Implementers or Facilitators of Implementation? Governmental Human Rights Focal Points’ Complex Role in Enhancing Human Rights Compliance at the National Level
Draft book chapter for: Edward Elgar Research Handbook on the Implementation of Human Rights in Practice, edited by Rachel Murray and Debbie Long, 2022 Forthcoming
20 Pages Posted: 28 Aug 2021
Date Written: August 26, 2021
Abstract
Governmental human rights focal points are states’ administrative structures dedicated to driving the human rights action of the executive power. Whether organised as specialised ministries, national mechanisms for reporting and follow-up, interministerial committees or units within ministries, virtually all states feature such structures, and focal points now are recommended as a cornerstone element for national human rights systems by international guidance. This Chapter provides an overview of the diffusion of such focal points and relevant guidance, as well as discuss their common characteristics.
Going further, the chapter explores a core paradox that relates to focal points’ implementation role. On the one hand, the single most important objective underpinning focal points’ diffusion is to enhance human rights implementation nationally. On the other hand, the sets of guidance promoting their diffusion consistently make it clear that they are not supposed to directly implement rights, but rather facilitate implementation, by means of coordination and mainstreaming functions within government. A mere cursory examination of state practices shows that this is a complex nuance to navigate in reality, that touches at the core of national strategies for implementation. The Chapter calls in emerging scholarship that can inform how focal points position themselves and their actual contribution to human rights fulfilment.
Keywords: Governmental human rights focal points, implementation, human rights mainstreaming, interinstitutional coordination, national mechanisms for reporting and follow-up, research
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