ENNHRI Secretariat met with a delegation of high-level representatives of West African National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal this week in Brussels.

The members of ENNHRI’s sister Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) presented the latest developments regarding human rights defenders (HRDs) at the national level and the challenges they face. The Secretary-General outlined ENNHRI’s European Regional Action Plan on HRDs.

This meeting, organized by the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung, was an opportunity for strengthening cross-regional cooperation with members of another network. It highlighted the importance of Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions’ (GANHRI) Marrakech Declaration on expanding the civic space and promoting and protecting HRDs, with a specific focus on women, which GANHRI, NANHRI, ENNHRI and the NHRI networks for Asia Pacific and the Americas have co-developed last October.

Moreover, ENNHRI’s representatives have shared their learnings from the groundbreaking project which looks at the leading role of NHRIs in the situations of (post-)conflict. The visiting NHRIs expressed their views on cooperating with EU delegations with regard to the implementation of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2015-2019.

Representatives of both networks expressed their eagerness to stay in contact for relevant activities in the future and peer support.

Photo: ENNHRI’s Secretary-General, Debbie Kohner presenting the areas of ENNHRI’s work to the representatives of West African NHRIs