HURIST: The Human Rights Strengthening Programme
Integrating Human Rights in UNDP's Activities
HURIST, a joint programme of UNDP and OHCHR, supports the implementation of UNDP's policy on human rights as presented in the policy document "Integrating Human Rights with Sustainable Human Development" (1998)
and the Secretary General's Action 2 Reform Programme (2004), a global programme designed to equip UN interagency country teams to work with Member States, at their request, to bolster their national human rights promotion and protection systems. Its primary purposes are to test guidelines and methodologies and to identify best practices and learning opportunities in the development of national capacity for the promotion and protection of human rights and in the application of a human rights-based approach to development programming.
During its first phase (1999 – 2002), efforts focused specifically on supporting the development of national human rights action plans and to strengthen the human rights capacities of UNDP Country Offices through programming support and the provision of UNV Human Rights Specialists. During the second phase (2002 – 2005) of the programme, while pursuing what has been initiated, priority attention is devoted to human rights reviews of UNDP country programmes and to the development of methodologies and their piloting in UNDP’s main practice areas. A central task for HURIST is also to document and disseminate learning experiences regarding human rights-based approaches.
The HURIST Agenda
Applying a human rights-based approach to UNDP programming
While capacity development for human rights protection and promotion is fully within the tradition of UNDP's support for national capacity building and feasible as long as it is politically acceptable, the situation is different with regard to human rights mainstreaming. This is new and it affects all the UNDP activities in a country. In the revised HURIST, priority is, therefore, devoted to capacity development for integrating human rights with the key practice areas of UNDP, as well as to develop tools to enhance programming modalities. The compilation, analysis and dissemination of achievements in the field of human rights integration with development is a crosscutting feature of the programme. The key practice areas specifically addressed under HURIST are: poverty reduction; democratic governance; the environment; and HIV/AIDS. The documentation of HURIST ‘s activities are organized under the following headings:
- Applying a human rights-based approach to UNDP programming
- Enhancing human rights systems
- Develop tools for human rights-based programming
- Advocacy, outreach and learning from partners
HURIST Achievements
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Support to more than 30 UNDP Country offices in their work to integrate human rights in their activities; UN Volunteers Human Rights Specialists have been posted in 17 country offices each for two or three years.
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Support of development of national human rights action plans in six countries, three of which have had their plans approved by parliaments (Lithuania, Mongolia and Moldova).
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Secretariat for an interagency workshop on a human rights based approach in the context of UN reform. One of the outcomes, a Common Understanding of a Human Rights based Approach to Development Cooperation, was later endorsed by the competent bodies of the United Nations and integrated in the 2003 guidelines for the CCA/UNDAF processes.
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Draft Guidelines of Human Rights Reviews of UNDP country programmes. Guidelines piloted in several countries; considerable demand from COs.
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Practice Note on Poverty Reduction and Human Rights, jointly with the Poverty Reduction Group in BDP. Piloting will be led by The Poverty Group.
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Asia/Pacific Access to Justice programme on the basis of human rights started with partial support from HURIST; new initiative has followed in Latin America.
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