This executive summary lays out highlights from the report Building toward resilience: a policy roadmap for supporting national human rights institutions written by Max Bell School Master of Public Policy students Ariane Lamoureux, Calvin Campbell, Megan Wood, and Victoria Gibbs as part of the 2026 Policy Lab.
Access the summary and presentation below, and read their full report here.
"Human rights are the bedrock of peace. Today, both are under attack." António Guterres, UN Secretary-General (2024).
When societies enter crises, human rights are threatened. Armed conflict, democratic backsliding, political instability, humanitarian emergencies, climate-related disasters, public health crises, and mass displacement place extraordinary pressure on human rights and the institutions responsible for protecting them. National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) play a vital role in these situations. They investigate complaints, document human rights violations, monitor state actions, engage with international human rights mechanisms, and help ensure the rights of affected populations remain visible.
Since 1946, NHRIs have been recognized as essential actors in the protection and promotion of human rights. Their role was strengthened in 1991 following the United Nations (UN) International Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, culminating in the creation of the Paris Principles in 1993. These principles set a global benchmark for the independence, effectiveness, and functioning of NHRIs. As of early 2026, 119 NHRIs operate worldwide, with approximately two-thirds of institutions fully compliant with the Paris Principles.
Over the past decades, however, the operating environment of NHRIs has changed substantially. Crises have become more frequent, more protracted, and increasingly interconnected.
These evolving crises present both new threats and new opportunities for the protection and promotion of human rights.
Yet, the systems designed to support NHRis have not evolved at the same pace. As a crisis unfolds, institutions often experience the greatest operational strain precisely when they are needed most. Financial and human resources become constrained, leadership structures can be disrupted, staff face heightened safety and security risks, and longstanding partnerships may weaken. At the same time, the number of international actors involved in crisis response rapidly expands. While a surge in support reflects a shared commitment to protecting affected populations, it can also create challenges.
For an already overstretched NHRI, navigating overlapping mandates, competing priorities, and fragmented coordination can divert scarce capacity away from its core mandate of protecting and promoting human rights.
Over time, these pressures weaken institutional effectiveness and erode public trust. The challenge is not simply strengthening individual NHRIs, but also the broader international support architecture that enables them to function effectively during crises. As today's crises continue evolving, so too must the international community in how it supports institutions responsible for safeguarding human rights.
Responding to these challenges requires more than ad hoc solutions. It requires strengthening the systems that enable NHRIs to operate under pressure. This means improving coordination between national and international actors, establishing clearer communication channels, sharing knowledge across regions, investing in institutional crisis-preparedness, and building the long-term capacity needed to sustain operations throughout a crisis. Without these foundations, even well-intentioned support risks being unable to reach vulnerable people.
Practical innovations have already demonstrated what is possible. In Palestine, digital case-tracking kiosks have expanded access to human rights complaint mechanisms during periods of instability. In Pakistan, Al-assisted complaint screening through WhatsApp has enabled more efficient processing of large volumes of complaints. These examples illustrate how targeted innovations can strengthen specific aspects of an NHRI's work. However, acute innovations cannot overcome broader systemic challenges.
There is no universal model for supporting NHRIs in crisis settings. NHRIs operate within diverse political systems, legal frameworks, security environments, and social contexts, meaning that effective support must be tailored to local realities. At the same time, valuable lessons can be shared across countries and regions facing similar challenges. Therefore, flexible and collaborative approaches that put local ownership at the heart of international support are essential to strengthening NHRIs, especially when their operating environments are under the greatest pressure.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is well positioned to help drive this evolution. As a long-term partner in countries affected by crisis, the UNDP maintains enduring relationships with governments, civil society organizations, academic institutions, local communities, and international partners. Unlike many actors whose engagement is limited to short-term emergency response, the UNDP supports institutions before, during and after crises.
As an international development specialist, the UNDP possess expertise spanning governance, human rights, peacebuilding, sustainable development, humanitarian action and crisis response. This expertise enables it to connect sectors that often operate independently, creating holistic, creative solutions that better respond to the needs of NHRIs globally.
This report recognizes that the international support architecture for NHRIs must evolve alongside the changing nature of crisis. It explores practical pathways through which the UNDP can strengthen coordination, reinforce resilience, and foster partnerships across the global NHRI community.
More broadly, it is a call to international policymakers, regional organizations, middle-power states, development partners, civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and the wider human rights community to invest collectively in the institutions that safeguard rights when they are under the greatest threats.
Download the full version of this report here.
Authors: Ariane Lamoureux, Calvin Campbell, Megan Wood, Victoria Gibbs
