President's message | April 2025

The vital global role of National Human Rights Institutions

Many people who are familiar with the Australian Human Rights Commission are less familiar with the global context in which we operate. The Commission is Australia’s national human rights institution (NHRI) and one of 118 NRHIs globally. NHRIs play a vital role promoting and protecting the human rights of all people in their countries.

NHRIs are established by the nation in which they exist, but operate independently from that nation’s government. In 1993, the UN General Assembly adopted a set of standards, known as the Paris Principles , which set out agreed minimum standards that NHRIs must meet to be considered credible. These include independence, a broad mandate, adequate resources and engagement with the UN and other human rights bodies.

NHRIs are accredited against the Paris Principles with re-accreditation reviews every five years or if there is a relevant change in circumstances. NHRIs that comply with the principles are given A-status accreditation. NHRIs that partly comply are given B-status accreditation. The Australian Parliament passed legislation in 2022 to strengthen compliance with the Paris Principles by requiring merit-based and publicly advertised appointment processes and a maximum 7-year term for the President and Commissioners of the Australian Human Rights Commission. This assisted with the re-accreditation of the Commission as an A-status NHRI in 2023.

On the global stage, Australia has played an important leadership role over many years supporting NHRIs and encouraging nations to establish them.

It was good to attend my first annual meeting of  the Global Alliance of NHRIs at the UN in Geneva in March. The Global Alliance strengthens NHRIs, promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing and helps NHRIs to engage with the international human rights system. It also supports NHRIs under threat. The annual meeting included sessions on disability rights and the rights of women and girls. I currently serve on the Global Alliance bureau (board) along with 15 other members.

Meetings like this reinforce the critical importance of global and domestic human rights standards and systems to protect rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the treaties that followed it. As noted by UN human rights chief Volker Turk in his address to the UN Human Rights Council, the global human rights system is under enormous strain and consensus, progress and understanding cannot be taken for granted. It is critical that nations like Australia defend, support and strengthen the human rights systems that are the key to achieving peace, stability and prosperity for all.

These meetings also help to recharge and inspire human rights action. NHRIs around the world operate in very different contexts but we are all working to achieve the same thing; promoting human rights for the people in our countries so that everyone, can lead a decent, dignified life.

Hugh de Kretser

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