Annual Report of The National
Council for Human Rights
Cont. - Chapter Four
NCHR's Activities
In Bahrain, a symposium was held for developing a national plan in the domain of human rights. It was organized by national, regional and NGOs with the support of HCHR.
Based on past international experience, a national action plan for enhancing human rights should go through five stages:
Preliminary Stage: It includes consulting with the Government, NGOs, and concerned parties; preparing an instrument on principles to be authorized by the Government; announcing its contents to the public, and organizing preliminary meetings with concerned parties.
Plan Development Stage: This necessitates a coordination committee to set forth the conceptual framework for the plan; create sectoral work groups; consult with non-governmental organizations and concerned parties; hold public hearing sessions; prepare fundamental studies; determine priorities and issues of specific importance, specify the requirements of vulnerable groups; and develop a draft plan and its time and legal frameworks.
Plan Implementation Phase: This includes publicizing the plan; holding regular meetings by the coordination committee; working with partners on implementing the plan; enhancing consultations and interlocking; laying down informational and educational strategies to increase awareness on human rights, and endeavoring to obtain the Parliament's authorization.
Monitoring Phase: This shall be carried out by developing monitoring modalities; conducting semi-annual evaluations by the coordination committee; following up on the interventions of NGOs; following up on consultations and interlocking; following up on feedback from implementing parties, and preparing reports for the Parliament and public.
Evaluation Phase: It includes the issuance of an annual report; creation of an auditing team; preparation of reports for the Parliament and public, and gathering recommendations for the plan to follow.
Those phases require the proactive participation of the society and the Government. In essence, these phases are part of the auditing operations necessary to enhance human rights.
The NCHR deems the mandate, stated in its incorporation law, a political decision for the commencement of developing a plan. The NCHR has been keen on considering its action plan and programs, and the priorities its committees specified, as preliminary steps in determining the goals and priorities of the plan to be integrated in the State's comprehension plan (2007 - 2012). The NCHR has therefore agreed on the following steps for developing the plan:
First:
- Determining the requirements and starting points of each phase and the bodies
concerned with the execution of the plan, and creating a supreme committee and
work groups.
- Compiling the information and data required to begin developing the plan and
removing the obstacles that impede access to sources of information.
- Reviewing some plans already implemented in other countries.
- Reviewing national laws and regulations as well as international laws concerning
human rights; holding a national conference, and organizing various symposiums.
- Holding referendums to learn about the opinions of civil society bodies regarding
the components of the plan.
- Holding continuous meetings with concerned civil society bodies to crystallize a
common vision, also holding meeting with concerned bodies in the government to
find common ground to work as one team.
Second:
- Conducting a thorough and specialized Christian study on various aspects
concerning human rights in Egypt and developing a data base.
- Analyzing the results of the study and presenting it to concerned parties for
discussion and feedback.
- Ensuring that results comply with juristic, legislative, national and international
standards and ensuring the possibility of their implementation.
- Determining the specialized cadres capable of following up on the development of
the plan and coordinating relevant efforts and activities.
- Making use of the media to increase awareness and receive feedback in order to
make any necessary amendments.
Third:
- Setting the general framework for the plan to ensure its clarity to all concerned
parties.
- Determining material, financial and human resources requirements and making
use of resources available to the State's ministries and civil society bodies.
- Providing a special and sufficient budget to ensure the plan's independence and
success, while benefiting in this domain from public funding and the assistance
provided by the UNO.
Coordination of Roles for Developing the National Plan for Human Rights:
A committee was created to prepare for the development of the national plan and the delegation of a specialist in this field pursuant to the work methodology of the UNO, such that the following principles are observed:
1- Governmental or non-governmental bodies as well as vulnerable groups shall participate in
developing the plan based on just representation.
2- The committee's representation shall be pursuant to democratic basics and shall include
the participation of active civil society institutions.
3- The committee's work shall be based on continuous consulting and coordination with all
bodies participating in the development of the plan.
4- The coordination committee and its work shall be independent, and the committee shall
resort to an expert on human rights, impartiality and integrity.
The committee's role may be summarized as follows:
1- Laying out the strategy and mechanism for the plan;
2- Studying the priorities of the plan and supervising the Christian study on human rights;
3- Developing the national plan;
4- Laying out the informational strategy for the plan;
5- Determining the evaluation of the plan; following up progress, and studying the impact
mechanisms of each phase in the plan;
6- Creating sub-committees, coordinating between them and evaluating their work;
7- Coordinating with all various regional and international bodies that may assist in the
implementation of the plan.
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