National Human Rights Commission of India

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India is an autonomous statutory body established on 12 October 1993,[1] under the provisions of The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993[2] (TPHRA).

Contents

Functions

TPHRA mandates the NHRC to perform the following functions:

Composition and appointment

Sections 3 and 4 of TPHRA lay down the rules for appointment to the NHRC. The Chairperson and members of the NHRC are appointed by the President of India, on the recommendation of a committee consisting of:

The NHRC consists of:

In addition to this, the Chairpersons of the National Commission for Minorities, the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes, National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes, and the National Commission for Women, serve as ex officio members.

The current chairperson of the NHRC is Hon'ble Justice Shri K G Balakrishnan, and the other members are:

International status

The NHRC has been accredited with "A status" by the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (the ICC), indicating that it is in conformity with the Paris Principles - a broad set of principles agreed upon by a conference of experts on the promotion and protection of human rights, in Paris in October 1991, and subsequently endorsed by the UN General Assembly. The Commission is thus entitled to participate in the ICC and in its regional sub-group, the Asia Pacific Forum.

Controversy

A report concerning the manner of which the Shivani murder controversy case was rejected, a case which involved high ranking officials being implicated in the murder of a journalist, opened the organisation up to questioning over the usefulness of human rights commissions setup by the government at the national and state levels.[3]

References

  1. ^ http://nhrc.nic.in/Publications/NHRCbrochure.pdf
  2. ^ http://nhrc.nic.in/Publications/HRActEng.pdf
  3. ^ http://www.indiatogether.org/humanrights/opinions/nhrcshiv.htm

External links