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African NHRIs first gathered in Yaoundé (Cameroon) in February 1996 and adopted the Yaoundé Declaration. This established a Coordinating Committee of African National Institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights to coordinate of African NHRIs’ activities and enhancing their visibility.
Five years later (at the third Biennial Conference of African NHRIs in Lomé, Togo) a Permanent Secretariat of African NHRIs was established, with the South African Human Rights Commission mandated to host the secretariat for an initial three- year period.
In 2005, it was decided that the secretariat be moved to Kenya, to be hosted by the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights. A constitution was developed and signed during the sixth conference of African NHRIs in Kigali, Rwanda in October 2007.
This resulted in the formal creation of the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) to replace the Coordinating Committee and the establishment of a Permanent Secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya where NANHRI was registered on 30th October 2007 as a legal entity under Kenyan law.
The Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI) is a not-for-profit- regional organization that brings together 46 National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in Africa. Founded in 2007, NANHRI is registered under Kenyan laws as an independent legal entity.
Its Secretariat is hosted by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights in Nairobi. NANHRI supports establishment and strengthening of Paris Principle compliant NHRIs that effectively discharge their mandate.
In addition to capacity building, NANHRI coordinates and promotes cooperation amongst NHRIs and links them to other key human rights actors at the regional and international levels.
