National Human Rights Commission, India:
Awareness and Advocacy Activities
Aparna Tiwari

The National Human Rights Commission (nhrc) is an embodiment of India’s concern for human rights. It was establishedunder the Protection of Human Rights Act (phra),1 1993. Since its
inception, the nhrc India has been consistently doing a pioneering workin the field of protection and promotion of human rights across the country. Nhrc India discharges multifarious functions: examines and reviews
the safeguards provided by the various legislations for the protection ofhuman rights and recommends measures for their effective implementation; inquires into violations of human rights and recommends initiation ofremedial proceedings; studies treaties and international instruments; periodically reviews existing policies, programs and makes recommendations
for their effective implementation; undertakes and promotes research in thefield of human rights; spreads human rights literacy and creates awarenessof the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, media, seminars and other available means.
Over the years, nhrc India has consistently emphasized the key features of human rights framework, which are principles of universality, nondiscrimination and equality, principle of participatory decision-making, thenotion of accountability and recognition of interdependence of rights, in thecourse of its advocacy on matters related to persons belonging to Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes; rights of women, children, persons with disabilities, lgbtqi+; vulnerable minorities and other marginalized communities.
nhrc India meticulously addresses the significant human rights issues
either by taking suo moto cognizance, or when brought to its notice by thecivil society, media, concerned citizens, expert advisers, etc. Furthermore,
nhrc India strives for comprehensive partnerships with key stakeholders
such as the judiciary, police personnel, media, representatives of non-governmental organizations (ngos) and civil society organizations, industry
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and academia. It functions most notably through sponsoring research, conducting consultations, seminars, workshops, internships, training programs
and publications.
Mandate of NHRC India for Human Rights Advocacy and Training
Section 12 (g) to (h) of phra mandates the nhrc India to perform the following functions:(g) Undertake and promote research in the field of human rights;(h) Spread human rights literacy among various sections of society andpromote awareness of the safeguards available for the protection ofthese rights through publications, the media, seminars and other available means;(i) Encourage the efforts of non-governmental organisations and institutions working in the field of human rights;(j) Such other functions as it may consider necessary for the protectionof human rights.
Further, the 1987 Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions(The Paris Principles)2 state that a national institution shall have the responsibility to publicize human rights and efforts to combat all forms of discrimination, in particular racial discrimination, by increasing public awareness,
especially through information and education and by making use of all press
organs.
nhrc India uses a wide range of measures to discharge the function ofhuman rights advocacy and education. Prominent among them are flagshiptraining programs, conferences, seminars, workshops, media interactions,publications for education, outreach programs, etc.
In order to discharge these functions, nhrc India has a dedicatedtraining division which is responsible for spreading human rights literacy
among various sections of the society. As such, it trains and sensitizes various government officials and functionaries of the State and its agencies,
non-government officials, representatives of civil society organizations andstudents on different human rights issues. For this purpose, it collaborates
with the Administrative Training Institutions/Police Training Institutions

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and Universities/Colleges, Education boards, Civil Society Organizations/
Non Governmental Organizations, etc.3
Human Rights Education through Publications
Dissemination of human rights information and knowledge through publications is one of the prominent methods adopted by nhrc India. It publishes various priced and non-priced publications specifically designed to raiseawareness regarding human rights among stakeholders, academia, public
servants and the general public. nhrc India’s publications cover a range of
topics including Rights of Children, Criminal Justice system, Mental Health,
Women’s rights, Rights of Migrant laborers, etc. They also consist of someof the important guidelines, interactions, Annual Reports, various Standard
Operating Procedures (sops), etc. Some of the prominent publications of
nhrc India include Handbook on Bonded Labour,4 The Coasts, the Fish
Resources and the Fishworkers’ Movement,5 and Human Rights Best Practices
Relating to Criminal Justice in Nutshell,6 etc., among many others.
In the series of publications, the nhrc India has come up with a uniqueconcept of Know Your Rights7 series of booklets on International Human
Rights Conventions, Shelter, Manual Scavenging, Bonded Labor, Child
Labor, Sexual Harassment of Women at the Work Place, Rights of Persons
with Disabilities and Human Rights & hiv/aids. Interestingly, these publications are also available in several vernacular languages such as Hindi,
Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Assamese, Urdu, Punjabi,
Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Nepali and Manipuri. Publishing them in majorvernacular languages enhances the accessibility of information to the masses from far flung areas and maintains India’s unity in diversity.
MARG Booklets
The nhrc India undertook a project with the Multiple Action ResearchGroup (marg), an ngo working for legal empowerment of the vulnerable
and the marginalized, to develop twenty-seven booklets on specific rights
issues to generate awareness of human rights in the society. Each booklet ofthe series seeks to give information about a specific right and the remedies
available for redressal of violations thereof. The booklets have been structured to deal with appropriate attitude towards the issue (respect for theright), explanation of rights (knowledge of law) and tips on how to use the112

