ID :
503528
Tue, 09/04/2018 - 21:22
Auther :

Roundtable Discusses Role of National Human Rights Institutions in Monitoring Elections

Madrid, September 04 (QNA) - The Doha-based Arab Network for National Human Rights Institutions (ANNHRIs), in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), held in Madrid, Spain, a two-day roundtable of experts on the first draft of a systematic guide to monitoring human rights in elections. The meeting discussed the role of national human rights institutions in the elections, the initiative to produce the systematic guide, the principles and standards, and the role of national human rights institutions in monitoring elections in the different stages of the electoral term, as well as the preparation of case studies for presentation in the guide as possible examples from the Arab region. Executive Director of ANNHRIs Sultan Al Jamali said that the Paris Principles had granted national human rights institutions a distinguished position at the national and international levels, as well as a wide mandate to enable them to promote and protect human rights in their countries. He pointed out that these institutions have been building and upgrading their capacities and developing their own cadres, in cooperation with international organizations, especially the United Nations, in addition to establishing regional networks, such as ANNHRIs. Al Jamali said that the theme of the roundtable on the systematic guide to monitoring human rights in the elections is in the context of the mandate of national institutions, as stipulated in the Paris Principles, to establish standards and guidelines that would qualify them further as a component of strengthening democracy in their countries, considering that elections are among the most important instruments of democracy, if they are conducted with transparency and credibility. He reviewed the draft systematic guide and the steps taken by this experiment until it reached the second expert table. He explained that the general administration of ANNHRIs organized three training workshops on monitoring the elections and the role of national institutions in monitoring elections in Amman, Khartoum, and Muscat. (QNA)

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