Governmental human rights focal points

A research inquiry.

How do Human Rights Ministries, Interministerial Delegations, National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow-Up (NMRFs) and other governmental human rights focal points operate?

Purpose

New treaties oblige states to appoint focal points or coordination mechanisms. In 2017, the UN Secretary General identified NMRFs as “new type of governmental structure” constituting “key elements at the national level”.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights seeks to match emerging international guidance with a critical academic investigation. The purpose of this project is to frame and promote a research agenda on the matter and mobilise scholars to generate interdisciplinary research on governmental human rights focal points.

Project outputs

The project has generated a comprehensive study laying the ground for addressing governmental human rights focal points as a singular phenomenon and type of actor. The study documents state practices, compiles and analyses relevant guidance and puts forward a conceptual proposal.

The study 'Defining governmental human rights focal points: Practice, guidance and concept is accessible in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.

In June 2021, the project led to the publication of a dedicated Special Issue of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. The Special Issue, accessible here, includes the following articles:

Building on this research, the project also generated a draft chapter entitled: “Implementers or facilitators of implementation? Governmental Human Rights Focal Points’ complex role in enhancing human rights compliance at the national level”. You can access it here, and comments on the draft are welcome.

In 2023, the Institute published a research on the relation between NHRIs and governmental human rights focal points construed as National Mechanisms for Implementation, Reporting and Follow-up. The research, accessible here, includes a series of tangible recommendations for the future development of NMIRFs.

The difference we make

For the last five years, the DIHR Research Department has led a research agenda seeking to generate academic knowledge on national human rights systems and, in particular, on understanding the role of state actors in human rights protection (NHRIs, Ministries, Parliaments, etc.). Our 2019 Special issue of the Nordic Journal of Human Rights on “The Domestic Institutionalisation of Human Rights” presents this research agenda.

While the Danish Institute for Human Rights has substantial experience in engaging and supporting with governmental human rights focal points, such actors remain largely unexplored by scholars around the world. To fill this research gap, the present project aims at consolidating a research agenda and combine efforts with researchers from various disciplinary fields and regions to generate further understanding this specific type of actors.

The project will:

Build a conceptual framing for research on governmental human rights focal points
Generate 5 to 10 academic articles focused on case studies exploring governmental focal points of different institutional design and operating in various contexts
Present and discuss findings at the next annual Conference of the Association of National Human Rights Institutes
Publish articles in a peer-reviewed human rights journal and feed back into discussions on the matter at the UN level
Establish and nurture a network of scholars active in the field for future exchanges and additional research.

More details and background information can be found in the call for research contributions launched in December 2019:

Call for research contributions

The case studies being considered by the foreseen articles cover a wide range of regions and contexts: Georgia, Denmark and the Baltic countries, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Colombia, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Additional regions are being considered for additional contributions.

Partners

Prof. Dr. Jeremy Sarkin, University of Lisbon
Prof. Karin Buhmann, Copenhagen Business School
Dr. Patricia Herrera Kit, Universidad Externado de Colombia and Dr. Juan Carlos Botero, Universidad Javeriana Law School
Ms. Henrietta M. Ekefre, University of Pretoria
Ms. Matthieu Niederhauser, University of Lausanne
Mr. Colin Caughey, National University of Ireland Galway
Prof. Martin Mennecke, University of Southern Denmark.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights welcomes other like-minded researchers to approach us to be part of an informal network aimed at exchanging research outputs.