On 27 February 2021 the GANHRI Chairperson and RINDHCA Regional Chairperson, along with the NHRI of Costa Rica and Guatemala, in their capacities as chairpersons of respectively the Central American Council of Human Rights Ombudsmen (CCPDH) and the Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsmen (FIO), met in El Salvador, jointly with the Latin American Ombudsman Institute (ILO),  in the framework of a private discussion on the challenges and opportunities for NHRIs, in light of the Paris Principles, to promote and safeguard human rights with a special focus on the protection of human rights defenders.

At the end of the meeting a joint statement has been released highlighting the roadmap for collaborative work between the networks of National Human Rights Institutions in the Latin American region and OHCHR in support of NHRIs under threat and protection of human rights defenders.

“We commit to continue monitoring the situation of human rights defenders, and we reiterate our role as National Human Rights Institutions in favour of the promotion and protection of the rights of the most vulnerable people” stated the participants at the end of the meeting.