In a setback for India’s human rights record, the Geneva-based, United Nations-linked Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) deferred the accreditation of the National Human Rights Commission-India (NHRC) for the second year in a row. The decision, which could now affect India’s ability to vote at the Human Rights Council and some UNGA bodies, was taken during the meeting of the Sub Committee on Accreditation (SCA) on May 1, that included representatives from New Zealand, South Africa, Honduras and Greece.
While the committee’s latest report is still awaited, its previous report had cited a number of reasons for recommending the deferral, including the lack of transparency in appointing members to the NHRC, the appointment of police officers to oversee human rights investigations, and the lack of gender and minority representation on the member panel.
The accreditation deferral decision has been conveyed to the NHRC, sources confirmed to The Hindu, indicating that some of the demands made by the international peer review report were difficult to undertake during the election process in India.
