Justice Shri Cyriac Joseph, Acting Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India attended the Biennial Meeting of the Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institutions at St. Julian's, Malta from the 23rd - 25th November, 2015. The delegates shared experiences and good practices in monitoring, protecting and advocating for human rights including the use of international, regional and national systems and identified challenges faced by the NHRIs in the Commonwealth.
Giving a presentation at the Meeting, Justice Cyriac Joseph said that in India, protection of human rights is a constitutional value and a constitutional goal. He said that drawing inspiration from the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, necessary provisions were incorporated in the Constitution of India for the protection of human Rights. Various legislations also have been made by Parliament and State Legislatures for the protection and promotion of human rights.
The NHRC Acting Chairperson also informed the delegates that for better protection of human rights, Parliament also enacted 'The Protection of Human rights Act' in 1993 to provide the constitution of a National Human Rights Commission, State Human Rights Commissions in States and Human Rights Courts.
Giving an insight into the structure, jurisdiction and functioning of the NHRC, Justice Cyriac Joseph drew specific attention to a number of varied activities taken up by the Commission, in addition to disposal of complaints, towards promotion and protection of human rights during 2014-2015.
These included monitoring of civil and political rights; economic, social and cultural rights; organization of national conferences/seminars/ workshops; introduction of awards for the best short films on human rights; undertaking research projects; publications for creating awareness on human rights; organization of regional consultations for the third Universal Periodic Review; organization of regional awareness workshops on bonded labour; open hearings on atrocities against Scheduled Castes/ Tribes; camp sittings; training programmes; and awareness programmes like moot court competition, summer and winter internship programmes, short term internship programmes, essay writing competition for vulnerable groups, debate competition for para military forces, literary awards for promotion of human rights and painting competition on human rights. Apart from this, planning was also done for regional public hearings on right to healthcare across the country.