NIHR Participates in GANHRI Annual Meeting in Geneva
Eng. Ali Ahmed Al-Derazi, Chairman of the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR), and Counsellor-at-Law Yasser Ghanim Shaheen, NIHR Secretary-General, have participated in the annual meeting of the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), which was held in the UN Palace in Geneva.
This meeting comes after three years of virtual meetings due to the global health situation. GANHRI's meeting is an annual global gathering, with the participation of more than 100 national institutions from the four regional networks participated, namely the Asia-Pacific Forum (APF), the African-European and the Americas. The year 2023 is an important milestone in the field of human rights at the international level, as it marks the 30th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s resolution to establish national human rights institutions in accordance with the Paris Principles. In addition, this year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which constitutes the basis for the work of national human rights institutions in all countries.
During the GANHRI meeting, which was chaired by Mrs. Mariam Al-Attiyah, Chairperson of the Qatar National Human Rights Commission, the GANHRI General Assembly resolutions for the year 2022 were adopted, and the membership of the new national institutions in the GANHRI office was approved. The GANHRI representative in Geneva, Mrs. Katharina Rose, also gave a brief on the GANHRI achievements last year. In addition, the heads of the four regional networks gave a brief on the work of the networks. Then, Mr. Vladlen Stefanov, Head of the National Institutions Department at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and Mrs. Sara Rattray, representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), gave a brief about their role in supporting national institutions through technical cooperation and capacity building.
On the other hand, the participants approved GANHRI's financial report, audited its final accounts, presented the proposed budget for the year 2023 and adopted the draft action plan for the year 2023. In addition, a brief on the status of recently accredited institutions was presented by D. Ammar Dweik, Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation, Director-General of the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Palestine, and representative of the Accreditation Committee Secretariat.
The participants adopted a number of amendments to the Statutes of the Accreditation Committee, aiming at granting GANHRI Chairman the authority to instruct the GANHRI Committee to initiate a special review of any institution that has a B rating after it was limited to those with an A rating, whenever if finds that it does not comply with the Paris Principles by withdrawing or downgrading its rating and starting to review it. They also adopted the withdrawal of rating in case of the establishment of another national institution in the same country, and it is found that the new one complies with the Paris Principles more than the current previously approved one, which began to lose its independence or to reduce its budget to a degree that impedes carrying out its tasks, and adopted an amendment to suspend the rating of any institution that has an A or B rating in the exceptional cases determined by the GANHRI Chairman with the Accreditation Committee, where the GANHRI office shall approve the immediate suspension of this institution.
During the meeting, information was exchanged from all regional networks regarding best practices on "Torture and Ill-treatment: The Role of National Human Rights Institutions" in order to include it in the 14th International Conference Against Torture, which is scheduled to be held in Denmark next November. The GANHRI's new strategic plan for 2023-2027 was also adopted.
