National Human Rights Institutions To The Test: Non-Refoulement & The Rights Of Refugees

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) can act as a bridge between national contexts and international human rights standards. This research explores their role in protecting refugee rights, with a focus on the principle of non-refoulement. It examines the mandates, priorities and actions, over the last five years (2019-2024), of 20 A-status NHRIs across various world regions. The analysis shows that their human rights mandates allow them to engage in a wide range of relevant activities - including monitoring, notably at borders, legislative and policy advice and public advocacy - and to collaborate regularly with various regional or international institutions. While several of them are also empowered to handle individual complaints, trigger constitutional reviews, and intervene in judicial proceedings, margins for progress appear significant in these areas. In practice, several institutions adopt innovative approaches but few have in fact set refugee rights and non-refoulement as a thematic priority for their work. Most do not seem to deploy the systematic and continuous efforts their national context arguably calls for. Further efforts could well be constrained by, inter alia, issues of independence and/or limitations in capacity and resources - but further research would be required to identify key factors. The study ultimately confirms NHRIs’ potential but suggests a necessity for these institutions - as well as regional and international networks - to enhance their focus on refugee protection, and display greater consistency in initiatives and collaborations, including with UNHCR. This note features examples of existing practices that could serve as sources of inspiration.