Curtain raiser: NHRC-SHRCs meeting at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi tomorrow on 20th February, 2020 (19.02.2020)

New Delhi,19th February, 2020

The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India is organizing a meeting of National Human Rights Commission and State Human Rights Commissions, SHRCs, at Silver Oak, Indian Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi tomorrow on 20th February, 2020. Mr. Justice H.L. Dattu, Chairperson, NHRC will inaugurate it at 9:30 AM in the presence of NHRC Members, Chairpersons and Members of State Human Rights Commissions and senior officers of NHRC and SHRCs.

Both the NHRC and SHRCs are setup under the Protection of Human Rights, PHR Act, 1993. But SHRCs are autonomous and independent bodies at State level and are not under the NHRC. However, being an apex human rights body, the NHRC has been taking up the issue of strengthening of SHRCs with the respective State Governments so that they may be able to work more effectively in fulfillment of their mandate under the PHR Act.

The meeting gains significance as NHRC and SHRCs will be meeting for the first time after 2019 Amendment in the PHR Act. The aim of the meeting is to explore new areas of cooperation, share best practices and activities of different State Human Rights Commissions to work towards promotion and protection of human rights in a more cohesive manner.

Besides this, in the XI Sessions of the meeting, there will be presentations on key issues of human rights, related laws, implementation mechanism and present situation. These include, among others, Rights of Women, Surrogacy Regulation Bill, Human Rights Courts, Rights of Persons with Disability, Right to Food, Rights of Refugees, Migrant and Child Labour, Health including Mental Health, Corona Virus issue, Police and Prison Reforms, Criminal Justice System, Torture & Terrorism, Right to Education, Human Trafficking, Rights of internally displaced persons, LGBTI, Rights of Refuges, Business, Environment and Human Rights, Panchayati Raj Institutions and Local Governing Bodies, NGOs and Human Rights Defenders, Utilization of Common Service Centres and common areas of Interest between NHRC-SHRCs.

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