{"id":40697,"date":"2024-04-29T07:48:41","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T02:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=40697"},"modified":"2025-04-25T05:25:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T23:55:05","slug":"indias-human-rights-accreditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indias-human-rights-accreditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Geneva-based UN-related body to review India\u2019s human rights accreditation status"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What is National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)?\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>What is Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI)?<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s accreditation status under review<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<p>The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is preparing to defend the its human rights processes at a meeting to be held in Geneva. In this meeting a decision on whether India\u2019s human rights body will retain its \u201cA status\u201d is expected to be made.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the UN-recognised Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) worldwide will be held on May 1.<\/p>\n<h2>What is National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)?\u00a0<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The National Human Rights Commission is a <strong>statutory body<\/strong> established under the <strong>Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Commission is the <strong>watchdog of human rights in the country<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Composition of NHRC<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Commission is <strong>a multi-member body<\/strong> consisting of a chairperson and five members.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>chairperson should be a retired chief justice of India or a judge of the Supreme Court<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Members should be a serving or retired judge of the Supreme Court, a serving or retired chief justice of a high court and three persons (out of which at least one should be a woman) having knowledge or practical experience with respect to human rights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Appointment &amp; Tenure<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The chairperson and members are appointed by the President on the recommendations of a six-member committee consisting of:\n<ul>\n<li>Prime Minister as its head; Speaker of the Lok Sabha; Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha; Leaders of the Opposition in both the Houses of Parliament; Central Home Minister<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The chairperson and members are appointed for the <strong>term of 3 years or till the age of 70 years<\/strong>, whichever is earlier.<\/li>\n<li>The chairperson and members are <strong>eligible for reappointment<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI)?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) is an organisation affiliated to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.<\/li>\n<li>It is a global network of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) that works to promote and protect human rights.\n<ul>\n<li>GANHRI represents 120 NHRIs from around the world.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>GANHRI&#8217;s mission is to unite, promote, and strengthen NHRIs to operate in line with the UN Paris Principles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Accreditation by the GANHRI<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) reviews NHRIs every five years, and there is an appeal process for NHRIs to ensure greater transparency and due process.<\/li>\n<li>In a unique peer-review-based accreditation process, GANHRI ensures individual NHRIs\u2019 compliance with internationally recognised standards \u2013 <strong>the Paris Principles<\/strong> \u2013 to ensure their independence, pluralism and accountability.\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Paris Principles<\/strong> set out internationally agreed minimum standards that NHRIs must meet to be considered credible.<\/li>\n<li>The six principles require a country\u2018s human rights agency to be independent from the government in its structure, composition, decision-making and method of operation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>An NHRI is reviewed by the SCA when \u2013\n<ul>\n<li>It applies for initial accreditation<\/li>\n<li>It applies for re-accreditation every five years<\/li>\n<li>The circumstances of the NHRI change in any way that may affect its compliance with the Paris Principles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>NHRIs that are assessed as complying with the Paris Principles are accredited with <strong>\u2018A status\u2019<\/strong>, while those that partially comply are accredited with <strong>\u2018B status\u2019.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This accreditation status affects a country\u2019s ability to vote at the UN Human Rights Council and some UNGA bodies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>India\u2019s accreditation<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s NHRC got \u2018A\u2019 status of accreditation for the first time in 1999, which it retained in 2006, 2011, and in 2017 after it was deferred for a year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>India\u2019s accreditation status under review<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Background<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The NHRC\u2019s ratings were put on hold in 2023 over concerns on:\n<ul>\n<li>its composition procedure,\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>the presence of police personnel in human rights investigations, and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>the lack of gender and minority representation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Now, on May 1, 2024, NHRC\u2019s performance will again be reviewed in order to decide on the accreditation status.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Observations made by the review committee in 2023<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>According to a six-point submission by the SCA in March 2023, the NHRC has failed to create conditions required to be able to operate independent of government interference.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In the submission, the committee had slammed India for the involvement of police officers in its investigative process, calling it a conflict of interest.<\/li>\n<li>It also cited the lack of pluralism and gender representation, given the NHRC had only one woman in its top body, an institutional ex-officio representative of the National Commission for Women.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The SCA had also pointed out that the composition of the committee should reflect the diversity of the society it operated in.\n<ul>\n<li>It indicated the lack of any member representing India\u2019s largest minority religions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Q.1. What is Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA)?<\/h2>\n<p>The Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) is a part of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) that reviews and accredits National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). The SCA&#8217;s judgments are accepted by the international community.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Q.2. What are Paris Principles?<\/h2>\n<p>The Paris Principles are a set of principles that require national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to be independent, have a broad mandate, and have adequate powers and resources.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/geneva-based-un-related-body-to-review-indias-human-rights-accreditation-status-this-week\/article68117894.ece#:~:text=The%20National%20Human%20Rights%20Commission,is%20expected%20to%20be%20made.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Geneva-based UN-related body to review India\u2019s human rights accreditation status this week<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/nhrc.nic.in\/about-us\/about-the-Organisation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NHRC<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/ganhri.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">GANHRI<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NHRC is a statutory body established under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}