I am a young lawyer working on a research proposal on how NHRIs can contribute in development of the human rights jurisprudence by assisting courts to establish proactive human rights precedence. I will appreciate insight and information on previous research works, baseline studies, workshop reports, caselaw or any other materials indicating amicus curiae role played by NHRIS in human rights cases.

My research interest is to establish the role that NHRIs (can) play in assisting courts to embrace proactive interpretation and application of human rights principles in arriving at their decisions especially on matters concerning emerging (or is it controversial) issues on human rights.

I appreciate the role that training and induction of judicial officers on international human rights law has played. I have seen many sound, human-rights-reasoned and proactive decisions being made in recent years by some of the judges trained especially by RWI.

My hypothesis is that it is important for NHRIs to seize every available opportunity to apply for amicus curiae status in cases (whether in domestic courts or regional systems with judicial competence) dealing with new or emerging areas of human rights or where domestic legislation are inhibiting enjoyment of 'internationally recognized' human rights - of course taking into consideration the social cultural and economic environment in the given jurisdiction. I am convinced that such professional intervention by NHRIs will anable the courts to engage in 'heroic' deliberations to ensure maximum realization of international human rights law standards for citizens in their jurisdiction.

NHRIs are recognized as specialized quasi-governmental bodies with expertise and competence in the field of human rights. They should therefore play an important role in assisting courts to deliver more human rights focused justice for citizens and further help in establishing fresh, reasoned and proactive precedence to guide development of the human rights jurisprudence domestically and globally.

Let me know if any one has any information, comments or thoughts on this topic.

Thank you.