NHRC holds a national conference of SHRCs, Special Rapporteurs and Monitors on advancing human rights

Press Release

National Human Rights Commission

New Delhi, 13th October, 2023

NHRC holds a national conference of SHRCs, Special Rapporteurs and Monitors on advancing human rights

SHRCs can play a significant role in ensuring the implementation of NHRC Advisories and other judicial orders says, NHRC Chairperson, Justice ShriArunMishra

Presence of SHRC representatives at global human rights forums to enhance understanding of human rights mechanisms in India

Increased coordination between NHRC Special Monitors, Rapporteurs and SHRCs and engaging with civil society organizations, HRDs and NGOs doing good work emphasized

Justice Shri Arun Mishra, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India today said that the NHRC and State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs), despite being independent of each other, can still work in tandem to ameliorate the cause of various human rights across the country. He was chairing a day-long national conference of SHRCs, Special Rapporteurs and Special Monitors of the NHRC on advancing human rights in New Delhi.

He said that the NHRC and SHRCs are the product of the Protection of Human Rights Act. The SHRCs are equally important institutions for the protection of human rights. Both the NHRC and SHRCs can share the best practices and collaborate in some areas like ensuring the rights of workers engaged in cleaning septic tanks, rehabilitation of those displaced due to the impact of climate, spurious drug business and proper functioning of drug de-addiction centres in order to save our younger generations.

Justice Mishra said that the SHRCs can play a significant role in ensuring the implementation of NHRC Advisories and other judicial orders by pursuing with the concerned state authorities. They need to own up the various NHRC Advisories which have been prepared after wide consultations with experts and various stakeholders on various issues concerning the rights of some vulnerable sections of society. He also said that the NHRC may explore the option of hosting joint seminars and conferences with the SHRCs, besides, the training of staff. He also invited suggestions from the SHRCs on the areas in which they can collaborate with the NHRC, particularly in matters where there are gaps in the legal provisions and implementation thereof.

The NHRC Chairperson said that SHRCs also need to have exposure to international forums and participate in the conferences and workshops organized by global human rights bodies. Their presence at such forums may enhance the understanding of human rights mechanisms in India.

He said that the governments do respect the intent of the Commission's interventions and recommendations. All that is required to pursue the matters with them. In this context, he cited the example of the Bihar government deciding to compensate the victims of the hooch tragedies since 2016 after the NHRC intervention. However, he reiterated that joining of HRC net portal of the Commission by the SHRCs is key to eradicating the duplication of interventions, the situation of contradictory directions and the wastage of human resources.

He also said that there is a need to increase coordination between the Special Monitors and Special Rapporteurs of the Commission with the SHRCs. The Special Rapporteurs and Monitors visit several places in the states for on-the-spot assessment of human rights situations particularly with regard to prisons, shelter homes, mental healthcare institutions, observation homes, hospitals, juvenile justice homes, old age homes, and various government establishments. The SHRCs also visit such places and they can coordinate with the NHRC’s Monitors and Rapporteurs to ensure more effective implementation of the legal provisions, social welfare schemes, and NHRC Advisories in close coordination with their respective state authorities.

The NHRC Chairperson also said that the Human Rights Defenders, civil society organizations and NGOs have been playing a very important role in protecting human rights. There is no need to have any reservations about engaging with them just because a few among them may be engaged in dubious activities. Identify those who are doing good work and collaborate with them.

Besides, the sharing of best practices of human rights and concerns in some specific areas the conference also had presentations by the NHRC’s Special Rapporteurs and Monitors on the basis of their field visits. These included: the abolition of NataPratha practice, decongestion and prison reforms, improvement of living conditions in juvenile homes, improvement in mental health institutions and strategy to restrain child marriage.

In addition to the inaugural session, the conference was divided into four sessions including: ‘Journey so far and emerging challenges in human rights’, ‘Sharing of best practices by SHRCs’, ‘Experience sharing by Special Rapporteurs& Special Monitors’ and ‘Way forward: Building partnerships to advance human rights in focus areas’, which were chaired by the NHRC Chairperson, Justice ShriArunMishra, Members, Dr. Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay and Shri Rajiv Jain.

Earlier, giving an overview of the functioning of the NHRC, Shri Bharat Lal, Secretary General of the Commission gave a presentation and highlighted the scope for collaboration with SHRCs on various issues like achieving sustainable development goals, human trafficking, cybercrime, begging and improving the conditions of NariNiketan, capacity building of staff, and compilation of a directory of NGOs, among others.

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