GANHRI accreditation
Topic: Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
GANHRI accreditation is a peer review run by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions. "Peer review" means similar bodies from other countries do the grading. They check a national human rights body against the Paris Principles, the UN standards for such bodies. Grade "A" means the body fully meets the Principles. Grade "B" means it meets them only partly. The grade affects a body's standing at the UN and is a test of whether it is truly independent.
Example
India's NHRC had its re-accreditation deferred in 2023 and again in 2024. A downgrade to "B" was then recommended (verify current). The questions raised were about whether the NHRC meets the standards of independence and pluralism, which means having members from many backgrounds.
Don't confuse with
- Paris Principles: these are the standards themselves. GANHRI accreditation is the process that grades bodies against them.
Related concepts
- National Human Rights Commission
- State Human Rights Commission
- Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act 2019
- Paris Principles
- Human rights courts