Justice Shri K.G. Balakrishnan, Chairperson, NHRC accompanied by Member, Justice Shri Cyriac Joseph and Secretary General, Dr. Parvinder Sohi Behuria attended the '27th Meeting of the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) and Commonwealth Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (CFNHRI)' in Geneva, Switzerland from the 11th - 14th March, 2014. Justice Balakrishnan spoke about the various activities of the Commission and the important role played by it in all stages of the Second Cycle of Universal Periodic Review.
He also suggested that three new observations may be incorporated for the ICC Sub Committee on accreditation (SCA) for review of NHRIs. These included NHRI serving as national monitoring/preventative mechanisms; the quasijudicial competency of NHRIs; and assessing the performance of NHRIs. However, given the NHRC, India's strong opposition, supported by other member countries, the ICC Chair, Advocate Mabedle Laurence Mushwana agreed not to move ahead with the proposal to give more powers to the SCA to review the accreditation status of NHRI, within the five year period through an amendment in the Section 15 of the ICC Statute.
The NHRC, India had held that the proposal for amendment in the ICC Statute to empower the SCA to review an NHRI within the accreditation period was against the whole process of accreditation and re-accreditation as outlined in Section 5 of the ICC Statute which has ample provisions for all kinds of checks and balances to make the process of accreditation of NHRIs fully credible.
The NHRC, India conveyed its support to the ICC Chair on the issue of tackling leprosy related discrimination and requested that it be included in the 'Objectives' of the 'Strategic Plan' of the ICC.
At the APF's Forum Councillor Meeting, held on the sidelines of ICC Meeting, Justice Balakrishnan accepted Director, APF, Shri Kieren Fitzpatrick's request to represent South Asia for the 'Forum Councillor Working Group on APF Strategic Planning Process 2015 to 2020'.
In the thematic session on 'Post 2015 Development Agenda: The Inclusion of Human Rights', all the NHRIs were of the opinion that human rights should be included in this Development Agenda. In the thematic session on 'Protection of Human Rights Defenders', the NHRC Chairperson highlighted the work done by the Commission for the protection of human rights defenders. Letters had been written to Chief Secretaries of all the States for promotion and protection of human rights defenders. Apart from nominating a Focal Point for Human Rights Defenders in the Commission, a publication entitled "NHRC and Human Rights Defenders - The Growing Synergy" was released. This is aimed at the sensitization of the common man towards human rights defenders. Besides, the Commission has been recommending relief to the human rights defenders who have been victims of human rights violations.