Independent Assessment of the Human Rights Complaints Mechanism
08 May 2018
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) commissioned an independent assessment of its human rights violations complaint mechanism. This mechanism has been formally in place since April 2015, based on the incorporation of human rights standards in grant agreements. It was designed to assist in the Global Fund’s objective to be accountable and its strategic goal to protect and promote human rights. A key issue has been the limited number of actionable complaints received by the Global Fund through the mechanism.
- Human Rights Complaints Mechanism Independent Assessment (March 2018)
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The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) manages the intake process of all allegations of wrongdoing, including human rights abuse complaints, and welcomes the publication of this report. Findings include a lack of awareness of the mechanism, as well as the relevant human rights standards, amongst the relevant stakeholder interviewed, as well as a lack of understanding of the independence of the OIG from Country Coordinating Mechanisms or from the Secretariat’s country teams; this notably results in concerns over the potential remedy to complaints.
As the Global Fund and its implementers often do not widely disseminate information about funded activities, it is challenging for stakeholders to know when or for what they should seek redress from the Global Fund.
The OIG will work with the Secretariat to ensure the recommended actions are appropriately prioritized and continue its efforts to raise awareness of the mechanism and build trust in the independence and integrity of its processes, as detailed in the joint response in Appendix C of the report.