Network of National Institutions in the Americas

The Network of National Institutions in the Americas is one of four regional groups of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) within the global network, the International Co-ordinating Committee

International Co-ordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions

The International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions, sometimes shortened to the International Coordinating Committee , is a global network of national human rights institutions - administrative bodies set up to promote, protect and monitor human rights in a given country...

of NHRIs (the ICC). The Americas group, which largely consists of ombudsman

Ombudsman

An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...

agencies rather than multi-member human rights commission

Human rights commission

A Human Rights Commission is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights.The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as national human rights institutions or truth and reconciliation commissions.-International Human Rights...

s, is currently chaired by the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico

National Human Rights Commission (Mexico)

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution accredited at the United Nations with 'A' status by the International Co-ordinating Committee of NHRIs . It is a member of the Network of National Institutions in the Americas, one of four regional groups within...

, which represents the region on the ICC Bureau.

Members

The full members of the Network are those national institutions deemed by the ICC to be fully compliant with the Paris Principles

Paris Principles

The Paris Principles were defined at the first International Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights held in Paris on 7-9 October 1991. They were adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Commission by Resolution 1992/54 of 1992, and by the UN General...

, so accredited with "A status":

Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

Defensoría del Pueblo de la Nación Argentina (Ombudsman)

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

Defensor del Pueblo

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Canadian Human Rights Commission

The Canadian Human Rights Commission is a quasi-judicial body that was established in 1977 by the government of Canada. It is empowered under the Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate and try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the provision of services within federal...

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

Ombudsman's Office of Colombia

The Ombudsman's Office of Colombia is the national government agency that is charged with overseeing the protection of civil and human rights within the legal framework of the Republic of Colombia. The ombudsman, or public defender , is an official appointed by the President, and elected by the...

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

Defensoria de los Habitantes

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

Defensor del Pueblo de la República de Ecuador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

Procuraduría de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (El Salvador)

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

Procurador de los Derechos Humanos (Guatemala)

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

Comisionado Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (Honduras)

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

National Human Rights Commission (Mexico)

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de Nicaragua

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

Defensoría del Pueblo de la República de Panamá

Paraguay

Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

Defensoría del Pueblo de la República del Paraguay

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

Defensoría del Pueblo - Ombudsman (Peru)

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

Ombudsman Institution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Other human rights institutions in the Americas

The following institutions are not "A" accredited by the ICC but are potentially eligible for consideration (except, under current ICC rules, Puerto Rico). Some participate alongside Network members in regional events, particularly those organized through the Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsmen (FIO).

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands...

Office of the Ombudsman

Office of the Ombudsman (Antigua and Barbuda)

The Office of the Ombudsman is an independent officer of Parliament appointed under Section 66 of the Antigua and Barbuda Constitution. It is accredited as a national human rights institution but with the lowest status accorded by the International Co-ordinating Committee of NHRIs...

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

Office of the Ombudsman (Barbados)

Belize

Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...

Office of the Ombudsman (Belize)

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

Office of the Ombudsman (Guyana)

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

Office de la Protection du Citoyen

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

Office of the Public Defender (Jamaica)

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

Oficina del Procurador del Ciudadano

Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...

Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner (St Lucia)

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

Office of the Ombudsman of Trinidad and Tobago

External links

National Human Rights Institutions Forum

Members

Other human rights institutions in the Americas

External links

See also