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Key Text Reinvigorating Human Rights in the Barcelona Process: Using Human Rights Impact Assessment to Enhance Mainstreaming of Human Rights

Author: Netherlands Humanist Committee on Human Rights
Date: 2004
Size: 50 pages (800 KB)

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Summary

How can human rights be mainstreamed in the European-Mediterranean Partnership? This paper from the European University Institute introduces the Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) and argues for a more systemic approach to human rights analysis. Using Morocco as a case study, it suggests that HRIA combined with country analysis offers a conceptual framework for human rights analysis as well as for the integration of human rights throughout the policy process.

Human rights have had only marginal influence on the overall policy of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. This is in part because the European Union believes that the improvement of human rights will be a consequence of economic growth and prosperity. The two main programming and monitoring instruments used in the Partnership are Country Strategy Papers (CAP) and new National Action Plans (NAP). The quality and extent of human rights analysis using CAPs has varied and the overall level of attention for human rights issues has been poor. NAPs will contain action points with measurable, time-bound benchmarks and identify the technical and financial assistance needed to achieve these.

The Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) aims to enhance the effectiveness of external policies on human rights, prevent negative effects, and ensure that human rights considerations are integrated throughout policy formulation and implementation.

It consists of eight procedural levels: assessment of the actual human rights situation, political analysis, development of a view on the desired situation, selection of essential questions, formulation of policy options and activities, decision on policy and activities, and monitoring and evaluation.
Results are measured using quantitative and qualitative indicators.
It uses a cyclic approach: plan-do-check/feedback-adapt, and concerns the whole cycle (not just monitoring and evaluation).
These principles can be adapted for context-specific tools, different levels of analysis and indicators, and combined with other approaches.

The application of HRIA to Morocco as a case study suggests that:

The EU assumption that policy should focus on the economic and financial situation is incorrect: economic growth in itself will not tackle human rights problems. Many human rights violations can be traced back to problems that are not of an economic nature.
There is a need for more systematic, in-depth and transparent reporting on the formulation, implementation and impact of EU policies. A databank with detailed analysis of significant human rights developments would be beneficial.
The HRIA needs to be complemented by a political analysis to identify the main actors that need to be involved to address the problems identified.

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Source: Netherlands Humanist Committee on Human Rights, 2004, ‘Reinvigorating Human Rights in the Barcelona Process: Using Human Rights Impact Assessment to Enhance Mainstreaming of Human Rights’, HOM, Ulbrecht
Author: Netherlands Humanist Committee on Human Rights, http://www.hom.nl/english/index.php