“Monaco has made significant progress in recent years in the protection of human rights. However, this progress must be consolidated by further improving protection of the rights of the most vulnerable, such as children, people with disabilities and LGBTI persons, and by strengthening the institutions tasked with protecting human rights,” said the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, following a two-day visit to Monaco (18 and 19 January).
Mr Muižnieks welcomed the establishment in 2013 of the Office of the High Commissioner for the protection of rights, liberties and for mediation. This institution plays a key role in the protection of human rights in the Principality, a role that would appear to be gaining increasing recognition by both the authorities and civil society. “However, the High Commissioner’s terms of reference could be extended, in particular by granting her the authority to initiate investigations of her own motion, thereby broadening her field of action and enabling her to foster a deeper awareness of human rights among the population, as happens in other European countries,” he observed. Mr Muižnieks believes that this power to initiate investigations ex oficio could, to begin with, apply to the field of discrimination which is at the heart of the High Commissioner’s terms of reference, and to issues relating to the rights of children, who should also be able to refer matters directly to the High Commissioner. (more...)
