encouragement of human rights education can have potent results. Some years ago, we surveyed all United Nations Information Centres on what would help them most to promote human rights. Almost in unison, the reply was: we need more basic information in local languages that we can disseminate. This need has not changed. I believe that it is really important that young people be able to come to the United Nations offices across the globe and to get basic information on the United Nations human rights standards.
Facilitating ratifications of human rights treaties
Keeping in mind the importance of spreading the human rights message, there is then the issue of facilitating the ratification of international human rights treaties and the participation of governments in the processes of dialogue and follow-up that takes place in United Nations human rights treaty bodies. A government’s ratification of a United Nations human rights treaty does not necessarily lead immediately to a dramatic improvement in the human rights situation, but it is a necessary first step. In considering ratification, and by the act of ratification, a government undertakes to review its constitution, its laws, and other parts of its administrative arrangements and practices with a view to shaping the country in the image of the human rights treaty. The act of ratification is thus an important policy commitment on the part of a government. Where called for, and keeping in mind the need for tact and discretion, senior United Nations officials such as yourselves can help encourage the ratification of human rights treaties.
Reporting and following up
After ratification has taken place, there are reports to be submitted and presented and follow-up action to be undertaken. The drafting of the reports takes place within the country. Preparation for an appearance before a human rights treaty body also takes place within the country and follow-up action requires steps on the part of the Government on the ground. In all of these three facets, you can, depending on the circumstances, be decisive in helping a government to cooperate in good faith in implementing the treaties at home.
United Nations special procedures
A related area has to do with the recommendations of United Nations Special Rapporteurs or similar special procedures. You already do a great deal in facilitating missions of the special procedures – and sometimes these can present particular challenges depending on the circumstances. As our partners on the ground, we look to you for practical support and we also ask the Special Rapporteurs to be mindful of your positions when seeking your assistance. When Special Rapporteurs make recommendations that require follow-up action, it might be possible for you, depending on the circumstances, to contribute to follow-up.
A human rights data base for country teams
What is important in any event is for you to be aware of the recommendations of United Nations treaty bodies and United Nations Special Rapporteurs so that you can take them into account in your work and help where it might be possible to do so. Mindful of this need to keep you informed, we in the Office of the High Commissioner are considering the development of a data base that you could have access to which would provide, country by country, the core human rights document on the country and the recommendations of United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures.
National protection systems
Moving on from the dissemination of human rights information and human rights education, the promotion of ratifications, facilitation of governments’ participation in procedures under United Nations human rights treaties, and awareness of the recommendations of the human rights treaty bodies and human rights special procedures, I should now like to touch on a key strategic concept advanced by the Secretary-General in his report on the strengthening of the United Nations. In that report, which the Secretary-General launched last year, he placed emphasis on three foundation areas: the better implementation of United Nations human rights treaties; the strengthening of the special procedures system; and the establishment or enhancement of national protection systems within each Member State. In presenting the concept of a national protection system, the Secretary-General had in view that a country should be able to show that it was seeking to bring its constitution in line with international human rights norms and that it was also examining its laws from this perspective. A country should be thinking about the place of international human rights norms in its courts and its educational system. A government should be seeking to promote human rights education and should be monitoring the situation of vulnerable parts of the population.
Fifty five years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and after the development of an international code of human rights and the establishment of a broad range of human rights bodies, international action to promote and to protect human rights must increasingly have in view practical actions on the ground. At the end of the day, international action helps to provide a framework and stimuli but the practical work to protect human rights takes place at home. This is why the concept of the national protection system as presented by the Secretary-General is so crucial at this stage in history.
With the concept of a national protection system in view, we – all of us – need to have in our mind’s eye a human rights strategic mapping of each country to ascertain which parts of the national protection system can most benefit from international support. In some countries it might be the role of the judiciary in the protection of human rights. In some countries there might be need for a specialized national institution. In some countries there might be particular population groups in need of protection. The purpose of human rights strategic mapping is to help us identify strategic points of entry in the effort to enhance or develop national protection systems. In seeking to identify these entry points, the recommendations of human rights treaty bodies can be helpful as, indeed, can be the recommendations of Special Rapporteurs. They tell us, as leading experts, where they think it is important to act urgently.
