The human rights professionalisation of civil servants has emerged as a core dimension of governmental human rights focal points (GHRFPs), notably in the 2016 OHCHR’s guide on ‘national mechanisms for reporting and follow-up’. The article investigates this dimension and warns that the role of civil servants is indeed pivotal to human rights compliance strategies but plays out in complex ways. Reflecting on an ethnographic journey within the Human Rights Ministry of Burkina Faso, the article shows how professionalised civil servants fall short of triggering the intended change. It debunks key mechanisms through which agents translate acquired skills and shape GHRFPs’ performance as sites of human rights localisation and coordination. Such ‘deviations’ should not be construed only as local pathologies: they are unintentionally nurtured by international guidance, support and oversight systems. The article calls for a renewed approach to human rights professionalisation, that would recognise – possibly resolve – the unaccounted yet crucial tension between agents’ values and neutral ideal-types for efficient bureaucracies.

公务员的人权专业化已成为政府人权联络点（GHRFP）的核心内容，尤其是在人权高专办2016年关于“国家报告和跟进机制”的指南中。这篇文章对此进行了调查，并警告说，公务员的作用确实是遵守人权战略的关键，但发挥作用的方式很复杂。反思布基纳法索人权部内部的人种学历程，文章显示了专业的公务员是如何未能触发预期的变革的。它揭穿了关键机制的壁垒，代理商通过这些机制翻译了获得的技能并塑造了GHRFP作为人权本地化和协调的场所的绩效。此类“偏差”不应仅解释为局部病理：国际指导，支持和监督系统无意中对它们进行了培养。文章呼吁对人权专业化采取一种新的方法，该方法将认识到（可能解决）代理人的价值观与有效官僚机构的中立理想类型之间未加说明的但至关重要的张力。