Rights and Democracy

The International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights & Democracy), was created to be a non-partisan, independent Canadian institution. It was established by an act of the Canadian parliament in 1988 to "encourage and support the universal values of human rights and the promotion of democratic institutions and practices around the world." R&D received around Can$11m per year in funding from the Canadian government. R&D was charged with working with individuals, organizations and governments in Canada and abroad to promote the human and democratic rights defined in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). To this end, R&D sought to develop tools for Human Rights Impact Assessment that can be applied by civil society groups.