ENNHRI Chair, Croatian Ombudswoman Lora Vidovic, and Secretary General Debbie Kohner are participating this week in New York in a series of meetings organised by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) alongside UNDP and OHCHR.

14 June – NHRI side event, as part of the Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP)
The role of NHRIs to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities will be the focus of a special side event, to be held in conjunction with the 9th Session of the United Nations Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP). The event is hosted by the APF and the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), and co-sponsored by the Governments of Australia, Germany, Ireland, Morocco, Mongolia and New Zealand. Professor Beate Rudolf, GANHRI Chairperson and Director of the German Institute for Human Rights, is chairing the side event. Sirpa Rautio, Director of the Finnish Human Rights Centre will be participating as well in the event, on behalf on ENNHRI. The event is an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of NHRIs being formally recognised in the rules of procedure of COSP. More information about the event is available on APF’s website and on COSP’s webpage.

15 to 16 June – Tripartite Partnership Meeting UNDP / OHCHR / GANHRI – Series of meetings which aims to discuss future joint cooperation between these organisations.

17 June – The Fourth Annual Seminar Series on National Human Rights Institutions 
Participants will discuss NHRI’s role in conflict and fragile contexts and their contribution to peaceful, just and inclusive societies, with the aim to highlight how NHRIs, through their mandate to promote and protect human rights, contribute to prevention of conflict escalation and ultimately sustain peace. Building on the “Kyiv Declaration on the role of NHRIs in conflict” , participants will identify opportunities to strengthen the capacity of NHRIs to implement the Declaration, including in situations where NHRIs are at risk of threats and reprisals. They will identify good practices as well as critical issues and challenges faced by NHRIs as they operate in these contexts. Another topic will be the concrete means through which NHRIs in conflict and fragile contexts can contribute toward the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: promotion of peaceful, just and inclusive societies.

Photo: UN Secretariat Headquarters, New York ©UN Photo/Manuel Elias