Representatives of the international community compile first universal guidance framework for national mechanisms for implementation, reporting, and follow-up – the Marrakech Guidance Framework (MGF)
From 16-17 October, around 100 representatives of the international community, including State representatives, as well as UN agencies, intergovernmental organisations, NHRIs, and civil society, met in Marrakech to discuss ‘Transforming universal norms into local reality – national mechanisms for implementation, reporting, and follow-up (NMIRFs), and the strengthening the UN human rights system’s effectiveness and on-the-ground impact.’ A key goal of the meeting, as well as the preparatory consultations and dialogues held in Geneva earlier in the year, was to compile a first-ever universal guidance framework for all UN member States wishing to establish or strengthen NMIRFs – enormously promising new governmental mechanisms designed to assist States in bridging the long-standing implementation gap between international human rights law and standards, and the lived reality of people and communities around the world.
The meeting was held in the context of the Tenth Glion Human Rights Dialogue (Glion X), co-organised by the Inter-Ministerial Delegation for Human Rights of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Morocco to the UN Office at Geneva, the National Human Rights Council (Morocco’s NHRI), and the Universal Rights Group (URG), with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO). The dialogue was co-chaired by H.E. Mr Abdellatif Ouahbi, Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Morocco, and Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Universal Rights Group, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives.
This meeting in Morocco offered a platform for all stakeholders to exchange experiences, challenges, and good practices in establishing and/or strengthening NMIRFs, as a key tool in States’ efforts to better respect, promote, and protect the enjoyment of human rights, and accelerate progress towards the achievement of the SDGs by 2030, leaving no one behind. The discussions and reflections at Glion X built, in turn, upon earlier exchanges of experience and good practice, including in the context of the work of the UN group of friends on NMIRFs, regional consultations among States on the establishment and strengthening of NMIRFs and regional guidance principles established to help States in that regard (e.g., the Pacific Principles of Practice), regional consultations initiated by Human Rights Council resolution 42/30 and taken forward by resolution 51/33, and related work by UN agencies, funds, and programmes, international organisations, NHRIs, civil society organisations, and others.
The gathering ended with the adoption, under the authority of the co-chairs of the meeting, of a summary of global best practices on the establishment and functioning of NMIRFs: the Marrakech Guidance Framework (MGF).
The MGF is a voluntary framework, and seeks to contribute to and complement wider international efforts to support States, through exchanges of good practice, in establishing and/or strengthening NMIRFs, for example, in the context of the International Network of NMIRFs initiated through the Marrakech Declaration (December 2022), and launched through the Asunción Declaration (May 2024), as well as through technical assistance and capacity-building support extended by States, UN agencies, funds, and programmes, and others.
The full text of the Marrakech Guidance Framework (MGF) can be read here.
Speaking after adoption of the MGF, by the Glion X co-chairs, Dr Shaheed hailed the Framework as a “major step forward in efforts to strengthen the domestic implementation of States’ international human rights obligations and commitments, and re-energise progress towards the SDGs leaving no one behind […] For the first time,” he said, “the international community has moved beyond elaborating universal human rights norms at UN-level, and providing recommendations to States on how to bring their national laws, policies, and practices into closer alignment with their human rights commitments, to actually help States establish efficient and effective national systems to implement those recommendations and thereby translate universal rights into local reality.”
Likewise, H.E. Mr Abdellatif Ouahbi hailed the MGF, building on the recent establishment of the International Network of NMIRFs, as a key plank of the international human rights implementation agenda. He emphasised the importance of “creating spaces for joint work in order to unify perspectives, consolidate efforts, and ensure convergence and coherence in action, both at the national and international levels,” stating that “this is precisely what efficient NMIRFs can provide, as they have proved to be successful frameworks for fulfilling international human rights commitments and for international cooperation.”
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