Human Rights Experimentalism in Action: The Potential of National Human Rights Institutions in Enhancing the Implementation and Monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

Abstract Article 33(2) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides for the establishment and designation of independent monitoring mechanisms charged with the promotion, protection and monitoring of its implementation. In numerous States parties, National Human Rights Institutions have been designated as Article 33(2) institutions, either individually or in co-ordination with other bodies, and have consequently made effective contributions to the reporting and inquiry procedures of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Drawing from experimentalist governance theory, this contribution interrogates whether, and to what extent, this dialogue between locally placed actors and institutions (such as National Human Rights Institutions) on the one hand, and internationally situated actors and institutions (such as the Committee) on the other, has the potential to bolster the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At its core, experimentalism proffers a normatively attractive vision of how broadly agreed upon goals can be brought to life in a multi-level setting, such as the monitoring mechanism contemplated by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with its unique role and definition for both international and national actors. By analysing Article 33 through an experimentalist governance lens, the contribution thus hopes to highlight a routinely neglected or underestimated aspect of the human rights treaty system, that is, the iterative and dynamic interaction between locally situated actors and institutions and internationally situated actors and institutions, and bring to light what this portends for the Convention’s implementation in reality.