Editors' Introduction

AuthorShelagh Day, Lucie Lamarche & Ken Norman
Pages1-15
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EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION
Shelagh Day, Lucie Lamarche, & Ken Norman
A. INTRODUCTION
Twenty years ago, the United Nat ions General Ass embly adopted the
widely known a nd well-celebrated Paris Pr inciples on National Institutions
for the Promotion and Protec tion of Human Rights.1 The Paris Pr inciples set
standa rds for nationa l human rights instit utions. They specify t hat hu-
man right s institutions should be aut horized to inquire into a nd report
publicly on any violat ion of human right s; human rig hts inst itutions
must also be i ndependent from gover nment, be appointe d through i n-
clusive and tra nsparent procedures, and have ade quate and stable fund-
ing. Subsequently t he United Nations Huma n Rights Council has ca lled
on governments a round the world to establish human r ights ins titu-
tions with broa d mandates to protect and promote a ll human right s and,
where they exi st, to strengthen t hem.2
Today, over one hundred national huma n rights i nstitut ions exist
in the world and are me mbers of the Inter national Coord inating Com-
mittee of the Nat ional Inst itutions for Promot ion and Protect ion of
Human R ights.3 In Can ada, the ter m human rights institutions refers to
1 Principles Relat ing to the Status of National Institut ions, annex to National In-
stitutions for th e Promotion and Protect ion of Human Rights, CHR Res 54, UN E-
SCOR, Supp No 2, UN Doc E/1992/22, (1992); GA Res 48/134, UNGAOR, 48th
Sess, (1993) Annex.
2 National Institutions for the P romotion and Protect ion of Human Rights, UN Doc
A/HRC/Res/20/14, 16 July 2012 and A/ HRC/23/L.15, 7 June 2013.
3 See International Coord inating Commit tee of the National In stitutions for
Promotion and P rotection of Hu man Right s (ICC), online: ICC http://nhri.

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