UNDP is a Development branch of the UN system, which provides support to strengthen Paris Principles-compliant NHRIs in over 100 countries around the world. In the European region, UNDP supports NHRIs within development context countries such as Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, and South Caucasus.
A key component of UNDP’s support is through the TriPartite Partnership to Support National Human Rights Institutions, concluded among the Global Alliance of NHRIs, OHCHR, and UNDP, intending to harness the collective strengths and comparative advantages of each partner to provide coherent support to NHRIs around the world. The TPP has been launched by the UN Secretary-General, the General Assembly, and the Human Rights Council as a good practice of international cooperation.
In Europe, UNDP works closely with partners, such as OHCHR and ENNHRI, in providing joint support ranging from capacity strengthening to technical advisory services. The key goal of UNDP is to strengthen the capacity of NHRIs so that they effectively fulfill their mandates of oversight, protection, and promotion of human rights and contribute to sustainable development. UNDP is currently engaged in support of the following NHRIs in the European region: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Kosovo1, North Macedonia, and Ukraine.
UNDP can undertake some diplomatic efforts, issue policy-level recommendations, and conduct in-country missions in countries where it has a presence (18 countries and territories). Furthermore, the organization can provide funding to the NHRIs for their project activities if necessary. In addition, the UNDP can make legal recommendations but cannot issue direct legal opinions on politically controversial issues, including threats posed by domestic political actors.
UNDP identifies the areas for potential collaboration on a regular basis. The in-country presence of UNDP as well as the available technical expertise at the regional level in the Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH) help to have regular updates and in-depth conversations with the relevant regional stakeholders on the ongoing legal and political processes and human rights challenges in the region. UNDP attempts to effectively deploy that resource to the benefit of the respective NHRIs that require further support.
UNDP strives to maintain good collaboration with OHCHR, the regional networks of NHRIs, and UN country teams in protecting NHRIs from reprisal and attacks. In the last few years, there have been several attempts to hinder the work of NHRIs in the region. We’ve collaborated with UNDP partners in gathering additional information, analyzing the legal impact of the new restrictions, promoting public statements made by OHCHR/ENNHRI, and in some cases using “soft diplomacy” to engage with the Government authorities (e.g., Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia).
UNDP does not issue public statements or press releases on matters related to the NHRIs under threat. This largely remains within the responsibility of the RCO. If RCOs are for some reason unable to fulfill their responsibility, OHCHR and the Development Coordination Office (DCO) can interfere to remedy the situation. The UNDP can, as already mentioned, use the instruments of ‘soft diplomacy’ and endeavour to create a space for informal or formal discussions between local actors.
☐ Public support
☑ Private and diplomatic engagement
☑ Policy recommendations
☑ Legal opinions
☑ In-country missions
☑ Funding and direct support
☑ Other actions
NHRIs as well as the regional networks of NHRIs can reach out to UNDP country offices in the respective countries and can also approach the Istanbul Regional Hub for assistance, where the staff of the Governance and Peacebuilding Team stands ready to help and provide any technical guidance requested from the national agencies including NHRIs.
NHRIs can share relevant information about their challenges and indicate what kind of assistance they urgently require. UNDP can provide different kinds of support as outlined above.
UNDP works closely with its country offices and NHRIs to identify current threats and challenges that institutions face in their activities, and which prevent them from implementing their mandates and responsibilities.
We encourage NHRIs to contact our country offices in urgent cases where immediate action is required. NHRIs can also contact the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH) through country offices, where the Governance and Peacebuilding Team is prepared to consider all requests and provide an appropriate response, if necessary, in close coordination with the Country Offices and international partners.
NHRIs may reach out to:
As outlined above, UNDP can provide various types of support to threatened national human rights institutions, ranging from the use of soft diplomacy tools to the provision of a range of legal and policy recommendations. UNDP can use its presence in the country to gain insights into local challenges and obstacles to the independence and effective functioning of national human rights institutions in order to better support and strengthen the resilience of NHRIs. UNDP helps to raise public awareness of the mandate and role of the respective institutions, strengthen their regional networks and capacities, facilitate partnerships between NHRIs, state agencies, and civil society, and make the institutions more inclusive. UNDP also supports national human rights institutions operating in conflict settings.
UNDP engages with national human rights institutions on various current human rights topics. In the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECA), UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub supported NHRIs in different countries in developing their work on business and human rights (BHR) as well as in environmental justice. In these areas, there is an emerging and increasing interest on behalf of NHRIs to further develop their capacities and become an agent for change and slow transformation in the human rights field.
UNDP provides technical support and advice and helps in developing programs and innovative solutions. UNDP conducts capacity assessment missions for the NHRIs under the TriPartite Partnership Agreement, alongside OHCHR and NHRI regional networks. For example, IRH supported such capacity assessment in Türkiye, at the request of the host institution and drafted a set of recommendations for consideration by the NHRI.
In general, UNDP helps to strengthen the mandate, independence, and resources of the national human rights institutions, also supporting their accreditation process in line with the Paris Principles on the independence and effectiveness of NHRIs.
At the regional level, UNDP and ENNHRI jointly facilitated the adoption of the 2015 Kyiv Declaration on the role of NHRIs in post-conflict settings, based on which UNDP developed a training package on fact-finding and monitoring by NHRIs in conflict settings and delivered subsequent training for NHRIs in the Europe and Central Asia region (ECA).
UNDP supports capacity development projects in different countries in the region to help the NHRIs improve their application of international human rights standards. It can also provide funding to advance the NHRI work and to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and technical expertise among different national human rights institutions.
UNDP has developed various tools, guides, and training materials for NHRIs. It has also developed policy recommendations to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of NHRIs in line with international standards and human rights principles. Below is a list of some of the materials developed by UNDP.
