NIHR Participates in the 17th General Assembly Meeting of the Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions
The General Assembly of the Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ANNHRI) has convened its 17th meeting, with a wide participation of all national institutions that are members to the network, including Mr. khaled Abdel-Aziz Al-Sha’er, Vice-Chairperson of the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) and Counselor-at-law Yasser Ghanim Shaheen, NIHR Secretary-General. The meeting was held remotely due to the current conditions that the whole world is passing through. At the beginning of the meeting, the presidency of ANNHRI was transferred from the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Palestine to the National Committee on Human Rights in Qatar, and it was agreed that the presidency of the ANNHRI will be transferred to the National Committee on Human Rights in Mauritania next year.
During the first session, the Chairman of Human Rights Department of the League of Arab States spoke, expressing the Arab League’s support for the ANNHRI. He referred to the resolution by the League’s Permanent Committee on Human Rights issued in August 2020 regarding the preparation of a guiding manual on the role of national human rights institutions in cooperation with the Arab Human Rights Committee (the Charter Committee) of the League of Arab States, and the Arab Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ANNHRI).
Then, the representative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) spoke, expressing the importance of strengthening cooperation between the two sides and activating cooperation in all fields. Then, the representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Director of the United Nations Centre for Training and Documentation in the Field of Human Rights spoke, conveying the greetings of the High Commissioner Human rights for all attendees and wishing a successful work of the General Assembly. The representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa also spoke, stating the program's support for the work of the ANNHRI and the importance of activating the UN sustainable development goals, especially Goal 16 about “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”, and working on preparing a training program for trainers.
The second session dealt with the mechanisms of preparation for the International Conference on International Solidarity and the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan, focusing on Goal 16, where Mr. Sultan Al-Jamali, Executive Director of the ANNHRI explained the importance of this Conference, which was proposed by the ANNHRI to develop an action plan to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, which will contribute to strengthening the role of institutions, and gave a brief on the logistic support provided to prepare for the conference. A number of representatives of national institutions and active partners also gave a brief on what can be done to make the Conference a success.
The NIHR also participated in the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Arab Network, in which the annual report for the years 2019 and 2020, the financial report, and the action plan of the ANNHRI for the year 2021 were approved. In addition, the recommendations of the previous General Assembly were reviewed and the needs and challenges facing national institutions during this period were identified. The Independent Commission for Human Rights in Palestine also provided a summary of the latest developments in the Palestinian case.