When it comes to cooperation on the development or strengthening of national protection systems, there is room for close partnership between us. You can help us identify areas where you think priority action is needed so that we can try to provide support through technical cooperation. We, for our part, can indicate to you areas in which we think you might be able to deploy some efforts to help on structural issues.
Action plan
Recently, our colleagues have been considering ways in which we can work together in implementing the Secretary-General’s call for inter-agency cooperation on the establishment and the strengthening of national protection systems. An important document, “Action 2” Plan, has been worked out on this topic and has been considered by the United Nations Development Group and the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs.
UN country teams are crucial vehicles for implementation of this Plan, which should allow Member States to benefit from enhanced complementarities and effectiveness of human rights assistance tailored to their needs and requests. CCA/UNDAF and CAP/CHAP should be the essential entry points to this process. The Plan’s underlying strategy is to develop the relevant capacity of UN country teams. Under the leadership of the Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator, training, assessment of needs, sharing of information and cooperative programming arrangements are foreseen. Thematic groups or similar organizational arrangements, as appropriate, will be established to facilitate implementation of these activities.
It is widely expected that “Action 2” Plan will pave way to more joint efforts on the ground, and joint programming to strengthen national human rights protection mechanisms, to support human rights education and to protect the rights of the vulnerable. Our Office will also undertake to better integrate our existing presences in 40 countries with the work of the country teams so that they will be in a position to advise you and to facilitate the discussion on human rights-related issues in the country.
HURIST - Human Rights Strengthening Programme
In this context, let me draw your attention to one particularly important example of initiatives born under the Secretary-General’s reform programme in the late ninetieth, namely the joint UNDP/OHCHR HURIST programme. It originated in vital questions which were raised at that time and related to practical implications of integrating human rights, as e.g. ‘What are the specific implications of the international human rights standards and principles for development policy and programming? For poverty reduction strategies? For decentralized governance programmes? For HIV/AIDS programmes and water and sanitation projects? What do human rights mean for me?’
Geared towards the needs of UNDP’s development practitioners, HURIST was designed specifically to help us all understand how human rights standards and principles impact in a practical sense on development work; reach the excluded and marginalised; encourage active, free and meaningful participation; empower people more directly as agents for their own development; and strengthen the capacities of those in positions of responsibility to more effectively discharge their duties. HURIST is presently piloting a methodology for reviewing UNDP Country Programmes from a human rights perspective (e.g. in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where OHCHR and UNDP are cooperating in a pioneering ‘Human Rights-based Municipal Assessment Programme’, Bolivia and Benin). It has recently produced a UNDP Practice Note on Human Rights and Poverty Reduction, and is helping to support UNDP’s Asia/Pacific Access to Justice and Human Rights project, an important example of practitioner-driven ‘bottom-up’ human rights-based development programming. I would urge all Resident Representatives to consider approaching HURIST for programming support within the scope of its various piloting areas, so that the whole organization can learn from good practice and practical cases, making the principles of human rights resonate in the realities on the ground.
Human rights technical assistance
This is the point at which would like to touch upon the programme of technical cooperation in the field of human rights. Components of the programme focus on the incorporation of international human rights standards in national laws and policies; on the building or strengthening of national institutions capable of promoting and protecting human rights and democracy under the rule of law; on the formulation of national plans of action for the promotion and protection of human rights; on human rights education and training; and on promoting a human rights culture. Such assistance takes the form of expert advisory services, training courses, workshops and seminars, fellowships, grants, provision of information and documentation, and assessment of domestic human rights needs.
The role of the courts
I should now like to present to you an area to which I think we should all give increasing importance. It concerns the role of the judiciary in the protection of human rights. If there is a functioning judiciary that is doing its job well, it should be able to keep the Government in check; it should be able to monitor the police and prison officials. At the end of the day, there is no more important body nationally than the courts when it comes to the protection of human rights. In the human rights programme we are endeavoring to place increasing emphasis on practical support to the courts through, for example, providing international human rights norms, international human rights jurisprudence and arranging exchanges of experience among judges. In cooperation with partners, we will also focus our attention on various dimensions of transitional justice.
