National Human Rights Institutions

NHRIs act as a bridge between civil society and the state, linking the responsibilities of states to the rights of citizens. NHRIs protect and promote human rights by: handling individual complaints of human rights violations; identifying protection gaps in national human rights systems and providing recommendations on how to address them; conducting human rights education; and engaging with international human rights mechanisms. They connect national laws to regional and international human rights treaties, by co-operating with organizations such as the OSCE, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the United Nations and others. The minimum standards and requirements for establishing effective NHRIs have been outlined in the Paris Principles adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993.

The importance of NHRIs is also recognized in OSCE commitments. In Copenhagen in 1990, participating States pledged to “… facilitate the establishment and strengthening of independent national institutions in the area of human rights and the rule of law…”. ODIHR supports the work of NHRIs through various means, for example, by organizing annual NHRI Academy training events for NHRI staff from across the OSCE region. Other ODIHR activities to support the work and independence of NHRIs include: capacity building and providing expertise to set up new NHRIs in participating States; organizing expert meetings to facilitate the sharing of experience among NHRIs; supporting NHRIs under pressure; and, based on requests from NHRIs, providing opinions on national legislation (these can be found in the open database legislationline.org).