The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India is organizing a three-day Capacity Building Programme on human rights for the officials of State Human Rights Commission, Arunachal Pradesh, at New Delhi. The programme is a part of the ongoing initiative of the Commission to reach out and help in the capacity building of the State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs) for protection and promotion of human rights of all. The NHRC works in tandem with SHRCs and other such bodies to protect and promote human rights in the country.

In his opening remarks, Mr Bharat Lal, Secretary General, NHRC emphasized that sensitivity, promptness and responsiveness are important traits to dealing with human rights issues and violations. The NHRC and SHRCs are part of a framework in the country to ameliorate the cause of human rights. The programme has been designed for having interactive sessions.

Mr Lal underscored the importance of proactive and speedy redressal of complaints to provide relief to the victims of human rights violations. This would help people to develop faith in the system. The three-day programme would enable the officers to understand how the system should be functioning. He expressed the hope that the exposure to the structured functioning of the NHRC, within the ambit of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 would be useful for the officers of the APSHRC.

Earlier, the APSHRC Acting Chairperson, Mr Bamang Tago thanked the NHRC, India for organizing this programme. He said that the APSHRC is relatively a new SHRC, therefore, this capacity building programme is crucial for its officers, particularly in terms of learning the handling, registration and disposal of cases from the NHRC given its experience over the past three decades. He expressed the hope that the training would help not only the SHRC as an organization but also each participant individually in deepening their understanding of human values and the rights in the country.

At the start of the 3-day programme, Shri Devendra Kumar Nim, Joint Secretary, NHRC said that it would equip the officers towards promoting and protecting the rights of the people. Their exposure to the functioning of the NHRC which inter alia includes registration and processing of complaints, enquiries, training, research, international mechanism, outreach activities, media and communication, publications, etc. may support them in carrying out their work more efficiently and effectively, to build a shared vision of protecting and promoting human rights in the country.

*****

NSK