"New secretariat in Latin America could monitor urgent human rights situations"

The Extraordinary Assembly of the Network of National Institutions of Human Rights of the American Continent has just approved the statutes that will pave the way for the new secretariat based in Panama.

Why is the establishment of a secretariat for the Network of NHRIs in Panama important for the promotion and protection of human rights in Latin America?

“The NHRIs of the region are going through a period in which their authorities are searching for ways of cooperation. It is necessary to have a secretariat that can address this. Also, due to the lack of resources of many NHRIs in the continent, it is difficult to follow up on proposed initiatives, which a permanent secretariat would be able to do. To see the contrast to the progress in other regions in comparison to our region is maybe the best argument for the importance of a technical secretariat for Latin America.”

“A permanent secretariat could, in the first place, contribute to the promotion and monitoring of the completion of the Paris Principles, which would contribute to strengthening an important mechanism of defense and promotion of human rights, which the NHRIs are doing. It could additionally monitor urgent human rights situations in the region to identify possible joint actions that the NHRIs can carry out.”

Which are currently the biggest challenges for the NHRIs in Latin America?

“One of the primary challenges is to secure the full independence, not just as a formal criterion, but also administratively and financially from other state organs, which the NHRIs must be monitoring with regards to human rights compliance.”

“Not all of the institutions are independent with regards to administration of their budgets, the establishment of human rights priorities in their work plan and with regards to monitoring state organs, which in turn has some function of legitimate supervision over these institutions, for example those that evaluate the use of budget.”

“In particular, one of the central themes to secure the independence of these organs is the process of selection of the authority of the NHRIs, which does not always secure independence, transparency and above all the suitability for the defense of human rights in Latin American countries, which are in great need of strong and independent NHRIs.”

“Another fundamental challenge is the theme of budget. Many NHRIs lack necessary resources to fully perform their functions. Another urgent and high priority challenge regards the security of some authorities in the region, which have been threatened, including their families, for bringing forth brave complaints. In some cases these attacks are part of a judicial harassment, in many cases ill-founded impeachments against the authorities as a way of pressure or reprisal for carrying out their work for the defense of human rights.”