Human Rights are a key area of concern for the Commonwealth as enshrined in the 1991 Harare Declaration in which states pledged to work for the protection and promotion of the fundamental political values of the association, namely democracy, democratic processes and institutions which reflect national circumstances, fundamental human rights, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, and just and honest government.
Human Rights is particularly vital and in recent years Parliament as an institution has been regarded as an important forum through which people exercise their right to participate in the public affairs of a jurisdiction. Parliamentarians in turn have a responsibility to ensure human rights for all are protected by effectively discharging their responsibilities as legislators, approvers of the budget and overseers of Government.
The CPA actively supports the protection and promotion of the fundamental political values to which the Commonwealth is committed and seeks to strengthen the role of Parliamentarians as guardians of human rights. However, it has been recognised that often Parliamentarians know little about the international legal human rights framework, the obligations their countries have entered into by signing human rights treaties, and the various international human rights bodies and mechanisms that exist to monitor their implementation.
So for that reason, the CPA has commissioned the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) to prepare a Human Rights module as part of the joint CPA and Word Bank Institute (WBI) distance learning series.