The Statutory Full Commission meeting organized by the NHRC concludes with several important suggestions for the promotion and protection of human rights of various sections of society

New Delhi, 10th March, 2021

The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India today organized Statutory Full Commission meeting of all its deemed Members and Chairpersons of the seven National Commissions. The objective was to identify mechanism to reduce human right violation and share best practices to work on a joint strategy for the promotion and protection of human rights of various sections of society.

Addressing the meeting, Mr. Justice P.C. Pant, Member, NHRC urged all deemed Members of the NHRC to suggest human rights issues on which, the Commission could undertake research in the coming years to protect the rights of the marginalized section of the society, who are facing various hardships due to uneven economic prosperity amongst the citizens of the country. He said that there is a need to work in synergy to identify bottlenecks and failures impeding their growth and contribute to their wellbeing.

NHRC Member, Mrs. Jyotika Kalra, giving an insight into the complaint disposal by the Commission, emphasized the interest shown by so many organizations for conducting research on various human rights issues in response to the NHRC’s invitation for expression of interest.

NHRC Member, Dr. D.M. Mulay said that there is a need to hold discussions among the Members of the Statutory Full Commission more frequently to develop a common narrative for the promotion and protection of human rights. Earlier, Mr. Bimbadhar Pradhan, Secretary General, NHRC, highlighting the various works of the Commission, said that it has issued 12 COVID-19 related advisories aimed at taking care of different vulnerable sections of the society. He said that despite the constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic related restrictions, the NHRC continued to work for the promotion and protection of human rights and disposed sixty-eight thousand complaints during Feb, 2020 to Feb, 2021.

Mr. Harsh Chauhan, Chairperson, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes said that there is a need to understand the differences between the ideal and real situations on the ground and emphasized the need for quality research to help formulate better policies and programmes.

Mr.Atif Rasheed, Vice Chairperson, National Commission for Minorities, highlighting the recent outreach programmes of the Commission, stressed the need for a pan India collaboration among the Statutory Commission Members.

Dr. Bhagwan Lal Sahni, Chairperson, National Commission for Backward Classes said that that a sizable number of inmates in the Indian Prisons are from backward communities. Therefore, more focus is required on the awareness, health and education of the backward communities.

Mr. Priyank Kanoongo, Chairperson, NCPCR told how they have conducted social audits of all the child care institutions and have asked for the action taken reports from States. He also talked about the new cell for children in J&K and Ladakh.

Mrs. Shakuntala Doley Gamlin, Secretary, DEPwD said that there are 21 types of disabilities, the need of the hour is to formulate early intervention care and better rehabilitation policies. The lack of disabled friendly accessibilities to public places continues to be a point of concern.

Senior officers of NHRC and various National Commissions attended the online meeting. Many suggestions came up during the discussions to explore how best the Statutory Full Commission Members can jointly expand the outreach of human rights protection and promotion mechanism.

The NHRC has been holding the Statutory Full Commission meetings on time to time to explore new areas of cooperation, share best practices and activities of different National Commissions to work towards promotion and protection of human rights in a more cohesive manner as specified in the statutory clauses (b) to (j) of Section 12 of the Protection of Human Rights, PHR, Act.

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