Finding 10. The CCP enhanced the capacity of the country for the promotion and protection of human rights through follow-up and reporting on its implementation of human rights conventions. The CCP supported the country to adapt the national institutional framework to guarantee independence according to the Paris Principles. With the capacity of justice operators strengthened, the challenge now is to develop an approach for prevention, to foster legal information and crime prevention. The first pillar to be considered in a democracy is the guarantee of basic human rights to citizens and non-citizens (including migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers).48 Without peace, justice, stability, human rights and effective governance based on the rule of law, it will not be possible to achieve sustainable development. Cabo Verde continues to promote access to justice, gender equality and equity for all, and respect for fundamental human rights. The country has ratified almost all international human rights instruments, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. Through ordinary laws, the legal framework preserves respect for human rights. Cabo Verde leads in the most important rankings on human development, transparency, freedom and good governance in Africa. External credibility is one of the country’s main assets, a result of its democratic history. Over the lockdown period, in parallel with actions to combat COVID-19, human rights awareness campaigns were carried out at national level targeting the elderly, the prison population, people with disabilities, children and women. The joint office contributed to opening justice to civil society, for example through awareness-raising activities on human rights in secondary education. Cabo Verde is adapting its national institutional framework for this area, to guarantee independence according to the Paris Principles. These Principles, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, establish that national human rights institutions are neither State-dependent nor NGOs, but function as a bridge between civil society and government. Until now, in Cabo Verde this function had been assumed by the National Commission for Human Rights and Citizenship, but currently its statutes do not guarantee independence according to Paris Principles. There are two possibilities: either the statutes must be changed, which implies a change in the Cabo Verde Constitution, or this responsibility must be passed to another institution, namely the Ombudsman. The justice system in Cabo Verde is characteristically slow, and key informants noted that the CCP made a key contribution to change this, and with low investment. The CCP supported the operationalization of the judicial information system, providing courts with the equipment to register judgments. Magistrates have increased their capacity, verified by the reduction of pending trials and increase in the number of resolved trials according to data provided by key informants. New cases continue to arrive, but more are resolved. The child protection programme made significant achievements in partnership with key child protection stakeholders and partners, including the approval of a new legal framework on sexual crime. The development of a new national action plan to prevent and fight against sexual violence for the period of 2022-2024 was an important contribution. The technical and institutional capacity of IPCA and other actors was strengthened, particularly for the protection of children against COVID-19. Over 45 child protection professionals received remote training on risk communication and community engagement, which aimed to strengthen the technical capacity of 200 community health workers from all municipalities in different health domains, including physical, sexual and psychological violence against children, early childhood
development, and child labour.49 The support included the production of a guide for parents and teachers on the protection of children and students from COVID-19, and distribution of 4,000 copies to public schools across the country. Access to justice for the poorest and most vulnerable was facilitated by the integration of a legal assistance platform into the social register and the Integrated Budget and Financial Management System, allowing for the effective management of judicial assistance. Two challenges limit the sustainability of CCP contributions in this field. Firstly, while joint office interventions were mainly focused on the capacity of justice operators (magistrates, police, technicians, etc.), community associations remain weak, and CSOs were not a focus of the CCP scope. Long-term sustainability requires a prevention approach, empowering larger CSOs who deal directly with the community every day. Secondly, there is a gap in national capacity for child protection, especially the child protection indicator information system. On the positive side, the introduction of the paternity test was a clear practical result, enabling the resolution of pending cases. Finding 11. The CCP supported the Government to understand the financial landscape and frame the options for SDG financing, focusing on fiscal opportunities, strategic guidance for economic governance and public finance accountability, effectiveness and transparency. If the first pillar of democracy is the guarantee of basic human rights to citizens and non-citizens, the second is made up of the institutions of representative and accountable government.50 The Cabo Verde democratic system is under consolidation, partly due to the contribution that the United Nations has been making to strengthen democratically-elected institutions in the country.51 During the evaluation period, and the pandemic context, three elections were held in Cabo Verde: municipal in November 2020; legislative in April 2021; and presidential in October 2021. These took place in a peaceful climate and were classified by the national and international communities as participative, free, fair and transparent. United Nations interventions enhanced transparency, providing the country with tools and platforms to allow citizens to monitor the execution of the State budget, in real time. The Court of Auditors was equipped with modern human resource management mechanisms, strengthening its technical capacity to carry out ex-ante and ex-post audits in order to strengthen transparency in public resource management. Under the ‘PALOP-TL Economic Governance’ project, budget transparency was reinforced through the installation of a portal to facilitate citizen monitoring of budget expenditure. Parliamentarians strengthened their capacity for budget analysis, legislative oversight and the promotion of open parliament, and Parliament got closer to citizens through the ‘Open Parliament’ initiative. Finding 12. The CCP supported the Government in implementing various initiatives, which were particularly relevant for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. A National Response and Recovery Plan for the COVID-19 crisis was developed through the Response and Recovery Coordination Platform, installed by the Government and United Nations. In terms of innovation, and particularly in the fight against COVID-19, the UNDP Accelerator Lab, in partnership with the State Secretariat for Innovation, developed and implemented several innovative solutions for the availability of information useful to citizens. Other interventions in public administration
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50
The democratic governance normative framework followed the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2008) Assessing the Quality of Democracy; and UNDP (2009) Democratic Governance Reader, among other thematic studies.
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According to joint office annual reports. UNDP (2009) Democratic Governance Reader —A reference for UNDP practitioners. United Nations (2020) Cabo Verde CCA.
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