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| Establishment of Human Rights Commission in Bihar |
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Pairvi organized a one day consultation on how to set up an effective State Human Rights Commission despite the limitation under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, at Scanda Business Centre, Patna (Bihar) on 16th May'07, in the wake of Bihar Governments notification to set up the State Human Rights Commissions.
The
Consultation was organized in collaboration with NIDAN, Patna and was
inaugurated by Mr. Uday Narain Choudhary, Speaker of the Legislative
Assembly, Bihar, who has been given the responsibility by the State
Government to oversee the prompt setting up of the State Human Rights
Commission. Mr. UN Mishra, Former Editor Janshakti and CPI (M), Ex MP
and MLA Mrs. Renu, Mr. Arun Kumar From Times Of India and Rameshwar
Singh were the other speakers who expressed there opinions regarding
the establishment of the State Commission in Bihar.
In the wake of Bihar government's notification to set up the state human rights commission, Pairvi organized a state level workshop on how to set up an effective state human rights commission despite the limitations under the protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. the workshop was organized on 16th May in collaboration with NIDAN, Patna. More than 40 NGOs working on various aspects of human rights and representatives from civil society organizations, academicians, advocates, and journalists participated in the workshop. The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Uday Narain Choudhary, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Bihar, who has been given the responsibility by the state government to oversee the prompt setting up of state human rights commission. Mr. U N Mishra, former editor Janshakti and Secretary CPI(M) chaired the moderated the discussions. Ex MP and MLA Mrs.Renu, Mr. Arun Kumar Singh from TOI and Rameshwar Singh from PUCL also attended the workshop. Ajay K Jha from Pairvi gave a presentation on what was the requirement for state Human rights Commission, based on the guidelines given by the Paris principles and convention on the National Human Rights Institutions. He also touched upon the limitations faced by the existing state human rights commission and how they are just window dressing the human rights concerns in the states rather than really addressing and contributing to the human rights protection. His presentation also drew heavily from the recommendations drawn by the National Consultation on strengthening Human Rights Commissions in India organized by Pairvi, ACHR and PWTN in January 2007. Amongst the major recommendations from the workshop were to ensure compliance with Paris principles, broad and creative interpretation of the Act of 1993, pluralism and civil society involvement in constitution and appointment of the commission. The issue of accountability, transparency, accessibility, adequate number of special rapporteurs at the disposal of the Commission and time frame in dealing with complaints were also touched upon as major areas of concern. The floor was opened for discussion after the presentation. The participants agreed with the recommendations and added that the mechanism of involvement and oversight of the commission by civil society was the most important thing for the effective functioning. However, some of the participants also expressed their apprehension with civil society involvement and said that it can be very easily turned into a medium of extending patronage to one and all. Mr. Uday Narain Choudhary, said that the government was aware of the necessity of the commission in the state and that is why they have made a move in this direction. They are keen to set up the commission as soon as possible and two meetings have already taken place in this regard and due to absence of the leader of opposition, the process is getting delayed. However, he assured that government is making all efforts to seek cooperation from all sections across party lines and though it cannot be said how soon the commission will be set up since it is a political process, he assured the participants that the government will also seek cooperation of civil society whenever required, in this regard. |
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