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law (knowledge and skills to secure rights). These booklets are easy to use
and accessible even to those with basic literacy skills. Booklets in the series
have already been published in English and have been widely circulated toschool education boards, stakeholders, and the general public.8
The booklets for ten subjects with a human rights perspective are thefollowing:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Rule of Law
Accessing Remedies in Law
The Right to Information
The Juvenile Justice Act
Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles
Child Labour and Child Marriage
International Human Rights Covenants and Conventions
The Right to Education
The Criminal Justice System
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (pocso).

MARG booklets on human rights issues (Image credit: Human Rights Newsletter, vol. 26, no. 5, May
2019 edition9)

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Journals
Nhrc India, in fulfilling its statutory responsibility of spreading humanrights literacy among various sections of society and promoting awarenessof the safeguards available for the protection of these rights, has been publishing the Annual English Journal10 and Annual Hindi Journal titled Nae
Dishae11 (Know your rights). The first English journal was published in 2002
while the first Hindi journal was published in 2004. These journals havebrought together research and opinions from various subject experts, scholars, practitioners, activists, jurists, public servants, rights defenders and distinguished domain experts.
Seminars, Workshops and Conferences
Nhrc India has been actively promoting a culture of human rights awareness and education by conducting workshops, seminars, and conferences.
These activities aim to not only take up pressing human rights issues andpresent recommendations but also sensitize the general public about the basic human rights principles and standards. Through these means nhrc India
has been able to empower individuals with knowledge about their rights andencouraged them to stand up against human rights violations. The activities are also useful in fostering a culture where human rights are respected
and society and individuals have sound understanding of human rights andinformed of human rights initiatives. Some of the recent activities of nhrc

NHRC INDIA’s National Conference on “Moving Mental Health Beyond Institutions”. (Image credit: NHRC
Twitter account @India_NHRC)

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India include National Conference: Human Rights in Indian Culture andPhilosophy, National Conference on Child Sexual Abuse Material (csam)
and National Conference on “Moving Mental Health Beyond Institutions,”
etc., among various others.
Human Rights Trainings
nhrc India collaborates with many administrative training institutions for
public servants set up by Central and State Governments, including thepolice training institutions, to hold training/sensitization programs on human rights issues. Members and officers of the nhrc India lecture at these
institutes as part of ongoing interaction with members of the bureaucracy
and police forces at all levels to inculcate a rights-based approach to public
service. nhrc India collaborates with a large number of universities andcolleges for sensitization of faculty members as well as students on humanrights issues. In addition, it also partners with several ngos and funds themto organize such human rights training and advocacy programs. In addition,
it recently initiated residential training of the trainer course at its premises to train the police personnel and Central investigative agencies as theseagencies play a crucial role in the protection of human rights of people at
the grassroots level.

NHRC, India’s 2nd one-week Residential Training of Trainers course for officers of Central Armed
Police Forces (CAPFs) and various Central Investigation Agencies. (Image credit: nhrc Twitter
account @India_nhrc)

