UNDP-OHCHR TOOLKIT Annex 2: Table of Regional Instruments and International Law provides an overview of the key regional instruments. (See the end of Chapter 1) A guide to interpreting specific instruments is provided in General Comments prepared by the relevant UN Treaty Bodies. Many international human rights instruments impose obligations on ratifying States “to take all appropriate measures” to ensure that international human rights are implemented at the national level. The establishment of a national institution is a key mechanism through which States respond to this obligation. NHRIs can serve as ideal relay mechanisms at the country level to ensure application of international human rights norms. The list of instruments ratified by each country, as well as the relevant reservations and declarations made by or in respect of each country, are found on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (http://www.ohchr.org). At the regional level, there are also important human rights instruments: Annex 2: Table of Regional Instruments and International Law provides an overview of the key regional instruments. UNCTs should also be aware of regional networks of NHRIs: i.e., the Network of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Americas; the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions; the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions, and the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions. Sub-regional groupings have also been established, e.g., the West-African Group of National Human Rights Institutions. NHRIs of the Commonwealth also collaborate with the support of the Commonwealth Secretariat. Many NHRIs are also members of the International Ombudsman Institute. 1.2.5 Can the NHRI apply international standards domestically? Core protection issues require that States take steps to ensure that rights are realized at the State level. Administrative mechanisms are particularly required to give effect to the general obligation to investigate allegations of violations promptly, thoroughly and effectively through independent and impartial bodies. NHRIs, endowed with appropriate powers, can contribute to this end. A failure by a State Party to investigate allegations of violations could in and of itself give rise to a separate breach of State’s obligations under international human rights law. Cessation of an ongoing violation is an essential element of the right to an effective remedy. How does the right contained in an international or regional instrument become part of national or domestic law? This question is central to the issue of justiciability, which refers to the ability to use human rights standards before the courts or enforce them more generally. Legislative steps can be accomplished through existing laws, or by incorporating new laws designed to bring international rights into the domestic sphere. The application of international law standards at the domestic level depends in part on the country’s legal traditions and constitution. Most common law jurisdictions are “dualist,” meaning that, as a general rule, an international instrument will only have legal enforceability if it has been incorporated into law by national legislation.4 For instance, Commonwealth nations such as Canada and India5 follow this common law tradition, as do most Anglophone nations in Africa.6 Commonwealth Secretariat, Handbook on Ratification of Human Rights Instruments (London: Human Rights Unit, 2006) at 47 (accessed on October 9, 2007 at http://www.thecommonwealth.org/ Shared_ASP_Files/UploadedFiles/20AFBD50-7AF7-492D-B68B-CDA734583FAD_RatificationHandbook.pdf. 5 P. Malanczuk, Akehurst’s Modern Introduction to International Law, 7th revised ed. (New York: Routledge, 1997) at 66. 4 A. Katz, “An Act of Transformation: The Incorporation of the Rome Statute of the ICC into National Law in South Africa” (2003) 12 African Security Rev, 4 at 26. However, some Anglophone countries in Africa do not follow this tradition. Article 144 of the Namibian Constitution of 1990 provides that “unless otherwise provided by this Constitution or Act of Parliament, the general rules of public international law and international agreements binding upon Namibia under this Constitution shall form part of the law of Namibia.” 6 6