Funding success: £15.3k secured from Research England to develop the first European Network on National Human Rights Action Planning
Dr Azadeh Chalabi, Senior Lecturer at the Liverpool Law School, has been awarded £15.3k from Research England (UKRI) to develop the first European network on National Human Rights Action Planning. The project, entitled ‘Building a European network on national human rights action planning as a route to policy impact’, will run 1 October 2024 – 31 July 2025.
The UN General Assembly has highlighted National Human Rights Action Plans (NHRAP) as an essential part of each country’s approach to protecting human rights. Additionally, the UN emphasised that all countries should adopt these plans systematically and encouraged them to develop their NHRAPs through a participatory process, involving inputs from various groups, such as government agencies, civil society, and citizens, to ensure that the plans reflect the needs and rights of all people. As of today, at least 152 NHRAPs have been adopted in 79 countries, with 35 countries having adopted more than one plan, and more than 30 plans are in the process of development.
This research aims to create the first European network dedicated to improving the effectiveness of human rights action planning across the Europe. The network will provide a platform for experts to address challenges, share strategies, and issue policy briefings on best practices for NGOs, governments, national human rights institutions and policymakers ultimately fostering stronger cooperation across Europe for more impactful human rights policies.
Speaking of the funding award, Dr Azadeh Chalabi, shared: “The idea of adopting a National Human Rights Action Plan was put forward in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action as a response strategy to the lack of consensus on how to put human rights into practice in a coherent, comprehensive and systematic way and to the need for a more proactive move than merely enacting bills of rights and offering judicial remedies.
There is currently no regional or international platform for the stakeholders involved in NHRAPing (e.g., governments, NGOs, National Human Rights Institutions) to exchange their ideas and experiences on good practices and challenges. This UKRI Policy Support fund is a great opportunity to build the first European Network on National Human Rights Action Planning. The network aims to create stronger collaborations across Europe to help make human rights action planning more impactful and far-reaching. I hope this network can also facilitate collaborative planning on human rights issues which go beyond national borders such as climate change and sustainability.”
This research project comes after an empirical study covering thirty years of NHRAPing and including an extensive longitudinal textual analysis of all NHRAPs available in English developed between 1994-2024, conducted by Dr Azadeh Chalabi.
Dr Chalabi is a world leading researcher on NHRAPs. She has already conducted extensive works on evaluating the impacts of NHRAPs across the world and their future directions published in the leading human rights journals. Her track record of exceptional and pioneering contributions in the area of human rights planning is evidenced by not only her articles but also her monograph, 'National Human Rights Action Planning' (OUP, 2018) which is the first ever volume dedicated to this area.
This research supports the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), and SDG 13 (climate action).