THOMAS PEGRAM
Visiting Research Fellow, SAS

Extended Summary of Argument (.pdf)

This presentation will place the British Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in a comparative framework with other National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs).   It will review the EHRC design conformity with the Paris Principles along the dimensions of independence and power.  The exercise reveals that the EHRC is an outlier among NHRIs in structural terms, particularly in relation to safeguards of independence.  The EHRC eschews a general trend towards the domestic institutionalization of those design features contained within the Paris Principles since their endorsement by the UN in 1993.  This suggests that the Principles were not the principal referent point for institutional designers.  The presentation explores a number of explanations for this departure from the norm, including (1) alternative models found in UK and “Northwest” jurisdictions; (2) ambiguity surrounding the Paris Principles themselves; and (3) the particular circumstances of its creation.  In doing so, it reflects upon the linkages between EHRC formal design and political function in context.  The presentation assesses the utility of “path dependency” versus more dynamic and open-ended understandings of institutional development in assessing the experience of the EHRC since 2007.  It further proposes to narrow in on key issues that focus attention on the gaps between formal design and political function, such as how to institutionalize “good leadership.”