The Role of State Actors Within the National Human Rights System

Abstract

Given the revival of entrusting domestic state actors with a mandate to both promote and implement human rights, this article revisits the role of state actors within the national human rights system (NHRS). The article sheds light on the coordination of the actions of state actors at the domestic level, their interplay with non-state actors and their interactions with international human rights mechanisms. A systems approach to the role of state actors in human rights protection and promotion allows us to capture the political and institutional complexity of domestic human rights implementation. Such an approach values coordination of the state human rights action (horizontal dimension) and its interaction with supra national human rights mechanisms (vertical dimension). This holistic NHRS approach may also offer guidance to states, donors and organisations implementing human rights work on the ground. The article also reflects on new avenues for human rights research that would allow for bridging the ideal type concept and construct that the NHRS is and the complexity and shortfalls of the real-life functioning of human rights state actors and their actual interactions among themselves in context as well as with non-state actors and international human rights mechanisms.