National human rights institutions
Let me now say something about national human rights institutions. In the practical work that goes on within a country to help develop and strengthen its national protection system, the role of bodies such as national human rights commissions can be decisive, provided that they are independent and meet the criteria set out by the General Assembly in the ‘Paris Principles’. Together, we have developed significant cooperation with such institutions, which are now important participants in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. We have also been facilitating regional sub-regional groupings of such national institutions and this has shown its worth. An investment in national human rights institutions can lead to rich dividends for a country. It is important that we continue our support the national human rights institutions.
Distinguished Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives,
The way forward
In my contribution I wanted to capture this particular moment in which the United Nations is moving towards a more enhanced and effective approach to the promotion and protection of human rights, focusing on the country level at which they are truly tested. We in OHCHR genuinely hope that the results of the test will improve as a consequence of joining forces by all members of the United Nations family.
Each idea also as a noble one as is the case with regard to human rights needs a vehicle to be implemented. Country teams under the leadership of Resident Coordinators provide such a vehicle for the promotion and protection of human rights. You as Resident Coordinators have a very important role in leading the other parts of the UN System in mainstreaming the strengthening of an 'enabling environment', or a 'pro-human rights' environment, in each country, working through the different elements of the national protection system.
I have mentioned several projects and instruments we can use to bring human rights home to people, to enhance the capacity of the United Nations at the country level, and to effectively assist Member States and their societies. The “Action 2” Plan, the HURIST Programme, CCA and the UNDAF processes, joint or harmonized programming all are tools in our hands which can enhance our cooperation for human rights. This meeting should give an important impetus to it.
During the months to come, we will be in contact with you on the implementation of the “Action 2” and on other projects. One way of supporting you, the Resident Coordinators/ Resident Representatives and the UN country team in doing all your good work would be to place a human rights advisor within the country team to provide 'just in time' advice to the CCA the UNDAF, Transition Strategies, Agency Programs, etc., and working with the Thematic Groups to 'mainstream' a rights based approach through the various UN programs on education, Governance, gender HIV/Aids etc.
We will build on existing good experience. Good practices of today should become a standard of the future.
Mr. Administrator,
Distinguished Coordinators and Resident Representatives,
Dear colleagues,
The Unique Role of Resident Coordinators/Resident Representatives
I can think of no more important United Nations group for the future realization of human rights than you, the Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives of the United Nations across the globe. We are at a stage in the history of the United Nations and the history of its human rights programme in which the practical efforts that you make on the ground can help us, more than most, to take us forward in this vital mission of the United Nations: the universal realization of human rights.
Appreciation of the need for subtlety
Allow me to take this opportunity to thank the UNDP Administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, and you all for the contribution you are already making and for your readiness to enhance that contribution. Let me say at the outset that I see your roles as that of facilitators, advisors, implementers and indispensable partners. I have full understanding that the circumstances in which you work vary, that you have to deal with local circumstances, that you have to deal, oftentimes, with sensitive situations. It is therefore understandable that each of you will make your human rights contribution in ways that you best can – keeping in mind the broad range of responsibilities that you have as Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives. I want to say this so that you understand that in looking at the roles of Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives in contributing to the realization of human rights, we in the Office of the High Commissioner have full understanding of the subtleties and the nuances that sometimes need to be taken into account.
The Millennium Development Goals; the right to development
I know that each of you will have in your minds the emphasis being placed in the United Nations on the implementation of the right to development and on the implementation of the UN Millennium Goals. Above anyone else, you will understand best what the right to development means in your particular countries and the very fact that you are there signifies that you wish to contribute to the implementation of this core right to which developing countries in particular attach such importance.
The visions of the Charter and the International Bill of Human Rights
Against this background, let me now turn to the roles of Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives in contributing to the universal realization of human rights. In order to develop this theme, we need to remind ourselves of the strategic vision of the United Nations that we are all endeavoring to implement: the Charter of the United Nations places peace, development and respect for human rights in an interdependent relationship. Put simply, neither peace nor development can be achieved without respect for human rights. By the same token, respect for human rights requires peace and efforts for development.
