Workshop on national human rights mechanisms in the Pacific [1]
Friday, April 24, 2009 - 15:22. Updated on Friday, September 12, 2014 - 12:08.
Representatives from the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu will meet in Apia, Samoa, from 27 to 29 April 2009, to participate in the Regional Workshop on the "Establishment of national human rights mechanisms in the Pacific", organized by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in partnership with the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF), and with the support of the Government of Samoa and the Pacific Islands Forum.
This Workshop represents another milestone in the efforts undertaken by OHCHR, as a part of the Framework on Regional Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asian and Pacific region - initiated in the early 1990s, to set up national human rights infrastructures in the Asia Pacific region. Of the almost twenty national human rights institutions existing in the Asia-Pacific - over half of which are recognized as being in full compliance with the standards that guide their work, the so called "Paris Principles" (General Assembly Resolution 48/134) - no Small Island State within the Pacific has an institution accredited as Paris Principles compliant.
The Regional Workshop aims to enhance the capacity of Pacific Member States to establish national human rights mechanisms in line with the relevant international standards (the Paris Principles). Over three days, participants will explore the value and significance of the Paris Principles and discuss national human rights institutions, their work, mandate, and core functions. National Human Rights Institutions from Australia, Maldives, New Zealand, the Philippines and Timor Leste will share their experience of how such institutions can be established, and the crucial role they can play in advancing human rights norms and strengthening the rule of law in a country. Looking at existing practices and lessons learnt from the Asia Pacific region, especially those from small island states, will allow the Pacific States to explore the advantages of having effective national human rights mechanisms in place, and particularly how to develop sustainable and successful models for the Pacific, based on the Paris Principles as well as reflecting their individuality, size, population and culture.
"This Workshop presents a unique opportunity to creatively explore the Paris Principles as a flexible framework of reference for the establishment of credible and effective human rights mechanisms" says Gianni Magazzeni, the OHCHR National Institutions Unit Coordinator. UNDP, 22/04/09.