This Report was written as part of the FP7 research project, ‘Fostering Human Rights Among European (External and Internal) Policies’ and falls under Work Package 4, ‘Protection of Human Rights: Institutions and Instruments’. This Work Package aims to ‘map’ and assess current human rights protection systems. The present report focuses on National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and the roles which they play or should play in the monitoring of human rights. This analysis focuses on the national level, through four case studies on the NHRIs of India, Morocco, Peru and South Africa, and on the regional, European level.
The report sheds light upon the many and varied institutional foundations and working methods of NHRIs and at times highlights a number of discrepancies between their legal mandates and their practical functions or effectiveness in the promotion and protection of human rights. Whilst all institutions covered were granted ‘A’ status by the International Coordinating Committee of NHRIs, which assesses them in the light of their compliance with the 1993 ‘Paris Principles’, they all have a somewhat different modus operandi and approach towards human rights monitoring.