A/HRC/10/54
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the Durban Review Process, and a working group on human rights and business. The meeting
also discussed the participation of institutions in the Commission on the Status of Women and
the Committee’s engagement in the indigenous rights mechanisms, and agreed to discuss further
the issues at the next Committee meeting in March 2009.
60. Many national human rights institutions showed strong interest in and support for their
participation in the Durban Review Conference, emphasizing their potential in building
credibility for the Conference as well as implementing its outcome at the country level. The
working group on the Durban Review Conference is composed of two institutions from each
region (Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, Rwanda and
South Africa) and led by co-chairs (the Republic of Korea and South Africa). The working group
will make a contribution to the outcome paper of the Durban Review Conference.
61. The working group on human rights and business will be composed of institution
representatives from all regions with expertise on the theme. The working group’s mandate will
be to support institutions in strategic planning, capacity-building, pooling of resources and
agenda-setting. A suggestion was made to the Committee Chairperson that human rights and
business should be the theme of the tenth International Conference in 2010.
62. The Chairpersons of the four regional networks reported on their activities within the
framework of the “UDHR 60” campaign, in which the High Commissioner for Human Rights
invited national human rights institutions to take the lead. They expressed their gratitude to
OHCHR for the financial and technical support provided in the context of the sixtieth
anniversary of the Universal Declaration.
Ninth International Conference of National Human Rights Institutions
63. The ninth International Conference for National Human Rights Institutions was held in
Nairobi from 21 to 24 October 2008. The Conference was hosted, organized and supported by
OHCHR, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the International Coordinating
Committee. The event also benefited from the support of the Organisation internationale de la
Francophonie, the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency and UNDP.
Participants included over 120 representatives of national human rights institutions from all over
the world, as well as regional coordinating bodies, non-governmental organizations, and
international human rights experts. Several events were also organized in parallel to the
Conference (see paragraphs 81-85 below).
64. The theme of the Conference was “National human rights institutions and the
administration of justice”. Participants discussed good practices of institutions’ work in
strengthening the rule of law. Discussions developed around the following issues in different
panels: (a) the relationship between institutions and the judiciary and the role that they play in
the administration of justice; (b) institutions’ support for critical components of national human
rights protection systems; (c) institutions and the fight against impunity; (d) institutions and the
right to restitution, compensation and rehabilitation for victims of gross human rights violations
and fundamental freedoms in post-conflict situations; (e) institutions and capacity-building with
regard to the administration of justice, in particular through reform of the judiciary, the security
sector and the penal system, juvenile justice reform, or the fight against corruption.
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