NHRC-SHRCs meeting concludes with several important suggestions for protection of Human Rights (20.02.2020)

New Delhi, 20th February 2020

NHRC-SHRCs meeting concluded with several important suggestions in New Delhi today to ameliorate the cause of human rights. Earlier, Mr. Justice H.L. Dattu, Chairperson, NHRC inaugurated the meeting at India Habitat Centre in the presence of NHRC Members, Mr. Justice P.C. Pant, Mrs. Jyotika Kalra, Dr. D.M. Mulay, Secretary General, Mr Jaideep Govind, Chairpersons and Members of SHRCs and officers of NHRC and SHRCs.

Justice Dattu said that there is a need for us to work in synergy to promote, protect and propagate the human rights of the people, in particular, the vulnerable sections of the society, identify bottlenecks and systemic failures impeding their growth and contribute to their well being. He said that set up under the Protection of Human Rights Act, both the National and State Human Rights Commissions have become prominent actors in the human rights arena today for their vital role in promoting and monitoring the effective implementation of international human rights standards at the national and state levels, thereby, enabling Governments to fulfill their constitutional and international obligations.

Justice Dattu urged the State Human Rights Commissions who are yet to join NHRC’s HRCnet Portal to join it to avoid duplication of complaint registration on the same issue and suggest contemporary issues for research to improve the living standards of the marginal people, who are facing various hardships due to uneven economic prosperity amongst the citizens of the country.

The NHRC Secretary General, Mr. Jaideep Govind said that the Commission has taken several initiatives to collaborate with SHRCs including linking them with its HRCnet portal for complaint management and also with its library. It is also extending all possible support to them. He said that linking of online complaint filing system with over three lakh Common Service Centres, spread throughout the country, as well as efforts to collaborate with the wide network of NSS, NYKS, NCC, Red Cross, All India Radio and Doordarshan will go a longway in building awareness about the importance of the promotion and protection of human rights.

Several important suggestion emerged in the discussions, some of which are as follows:

· The need to set up human rights courts along with a punishment procedure of trial and other related issues

· It was agreed that participation of women in workplace should be improved to ensure economic independence and living standards

· Several aspects of the Surrogacy Bill were principally agreed upon for suggestions to be made by NHRC

· Issues of rights of environmental migrants/internally displaced people were raised and need to be addressed

· Need to provide healthy environment and unadulterated food rather spending on health scheme

· Issue of mentally ill patient discussed and need more attention on all aspects

· Uniformity of compensation was broadly discussed and the need for it to be implemented as per the merit of the case

· The constraints of budget, manpower and infrastructure were informed by SHRCs and it was advised to provide HRCNet handling training to SHRCs for implementation

· Inclusion of Human right perspective in the curriculum of judges / police / training institutions

· It was observed and clarified that the objective of carrying out investigations by NHRC / SHRCs is varied from state police authorities

· There is a need to develop guidelines for HRDs and encouragement should be given to NGOs / HRDs for registration of HR violation complaints of distressed people

· It was agreed that rights of property for LGBTI and protection and mainstreaming of Hijra community needs to be addressed

· It was suggested that a possibility of three tier Human Rights body at local level may be explored

· It was observed that it is the states’ duty to protect human rights in general and in business as well such as provisions related to access to remedy and the right to have a business.

*****