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OHCHR – Latin America Regional Office
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Background |
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OHCHR’s Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office, based at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago , Chile , was established in November 2001 following the signature of a Memorandum of Intents between OHCHR and ECLAC.
The main focus of the Office is the implementation of the High Commissioner’s Plan of Action in the region, with particular attention to protection, capacity building and civil society empowerment as key parameters to close human rights implementation gaps (capacity, knowledge, commitment and security).
To this end, the OHCHR’s Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Regional Office will continue working to build partnerships with a range of actors, including human rights national protection systems and civil society, as well as regional partners, such as ECLAC and the United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) in the region.
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2006-2007 Programme |
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OHCHR LAC Regional Office will perform the following functions, among others: establishing high-level dialogues with Governments and regional inter-governmental organizations; building links with regional civil society networks; supporting human rights officers assigned to UNCT in the region; undertaking assessment missions for potential technical cooperation programmes; and providing early warning of developing protection gaps.
The programme of the OHCHR LAC Regional Office has been designed to strengthen its partnership and working relationships with national human rights protection systems and institutions, NGOs, universities and other civil society organizations. The purpose is to strengthen national capacities to close protection gaps and to facilitate the effective implementation of the recommendations made by international human rights protection mechanisms.
In line with Action 2 of the Secretary-General’s Reform Programme, the Office of the Regional Representative will also work closely with the UNCTs of the region and will provide technical advice and human rights-based approach trainings to relevant UN staff.
The Office will be developing a progressive expertise in the areas of economic, social, and cultural rights, including areas such as Poverty Reduction Strategies, the Millennium Declaration Goals and non-discrimination. The idea is to enhance the capacity of ECLAC and the UNCT through the provision of tools, guidelines and indicators to use a rights-based approach to programming while assisting national interlocutors on social and economic policies.
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Expected Accomplishments |
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Enhanced capacity of national protection systems and other duty-bearers to fulfill their obligations to better protect rights-holders.
Enhanced capacity of civil society and other right-holders to claim their rights.
Enhanced capacity of UNCTs (as well as ECLAC and other regional partners) to use a human rights approach in their programming to assist countries in developing efficient national protection systems. | |
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