4. Eleven national action plans At the time this Handbook was finalized, the following fifteen13 Member States had prepared national action plans:14 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Australia (1993) Malawi (1995) Latvia (1995) Philippines (1996) Brazil (1997) Ecuador (1998) Indonesia (1998) Mexico (1998) South Africa (1998) Venezuela (1999) Bolivia (1999) Norway (1999) Democratic Republic of the Congo (2000) Thailand (2001) Sweden (2002) Eleven of the 15 plans and the processes leading to their adoption are discussed in detail in this chapter. Although they vary significantly in length, format and scope, they share many common features. The following outline summarizes these eleven plans and is followed by a section on their common elements. 4.1 Australia (1993) The Australian “National Action Plan” is contained in a 127-page book. This was the first national action plan and its preparation reflected Australia’s leading role in promoting the concept at the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights. While the plan itself does not indicate how it was prepared, it was developed in late 1993 by an interdepartmental committee of government officials, led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Attorney-General’s Department. There was some consultation with the NGO community. The plan was made publicly available, although there was no media campaign associated with its launch. The Australian plan was drafted within a tight time frame of several months so that it could be presented to the Commission on Human Rights at its fiftieth session in 1994. The document contains a foreword by the Acting Prime Minister of Australia, who described the plan as a “clear statement of Australia’s commitment to the protection and implementation of human rights at a national level”. He said “the document identifies the challenges ahead and possible future action to be taken by the Australian Government”. While the plan document does not explicitly refer to its time frame, 13 There may be other plans that have not come to the attention of OHCHR. The full texts of most of these plans may be found on the OHCHR web site at www.ohchr.org/html/menu2/plan_action.htm. 14 24