Query: Liberia / Development of National Human Rights Action Plans / Comparative Experiences

----- Original Message -----
From: David Omozuafoh
To: humanrights-talk@groups.undp.org ; cprp-net@groups.undp.org
Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 8:55 PM
Subject: RE:[humanrights-talk] Query: Liberia / Development of National Human Rights Action Plans / Comparative Experiences

[Facilitator’s Note: This query is cross-posted between the Human Rights Talk Network and CPRP-networks]

Dear Colleagues,

Please see below the process of preparing the Nigerian National Action Plan as documented by the NHRC. The main document is also linked to further understand the entire process and components of the NAP.

The Nigerian National Action Plan

1. The Federal Government of Nigeria has consciously chosen a participatory, consultative and collaborative approach to develop the NAP. The process began in November 1999 when the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), with the support of the British Council, organized a study visit to South Africa to obtain first hand knowledge of the process that led to the development of the South African National Action Plan on Human Rights. The study team was composed of representatives from the NHRC, the Ministry of Justice, the media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

2. In December 1999, the chambers of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, in collaboration with the NHRC, hosted a consultation with all government ministries and justice sector institutions. The purpose of this consultation was to explain the concept of the NAP, as well as the obligations of the respective ministries, agencies and institutions in the process of developing the NAP.

3. In April 2000, the Chambers of the Attorney-General and the Minister of Justice of the Federation requested the NHRC to commence consultations with civil society and parliament with a view to explaining the concept of the NAP.

4. Between July and October 2000, the NHRC convened a series of meetings with civil society representatives across Nigeria. At the end of these meetings, a process for broad consultation was mapped out and the process for developing the NAP was started.

5. The first activity was in October 2000, when the NHRC, in partnership with the Senate Committee on Human Rights, the House of Representatives Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Legal Resources Consortium, convened a Parliamentary Hearing on the State of the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Nigeria. The purpose of this hearing was to familiarise members of the National Assembly, Government Ministries, Service Chiefs and organised private sector with the concept of NAP and the need for same.

6. In November 2000, the NHRC with the support of Australian Embassy to Nigeria hosted a workshop on regional and international human rights instruments. The focus of this workshop was on key international and regional human rights instruments that have been domesticated, ratified or are in the process of ratification by Nigeria or those not yet ratified or domesticated.

7. These activities provided a forum for identifying and agreeing on areas of cooperation between the National Assembly, government departments and civil society (including the private sector) in the development of the NAP.

8. In April 2001, the Federal Government of Nigeria formally inaugurated the steering and coordinating committees of the National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

9. In October 2001, the Federal Ministry of Justice and the National Human Rights Commission with the support of DFID hosted the first Nigerian Human Rights Summit. Participants at the Summit included Human Rights Defenders, other NGOs, CBOs, professional bodies and other stakeholders in the civil society, Government ministries, parastatals and agencies, military, police, and other law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and parliamentarians. The summit was convened to provide a forum for government and civil society to agree on the content and framework of the NAP.

10. In October 2002, the Commission, in collaboration with the Senate and House Committees on Human Rights, with the support of MacArthur Foundation, hosted all of the Speakers of the 36 State Houses of Assembly in an interactive session on the draft National Action Plan. The purpose was to incorporate their input into the NAP document.

11. On 10th October 2002, further effort was made towards the development of the National Action Plan when National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with the National Assembly and Legal Resource Consortium with the support from McArthur Foundation organized a One-Day conference on Human Rights and the Death Penalty.

12. In November 2002, with the support of the McArthur Foundation, the Commission’s thematic program officers visited various relevant ministries/parastatals by which inputs were received on the status of various projects embarked upon by them towards the promotion and protection of human rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Nigeria and other relevant Regional and International Human Rights Instruments.

13. With the support of McArthur Foundation a documentary of the activities of the Commission leading to the development of the National Action was produced for public enlightenment and educational purposes in sensitising the public on the National Action Plan during the period of 2002 to 2003.

