Justice Shri K.G.Balakrishnan, Chairperson, NHRC attended the '4th Regional Forum on the Prevention of Genocide' held at Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 28th February to 1st March, 2013. Addressing the gathering on 'Asian experiences and vision for the future' on 28th February, 2013, he said that in the 21st century, crimes against humanity and genocidal killings are threats to global security. The world has witnessed gross human right violations over the past decades. There is a need to create a world-wide movement to end genocide like the movement to abolish slavery in the nineteenth century.

Justice Balakrishnan said that the debate on definition of genocide still persists. We need to analyze whether the terms "crime against humanity", "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide" are the same? Genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings. Asia has not been free of mass killings, as yet.

Justice Balakrishnan added that Indian judiciary and the National Human Rights Commission have done a considerable and commendable work to address the human rights and humanitarian catastrophe. Due to the intervention of the Supreme Court and the NHRC, the surviving victims of the communal violence at Naroda in Gujarat were given shelter in relief camps provided by both the State and Central governments and efforts were begun to restore destroyed properties and shrines.

Further, the National Human Rights Commission has recommended a total amount of Rs. 27,94,000,00/- as monetary relief to the next of kin of 1513 deceased whose bodies could be identified out of the cases of unidentified 2097 bodies. These cases were remitted to the Commission by the Supreme Court, popularly known as the Punjab Mass Cremation case. He said that the NHRC has been functioning as a statutory instrument of Indian state conscious of its origin and its status.