NARRATIVE REPORT 2009 - The ICHRP

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International Council on Human Rights Policy - Narrative Report 2009 OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE COUNCIL Council Assembly In March 2009 the Council’s Executive Board decided not to hold a Council meeting in 2009, for financial reasons. The twelfth annual meeting of Council members will take place in Geneva in November 2010. Institutional relationships Realizing Rights –The Ethical Globalization Initiative With the Aspen Institute and Columbia University, the Council will continue to support Realizing Rights - The Ethical Globalization Initiative (EGI) until the organisation closes in its present form at the end of 2010. EGI seeks to catalyse policy formation by convening policy-makers from government, international institutions, business and civil society. In 2008 EGI began a planning process to manage the transition, which aims to devolve EGI’s ongoing programmes to other organisations by 2010, and redeploy or find new employment for the staff by the same date. In these circumstances, the Council was particularly pleased to jointly sponsor with Realizing Rights the Colloquium that both organisations organised in January 2010 on Macro-Economic Policy and Human Rights (see section B, project 210). A Council Board Member and the Executive Director sit on EGI’s Board. A staff member of EGI, Scott Jerbi, works out of the Council’s offices in Versoix. Council staff provide policy support in some areas of EGI’s programme. Other examples of co-operation operation Transparency International The Council has developed good working relations with Transparency International in the course of preparing the project on corruption. Magdalena has been directly involved in the drafting of their new publication “Working Paper No. 5/2008 Human Rights and Corruption”. The Council’s draft report on Corruption is cited as the basis of the report. Transparency is interested in co-operating on the second report and is likely to organise a workshop (at their own cost) to discuss the final draft. United Nations Magdalena Sepúlveda has worked closely with the OHCHR since her appointment in 2008 to the position of UN Independent Expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty (see below). Technical University of Monterrey, Mexico The Council agreed a contract with the Technical University of Monterrey under which the University will translate and co-publish the Council’s first corruption report in Spanish, and will distribute it in Latin America. The Human Rights Centre of the University is using the Corruption report and several of the working papers in its international diploma on corruption and transparency. It is interested to build a longer-term relationship with the Council, and we will explore the idea further if this first cooperation is successful. World Health Organization (WHO) The Council developed and strengthened its working relationship with the Department of Reproductive Health and Research of the World Health Organization (WHO) during 2009, and in 2010 will cooperate on publishing a series of papers on sexuality, health and human rights, which the WHO commissioned in 2008-2009. (See section C, project 140.) 26
International Council on Human Rights Policy - Narrative Report 2009 INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona During 2009 Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona continued her work as the UN Independent Expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty. To allow her to fulfil her mandate correctly, it was agreed in 2009 that she will set aside one day per week for this work, reducing her time as ICHRP Research Director accordingly. Staffing In October 2009, the Council’s first executive Director, Robert Archer, announced that he would stand down from the end of April 2010. His successor will be Mr Maina Kiai, who was appointed in March 2010. Mr Kiai will take up his post in July 2010. The Council started 2009 with a smaller staff, having closed two posts at the end of 2008 for financial reasons. The secretariat’s complement was reduced further in September 2009 when Stephen Humphreys, one of the Council’s three Research Directors, accepted a post at the London School of Economics and Political Science. At the end of the year, the Secretariat was composed of the Director, two Research Directors, the Accountant, the Outreach and Publications Co-ordinator, the IT and Communications Officer, and an Administrative Assistant. In addition, the Council continues to offer three 6 monthly rolling internships. The Council’s post-graduate interns have made an extremely useful contribution to the Council’s work for several years. Each intern is recruited and managed by a Research Director, and can therefore engage quite deeply with the Council’s research process. In view of the fact that the Secretariat currently has a complement of two Research Directors, from 2010 one of the three interns will be attached to the Communications team, thereby helping to fulfil the Council’s wish to invest more resources in this area. With respect to permanent staff, the Secretariat cannot be reduced further without becoming dysfunctional. Its composition will be reviewed by the Board and the incoming Director in 2010 and, once the Council’s current financial travails are overcome, one or more additional appointments will be necessary. In the longer term, it will not be possible to achieve the Council’s mandate, or the communications objectives identified by the DFID/Finland evaluation of 2009, without some increase in fundraising capacity and expertise, in addition to additional communications resources. On the positive side, by the end of 2009 the new and inexperienced staff group that came together in 2007-2008 had become an efficient and cooperative team. Despite their reduced number, the Secretariat accomplished a great deal during the year, and staff particularly distinguished themselves during the very smooth organisation of the international Colloquium which the Council held in January 2010. DFID/Finland evaluation In 2009, DFID commissioned an impact evaluation of the International Council’s work, in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland. The evaluation was carried out by three independent evaluators, Asmita Naik, Mark de Pulford and Helen Banos Smith, who interviewed by phone or in person members of staff, several members of the Council’s Board, and a restricted number of individuals who have been associated with the Council’s research. In addition, the evaluation team wrote personally to a selected group of individuals inviting them to comment on the Council’s work, and sent a general email inviting comments to a large number of names drawn from the Council’s database. 27
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