Alongside the vision of the United Nations Charter, there is the vision of the founders of the United Nations for an International Bill of Human Rights which would be a companion document to the United Nations Charter. During the drafting of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, there were proposals for the inclusion of an International Bill of Human Rights. Due to lack of time, the drafters decided to entrust this task to the Commission on Human Rights provided for in Article 68 of the Charter. When the Commission on Human Rights began to work on this mandate, it set about the vision of an International Bill of Human Rights which would have three parts: a Declaration, one or more treaties and measures of implementation. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) elaborated on the human rights principles of the Charter. The International Covenants and subsequent treaties cast those principles in binding form. The third part, measures of implementation, is what we are all now engaged in.
It is important for us all to have in view these complementary visions of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration, and the International Bill of Human Rights. The Secretary-General’s reform programme of 1997 marked a watershed in the way that human rights responsibilities are shouldered by the UN system. It emphasized the role of human rights as an essential, cross-cutting element of the UN programme and the collective responsibility of the entire UN system. In the second round of reform to strengthen the Organization, the Secretary-General moved the human rights agenda further, advancing a key strategic concept focusing on three foundation areas: assistance to Member States in developing their promotion and protection systems, the better implementation of United Nations human rights treaties; and the strengthening of the special procedures system.
Promoting a culture of human rights through diffusion and education
Keeping in mind the three visions, the first question that arises when it comes to the roles of Resident Coordinators/Resident Representatives is what you might be able to do to promote awareness of the international norms of human rights in the countries where you are stationed and what you might be able to do to encourage human rights education based on the international norms. One of the great achievements of the United Nations in the field of human rights has been to develop awareness of the importance of human rights standards and thereby to help foster a universal culture of human rights.
This simple act of dissemination in local languages and the encouragement of human rights education can have potent results. Some years ago, we surveyed all United Nations Information Centres on what would help them most to promote human rights. Almost in unison, the reply was: we need more basic information in local languages that we can disseminate. This need has not changed. I believe that it is really important that young people be able to come to the United Nations offices across the globe and to get basic information on the United Nations human rights standards.
Facilitating ratifications of human rights treaties
Keeping in mind the importance of spreading the human rights message, there is then the issue of facilitating the ratification of international human rights treaties and the participation of governments in the processes of dialogue and follow-up that takes place in United Nations human rights treaty bodies. A government’s ratification of a United Nations human rights treaty does not necessarily lead immediately to a dramatic improvement in the human rights situation, but it is a necessary first step. In considering ratification, and by the act of ratification, a government undertakes to review its constitution, its laws, and other parts of its administrative arrangements and practices with a view to shaping the country in the image of the human rights treaty. The act of ratification is thus an important policy commitment on the part of a government. Where called for, and keeping in mind the need for tact and discretion, senior United Nations officials such as yourselves can help encourage the ratification of human rights treaties.
Reporting and following up
After ratification has taken place, there are reports to be submitted and presented and follow-up action to be undertaken. The drafting of the reports takes place within the country. Preparation for an appearance before a human rights treaty body also takes place within the country and follow-up action requires steps on the part of the Government on the ground. In all of these three facets, you can, depending on the circumstances, be decisive in helping a government to cooperate in good faith in implementing the treaties at home.
United Nations special procedures
A related area has to do with the recommendations of United Nations Special Rapporteurs or similar special procedures. You already do a great deal in facilitating missions of the special procedures – and sometimes these can present particular challenges depending on the circumstances. As our partners on the ground, we look to you for practical support and we also ask the Special Rapporteurs to be mindful of your positions when seeking your assistance. When Special Rapporteurs make recommendations that require follow-up action, it might be possible for you, depending on the circumstances, to contribute to follow-up.
A human rights data base for country teams
What is important in any event is for you to be aware of the recommendations of United Nations treaty bodies and United Nations Special Rapporteurs so that you can take them into account in your work and help where it might be possible to do so. Mindful of this need to keep you informed, we in the Office of the High Commissioner are considering the development of a data base that you could have access to which would provide, country by country, the core human rights document on the country and the recommendations of United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures.
