To find more information about Rowman and Littlefield titles, please visit www.rowmanlittlefield.com.

While many countries seek to improve their capacity to protect and promote human rights in accordance with constitutional imperatives and Commonwealth values, they often lack a clear roadmap on how to do so. Currently, there is no single and easy-to-use model which Commonwealth countries can use as a basis for planning the process. This guide will particularly useful for those in smaller countries who wish to develop a human rights plan. The action plan makes three key points: first that full public participation in the development of a national action plan is key to a successful outcome, secondly that putting the plan into operation need not mean adding another bureaucratic layer to government, and thirdly that the model is a model only, and not intended to be prescriptive.

This is the first Commonwealth-wide comparative study of national human rights institutions (NHRIs), and is designed to help everyone interested in establishing and developing NHRIs to improve their effectiveness. The study looks at the international framework for the protection of human rights, and the historical and political background to the establishment of NHRIs and ombudsman offices. The individual mandates of various institutions are considered, looking at them region by region. Finally, the study compares the normative framework and mandates of the NHRIs are analysed, comparing what NHRIs are empowered to do and what they are doing in practice, though value judgements as to the merits and demerits of individual named institutions are avoided. Rather than provide a detailed theoretical analysis, the study concentrates on helping practitioners and policy-makers improve the working of NHRIs in practice, and will be a useful tool both to the institutions themselves and to all those who wish to support them.

3201 9 May 1974.

The Report Advocates The Rights Based Approach To Eradicating The Large Scale Poverty That Currently Exists In The Commonwealth. The Report Highlights The Gap Between The Rhetoric Of Commonwealth Declarations And The Reality Of People`S Lives And Pleads For A Strong Voice To Poor People.