The Board of Commissioners (BoC) has consummated an eight-count resolution assuring the OHCHR and other international partners of unity of purpose in the realization of the INCHR’S statutory mandate.
Authorities of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR) and the United Nations Office for the High Commission for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) resident office in Liberia identified mutual respect and trust as crucial in building a strong partnership bond in human rights promotion and protection.
The authorities of both institutions expressed the complimentary optimism at the INCHR’S Board of Commissioners’ (BoC) inaugural retreat held from October 6-8, 2021 at the Farmington Hotel in Harbel, under the patronage of OHCHR.
The three-day deliberations considered a wide range of discursive issues including the Paris Principles on National Human Rights Institutions, state human rights treaty compliance, the national human rights action plan, civil society and INCHR collaboration and presentations from its five statutory departments.
The retreat further mulled through a five-day experience sharing visit of the Kenyan National Commission for Human Right (KNCHR) delegation to Liberia from April 8-12, 2019.
The retreat then transitioned into the review of INCHR’s current Strategic Plan (2016-2021) which expires this year and emphasized the need to begin discussions bordering on carving a new strategic framework document for 2022-2024.
A series of presentations on diversified themes from the OHCHR further enriched the human rights discourse.
Remarking at the close of the retreat, the resident representative of OHCHR in Liberia, Dr. Uchenna Emelonye, extolled the INCHR family for the retreat and pledged his office’s unflinching support to the working of the Commission.
“We are ready to build a strong partnership with the current Board and are encouraging and willing to support the Board to take a nation- wide tour in the soonest time to have a fair appreciation of the human rights situation around the country,” Dr. Emelonye assured the BoC.
For his part, the chairperson of the INCHR, Dempster Brown, lauded the OHCHR for the strong partnership support, not only to the current Board but also to the previous Board for the continuing enhancement of human rights awareness in the country.
“The current Board remains apolitical in executing its statutory mandate but firmed in addressing human rights situation by engaging stakeholders so that we can together shift the human rights discourse of the country,” Cllr. Brown intimated.