National protection systems
Moving on from the dissemination of human rights information and human rights education, the promotion of ratifications, facilitation of governments’ participation in procedures under United Nations human rights treaties, and awareness of the recommendations of the human rights treaty bodies and human rights special procedures, I should now like to touch on a key strategic concept advanced by the Secretary-General in his report on the strengthening of the United Nations. In that report, which the Secretary-General launched last year, he placed emphasis on three foundation areas: the better implementation of United Nations human rights treaties; the strengthening of the special procedures system; and the establishment or enhancement of national protection systems within each Member State. In presenting the concept of a national protection system, the Secretary-General had in view that a country should be able to show that it was seeking to bring its constitution in line with international human rights norms and that it was also examining its laws from this perspective. A country should be thinking about the place of international human rights norms in its courts and its educational system. A government should be seeking to promote human rights education and should be monitoring the situation of vulnerable parts of the population.
Fifty five years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and after the development of an international code of human rights and the establishment of a broad range of human rights bodies, international action to promote and to protect human rights must increasingly have in view practical actions on the ground. At the end of the day, international action helps to provide a framework and stimuli but the practical work to protect human rights takes place at home. This is why the concept of the national protection system as presented by the Secretary-General is so crucial at this stage in history.
With the concept of a national protection system in view, we – all of us – need to have in our mind’s eye a human rights strategic mapping of each country to ascertain which parts of the national protection system can most benefit from international support. In some countries it might be the role of the judiciary in the protection of human rights. In some countries there might be need for a specialized national institution. In some countries there might be particular population groups in need of protection. The purpose of human rights strategic mapping is to help us identify strategic points of entry in the effort to enhance or develop national protection systems. In seeking to identify these entry points, the recommendations of human rights treaty bodies can be helpful as, indeed, can be the recommendations of Special Rapporteurs. They tell us, as leading experts, where they think it is important to act urgently.
When it comes to cooperation on the development or strengthening of national protection systems, there is room for close partnership between us. You can help us identify areas where you think priority action is needed so that we can try to provide support through technical cooperation. We, for our part, can indicate to you areas in which we think you might be able to deploy some efforts to help on structural issues.
Action plan
Recently, our colleagues have been considering ways in which we can work together in implementing the Secretary-General’s call for inter-agency cooperation on the establishment and the strengthening of national protection systems. An important document, “Action 2” Plan, has been worked out on this topic and has been considered by the United Nations Development Group and the Executive Committee on Humanitarian Affairs.
UN country teams are crucial vehicles for implementation of this Plan, which should allow Member States to benefit from enhanced complementarities and effectiveness of human rights assistance tailored to their needs and requests. CCA/UNDAF and CAP/CHAP should be the essential entry points to this process. The Plan’s underlying strategy is to develop the relevant capacity of UN country teams. Under the leadership of the Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator, training, assessment of needs, sharing of information and cooperative programming arrangements are foreseen. Thematic groups or similar organizational arrangements, as appropriate, will be established to facilitate implementation of these activities.
It is widely expected that “Action 2” Plan will pave way to more joint efforts on the ground, and joint programming to strengthen national human rights protection mechanisms, to support human rights education and to protect the rights of the vulnerable. Our Office will also undertake to better integrate our existing presences in 40 countries with the work of the country teams so that they will be in a position to advise you and to facilitate the discussion on human rights-related issues in the country.
HURIST - Human Rights Strengthening Programme
In this context, let me draw your attention to one particularly important example of initiatives born under the Secretary-General’s reform programme in the late ninetieth, namely the joint UNDP/OHCHR HURIST programme. It originated in vital questions which were raised at that time and related to practical implications of integrating human rights, as e.g. ‘What are the specific implications of the international human rights standards and principles for development policy and programming? For poverty reduction strategies? For decentralized governance programmes? For HIV/AIDS programmes and water and sanitation projects? What do human rights mean for me?’
