Formation 1987 Purpose Promote human rights Official language English | Type INGO Location New Delhi, India Chair, Intl. Advisory Commission Yash Ghai | |
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is an international non-governmental organisation formed to support Human Rights and particularly to support the implementation of the Harare Declaration in the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The CHRI was founded in 1987 by six existing commonwealth NGOs: the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Commonwealth Legal Education Association, Commonwealth Journalists Association, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Commonwealth Press Union and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association. Since then it has provided thematic human rights reports every two years to each Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It is officially accredited to the Commonwealth and also has observer status to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The CHRI is a member of the Commonwealth Family network of NGOs.
The current patrons of the CHRI are the former Canadian Foreign Minister, Flora MacDonald, and the former Bangladesh Minister of Law, Kamal Hossain.
The headquarters was in London until 1993 when the head office moved to New Delhi. In 2001 a regional office was opened in Accra, Ghana.