14. Between the 2004 and 2005, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa collaborated with the Commission in holding consultations with the media, government ministries/parastatals, and the Civil Society on strategies towards a successful implementation of the NAP document when adopted by the Federal Government.

15. The Commission again sent out its program officers to various ministries and parastatals to update the NAP document with developments in the various ministries and parastatals since the last consultations with such ministries and parastatals. These were further harmonized into the NAP document. Preliminary final draft copies were then printed for presentation to the Government.

16. Again on the 7th December 2005, the Commission in Collaboration with Open Society Initiative for West Africa organized a consultation with the new Parliamentarians elected in 2003 to brief them on the NAP document. Having carried out the previous consultations with the former parliamentarians elected between 1999 to 2003, it was therefore necessary to brief the new NASS on the NAP document.

17. Finally, the NAP document was handed over to the President by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice who was the Chair of the Steering Committee for the development of NAP. The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria successfully developed and adopted the NAP document.

My comments:

1. The NAP has been reviewed twice – 2006 and early 2007. A report of how well it has performed has not been prepared.
2. The review has not informed any major changes in the way the NHRC does its job nor the implementing agencies
3. The NAP is supposed to inform the implementing agencies annual budget requests, but this is not the case. Budgets are still being made and implemented without dues recourse to the NAP by ministries, departments and agencies
4. The plan lacks monitoring mechanism. It is therefore difficult to understand how the plan is being implemented. This also makes it difficult to understand the challenges encountered by the implementing agencies in the process of implementation.
5. The plan is not action-oriented and not timed. It is therefore difficult to understand when targets have been met and how much would be required to meet set targets. Although the plan identifies challenges and bodies responsible for implementation and monitoring, it appears to leave everything for everyone identified without linking duties to each agency. This makes it difficult to link success or failure to bodies concerned.
6. To better understand and implement the plan, there should an operational plan. The operational plan should have timelines, budget, actions, methodology and implementing agencies
7. The NAP is an ideal instrument which informs the direction of government in responding to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna Austria in 1993. It is really the human rights approach to development. UNDP should use its experience in human rights based approach to development to assist the country in preparing the Plan. The country’s request for UNDP’s assistance for human rights projects should be in line with the NAP once adopted. This is why UNDP needs to participate actively in its preparation.

I hope you find this helpful.

Regards,

David Omozuafoh
Programme Analyst (Governance)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UN House
Plot 617/618 Central Area
Diplomatic Drive
Abuja
Tel: +234 9 4616219

From: bounce-1078992-22698@groups.undp.org [mailto:bounce-1078992-22698@groups.undp.org] On Behalf Of Bipin Adhikari
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 4:06 PM
To: humanrights-talk@groups.undp.org; cprp-net@groups.undp.org
Subject: [cprp-net] Query: Liberia / Development of National Human Rights Action Plans / Comparative Experiences

[Facilitator’s Note: This query is cross-posted between the Human Rights Talk Network and CPRP-networks]

Dear colleagues,

The Ministry of Justice in Liberia is working with the UNDP and UN Mission here to develop a national human rights action plan for Liberia.* Such an action plan was envisaged by the Joint Needs Assessment concluded by the United Nations and the World Bank for the National Transitional Government of Liberia in 2004 to rebuild this country after a long civil war. The result-focused transition framework (RFTF) developed to implement the Joint Needs Assessment provided for a three year National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) for Liberia. The exercise is still at its early stages. We would appreciate receiving from members any recent/previous experiences on processes, lessons learnt, human rights action plans, within and outside of the region and particularly within a post conflict context. Apart from using them for our own references, we will also be sharing these resources with concerned human rights focal points in the Ministries and civil society organizations.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Bipin Adhikari
United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
# 404A, Pan-Africa Plaza
Monrovia, Liberia

* Please note that the knowledge networks handled a query on the same subject in 2005: Liberia/ Comparative Experiences/ Development of national human rights action plans in post-conflict contexts However, the work on the NHRAP in Liberia was stalled for various political/technical reasons. As there sure has been new developments, we would like to get recent updates on experiences, especially in the West African region.