Geared towards the needs of UNDP’s development practitioners, HURIST was designed specifically to help us all understand how human rights standards and principles impact in a practical sense on development work; reach the excluded and marginalised; encourage active, free and meaningful participation; empower people more directly as agents for their own development; and strengthen the capacities of those in positions of responsibility to more effectively discharge their duties. HURIST is presently piloting a methodology for reviewing UNDP Country Programmes from a human rights perspective (e.g. in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where OHCHR and UNDP are cooperating in a pioneering ‘Human Rights-based Municipal Assessment Programme’, Bolivia and Benin). It has recently produced a UNDP Practice Note on Human Rights and Poverty Reduction, and is helping to support UNDP’s Asia/Pacific Access to Justice and Human Rights project, an important example of practitioner-driven ‘bottom-up’ human rights-based development programming. I would urge all Resident Representatives to consider approaching HURIST for programming support within the scope of its various piloting areas, so that the whole organization can learn from good practice and practical cases, making the principles of human rights resonate in the realities on the ground.
Human rights technical assistance
This is the point at which would like to touch upon the programme of technical cooperation in the field of human rights. Components of the programme focus on the incorporation of international human rights standards in national laws and policies; on the building or strengthening of national institutions capable of promoting and protecting human rights and democracy under the rule of law; on the formulation of national plans of action for the promotion and protection of human rights; on human rights education and training; and on promoting a human rights culture. Such assistance takes the form of expert advisory services, training courses, workshops and seminars, fellowships, grants, provision of information and documentation, and assessment of domestic human rights needs.
The role of the courts
I should now like to present to you an area to which I think we should all give increasing importance. It concerns the role of the judiciary in the protection of human rights. If there is a functioning judiciary that is doing its job well, it should be able to keep the Government in check; it should be able to monitor the police and prison officials. At the end of the day, there is no more important body nationally than the courts when it comes to the protection of human rights. In the human rights programme we are endeavoring to place increasing emphasis on practical support to the courts through, for example, providing international human rights norms, international human rights jurisprudence and arranging exchanges of experience among judges. In cooperation with partners, we will also focus our attention on various dimensions of transitional justice.
National human rights institutions
Let me now say something about national human rights institutions. In the practical work that goes on within a country to help develop and strengthen its national protection system, the role of bodies such as national human rights commissions can be decisive, provided that they are independent and meet the criteria set out by the General Assembly in the ‘Paris Principles’. Together, we have developed significant cooperation with such institutions, which are now important participants in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. We have also been facilitating regional sub-regional groupings of such national institutions and this has shown its worth. An investment in national human rights institutions can lead to rich dividends for a country. It is important that we continue our support the national human rights institutions.
Distinguished Resident Coordinators and Resident Representatives,
The way forward
In my contribution I wanted to capture this particular moment in which the United Nations is moving towards a more enhanced and effective approach to the promotion and protection of human rights, focusing on the country level at which they are truly tested. We in OHCHR genuinely hope that the results of the test will improve as a consequence of joining forces by all members of the United Nations family.
Each idea also as a noble one as is the case with regard to human rights needs a vehicle to be implemented. Country teams under the leadership of Resident Coordinators provide such a vehicle for the promotion and protection of human rights. You as Resident Coordinators have a very important role in leading the other parts of the UN System in mainstreaming the strengthening of an 'enabling environment', or a 'pro-human rights' environment, in each country, working through the different elements of the national protection system.
I have mentioned several projects and instruments we can use to bring human rights home to people, to enhance the capacity of the United Nations at the country level, and to effectively assist Member States and their societies. The “Action 2” Plan, the HURIST Programme, CCA and the UNDAF processes, joint or harmonized programming all are tools in our hands which can enhance our cooperation for human rights. This meeting should give an important impetus to it.
During the months to come, we will be in contact with you on the implementation of the “Action 2” and on other projects. One way of supporting you, the Resident Coordinators/ Resident Representatives and the UN country team in doing all your good work would be to place a human rights advisor within the country team to provide 'just in time' advice to the CCA the UNDAF, Transition Strategies, Agency Programs, etc., and working with the Thematic Groups to 'mainstream' a rights based approach through the various UN programs on education, Governance, gender HIV/Aids etc.
We will build on existing good experience. Good practices of today should become a standard of the future.