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| Establishment of Human Rights Commission In Uttarakahnd |
A state consultation for the “Establishment of State Human Rights Commission in Uttarakhand” was organized by Pairvi at Doon Press Club – Dehradun on 21st July’07. Around 30 human rights defenders and social activists participated in the consultation and expressed their view on establishment of the Commission at the earliest in Uttarakhand.
Honorable
Tourism Minster Mr. Prakash Panth was the Chief Guest in the
consultation, Mr. PC Tiwari - PUCL; Mr. AC Sharma – Sr. Advocate, Ms.
Kamla Panth – Chairperson State Women Commission, Mr. Purshotam Badoni
– Child Rights Activists, Mr. Samar Bhandari – CPI, Ms. Priya Zadu –
Human Rights activists and Ms. Jahanvi Tiwari – Social Activists were
other eminent speakers in the consultation.
The key note speaker, Mr. Ajay K Jha Director – Pairvi explained the aims and objectives of the consultation, and provided a brief overview of the human rights situation in the State of Uttarakhand. He then pointed out that the National Human Rights Commission is an expression of India's concern for the protection and promotion of human rights. It came into being on October, 1993 as mandate by the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993. It has been discharging a role complementary to that of the Supreme Court of India by performing those tasks which by their very nature the NHRC can perform better e.g. monitoring any situation or functioning of an institution. The complementarities between these institutions have considerably improved the mechanism for the protection of human rights in the country, which is primarily a state responsibility. Article 21 of the PHR Act, 93 provides for the establishment of State Human Rights Commission in each and every state of the country. Presently, 16 State Human Rights Commission in total has been established, which includes, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The Commission has emphasized that SHRC’s wherever they exist or are in the process of being established, it be ensured that they are structurally and financially independent as envisaged in and fully confirming to the principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (Paris Principles). The Commission has endeavored to assist and guide State Commissions, whenever requests for such assistance or guidance have been sought. There has been constant delay in the hands of the concerned authorities to set up State Human Rights Commissions in all the states, despite the fact that the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government declared it to be as one of the primary concern. He also emphasized on the fact that majority of the State Commissions lack adequate infrastructure and financial independence to carry out their responsibility effectively of protecting and promoting human rights in their respective states. He then cited the example of UP State Human Rights Commission which has failed to perform its role efficiently since its inception. More then 60% (around 45000) of the complaints registered in the NHRC is from the state of UP and as low as 6000 – 8000 complaints are registered in the State Commission, this shows the lack of faith the people have on State Commission. He said although compare to other states, Uttarkhand has very low human rights violation and crime rate as evident in the official data’s. But the non-governmental sources provide a complete different picture altogether and hence it would be unfair to rely only on the official sources to depict the human rights situation in the state. One of the major reasons for such low crime and human rights records is mainly due to the lack of awareness of human rights issues among the people of the state. He also mentioned the fact that the role of the Commission does not only restrict to registering complaints and taking appropriate action against the perpetrators but is also to monitor, promote and create awareness about human rights issues, and therefore it is important for the State to establish the Commission at the earliest and protect the rights of the vulnerable and deplorable sections of the society. Delivering the inaugural address, Mr. AS Sharma said that Human Rights is a wide subject and effects the life of each and every individual from its birth till his death and emphasized on the fact that it is the responsibility of the state and central government to ensure that the rights of the people are protected, he also laid special emphasis on the protection of health and environment. He further added that the state should specifically ensure that the rights of the people are not violated by the judiciary as well as police officials and in case such instances occur it should be addressed immediately. He feels that there is an urgent need to generate human rights awareness among the people of the state so as to control the growing incidences of human rights violations and at the same time establish human rights cell in every district to closely monitor and control such cases. Mr. PC Tiwari further questioned the status of human dignity especially after the formation of the State of Uttarakhand. He views the rights of the land as a major problem in the state and points out on the lack of land area available for the developmental activities, due to which mostly agricultural land which comprises of 60 -70% of the land area in the state is being used for developmental activities like to build schools, hospitals, colleges etc. He also provided the status of the social activists who fight for the water, forest and land rights and hence are the worst sufferers of the human rights violations which is mostly committed by the police officials. He also blamed media for supporting the police authorities and capturing their version of the incidence rather then focusing on the truth. He also expressed his concern over the growing nexus between mafias and political parties which is posing serious danger on the lives of the people in the state. Honorable Minister Mr. Prakash Pant, Chief Guest of the Consultation traced the background of the human rights activism in India and supported the various view points and suggestions made by the above eminent speakers. He said that it is the responsibility of the State to protect the rights of its people by ensuring that the law and order is followed by one and all, and here the role of police officials and judiciary becomes more important. He further added that he realizes the urgency and need of the establishment of a State Human Rights Commission in Uttarakhand and therefore would make all the efforts to pressurize the state government to establishment the Commission as soon as possible. He also extended his support and cooperation to Pairvi in this endeavor. Janhvi Tiwari a known human rights activist in the state expressed her concern over the non – implementation of the laws in the state. She said that plethora of laws exist in the country today which includes laws related to protection of women, children, dalits, tribals, vulnerable as well as deplorable sections of the society, but what is lacking is the serious implementation of them. She said that the law and order situation of the state is entirely in the hinds of the higher authorities and it therefore becomes important that the right kind of people hold such positions, as their decision and effective functioning directly affects the each and every aspect of society. Mr Samar Bhandari, CPI member and a human rights activist added that the protection of human rights is political question. He strongly feels that to a larger extent the human rights violations take place and is supported by the existing state government , and it is highly unfortunate that we civil society organizations are requesting them to establish a State Human Rights Commission, who themselves are responsible for creating such situations in the state. He said that working towards the establishment of the Commission is a people’s movement and therefore should be entirely lead by them, and then only we can expect establishment of a totally committed and just human rights body in the State. Mr. Purshotam Badoni and Mr. Pundir provided an overview of the status of children and Dalits in the State and cited few instances wherein their rights are hugely violated on a regular basis. Mr. Badoni said the children are the future of the country and the protection of their rights should be the foremost responsibility of the state, hundreds of children are sacrificing their childhood and are pulled into the labour market and are forced to work in hazardous industries due to poor financial and family conations. Mr. Pundir shared the plight of dalits in the state, that how they are deprived of land rights, despite the fact that state has 60 - 70 % of the land area. The lands which should be allotted to the dalits are given to various companies for carrying out commercial activities. Based on the suggestions by the eminent speakers a set of recommendations were formulated, drawing the attention of the state government towards certain aspects. Recommendations to the State Government for the Establishment of State Human Rights Commission.
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