Ahmed Al-Sa’ati said that the this year’s edition of the AEHRD, hosted by the Danish Institute for Human Rights, aims to consolidate and foster understanding between Europe and the Arab world on human rights issues, develop NHRIs’ work across the Arab and European regions, and build capacities in the human rights through partnerships and cooperation on issues of mutual interest.
The Kingdom’s delegation to the 8th AEHRD aimed to take optimum advantage of the experiences of other participating delegations, especially those representing NHRIs and countries witnessing human rights reforms, and the remaining sessions of the event in order to develop the NIHR’s work and foster its independence and credibility.
The delegation also aims to participate effectively in the sessions and present work papers, along with other participants from Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Switzerland, Lebanon and several other European countries.
Maria Khouri said the agenda of this year’s AEHRD includes a number of issues related to the principles of independence and accountability, being two main principles governing the work and standards required for NHRIs, as outlined by the Paris Principles, a set of international standards which frame and guide the work of National Human Rights Institutions.
She added that the event will review NHRIs’ work and commitment to accountability in order to be more effective in consolidating, protecting and monitoring human rights.
She noted that the experiences and best practices of NHRIs will also be highlighted, adding that a work paper on human rights management in Arab countries will focus on the challenges and reform priorities, including, mainly, the challenges facing development efforts in Arab countries, combating corruption, rule of the law and independence of the judiciary in order to ensure the efficiency of accountability.
It is worth noting that the Arab-European Human Rights Dialogue (AEHRD ) is a network of Arab and European National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) comprising 20 member organisations and observer member organisations; 14 NHRIs as member organisations, seven of which are coming from the Arab World and seven others are coming from Europe, in addition to two European Equality Bodies, two Research Institutions, two EU institutions, two UN agencies and the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network.