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Course on Human Rights
In order to reach out to the broadest possible audience, nhrc India in collaboration with National Law School of India University (nlsiu), Bangalore,
uploaded a twelve-week Human Rights Online Course with four credits(Transferable) for undergraduate students on Swayam Online Portal of the
University Grant Commission (ugc). nhrc India and nlsiu collaborated
on unique online courses called Massive Open Online Courses (mooc).12
The Course, videos, and materials have been put together by fifteen
Faculty Experts from nlsiu. The topics discussed under the different modules reflect international mandates, national legislations, constitutional perspectives, comparative jurisdictions (which require a special reference), implementation mechanisms, etc. The topics covered relate to many importantcomponents of society, including the rights of the marginalized, including
women, children, the elderly, workers, transgender people, refugees, etc.,
The Course follows a combination of discussion of theory, critical thinking,and problem-solving. Lectures and self-learning activities are included in
the courses.13
Human Rights Internship Programs
nhrc India holds short internship program in alternative months throughout the year and month-long winter and summer internship for undergraduate and postgraduate students from various streams across the country.
During the internship program, the students are exposed to lectures anddiscussions on various human rights issues. They are taken on field visits
to police stations, prisons, and ngos for exposure. In these internships,
nhrc India invites experts from various sections such as senior Officers
of Government of India, academicians, Human Rights Defenders, Special
Rapporteurs, Monitors, and representatives of eminent ngos, Thinkers, etc.
to address and interact with the students. In addition to giving hands-on
experience, the students do field visits to Central Jail, District Jail, Police
Stations, ngos and Shelter Homes and Deemed Commissions.14 The interns
are also assigned to various Divisions of the nhrc India, and given project
assignments on different aspects of human rights situation in the country toresearch and report on.

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Visit of the interns of NHRC’s month long winter internship program to Delhi’s Tihar Central Jail. (Image
credit: NHRC Twitter account @India_NHRC)

During the covid-19 pandemic, the short-term internship program ofnhrc India successfully shifted to online mode which also resulted in maximum geographical coverage as it allowed students from far flung areas toparticipate easily.
Harmonization of International Treaties and Conventions with Domestic Laws:
Comparative Studies by NHRC India
The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 mandates nhrc to study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and make recommendations for their effective implementation. Accordingly, the nhrc
India has undertaken harmonization of two United Nations treaties withdomestic laws of India. The study on the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child (uncrc) was conducted between 2017 and 2019 ti-

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tled as The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc)& Indian Legislations, Judgments & Schemes: A Comparative Study By
nhrc15 and United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (cedaw) titled as Women’s Rights in India:
An Analytical Study (2021).16 For each study, a sub-committee consisting of
subject experts, academicians, government representatives, Human Rights
Defenders was formed. These committees held various consultations over
the years to complete the studies. These comparative studies identified thegaps in implementing the uncrc and cedaw with respect to the Indian
legislations, policies, schemes, judgments, and guidelines.
Awareness through Media
Nhrc India has been successfully using media as a tool for advocating forchange, and ensuring protection of human rights in the country. The media
and communication division of nhrc India is responsible for dissemination of information through media on different issues and aspects of human rights by issuing press releases and publishing monthly newsletters17 inEnglish and Hindi and by regular tweeting about various activities of nhrc
India through its Twitter handle @India_nhrc. The monthly newsletterof nhrc India reports on its ongoing
work, landmark judgments, compensation awarded and other major monthly
activities.
nhrc
India
also
organizes
press conferences, interviews of the
Chairperson, Members and senior officers with national broadcaster All India
Radio (air), DD news and several otherprint and digital media organizations.
These interviews are published in several Indian languages such as Marathi,
Punjabi, and Urdu along with English for
wider outreach.
NHRC award winning short film “Chirbogh”
In addition, every year nhrc India
that highlights the caste discrimination18
in society. (Image credit: NHRC Twitter invites short film entries for its “Shortaccount @India_NHRC)

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Film Competition” which aims at recognizing the creative efforts towards
promotion and protection of human rights. These films are accepted in any
Indian language with a subtitle in English. The best three selected shortfilms are awarded and few others get special mention.
Exposure Visits to NHRC India
One day or half-day exposure visit to nhrc India is a popular concept introduced for the students, faculty members, and officers of various colleges anduniversities across the country. These visits aim to introduce people about
the functioning of the nhrc as well as make them become aware about thehuman rights situation in the country.

Exposure Visit of Students & Faculty Members of Department of Social Work, Voorhees College, Vellore,
Tamil Nadu. (Image credit: NHRC Twitter account @India_NHRC)

Review of the Human Rights Education Initiatives
Nhrc India has a comprehensive program on human rights awareness andadvocacy. Numerous activities have been undertaken in pursuit of the needto protect and promote human rights across the country.
To illustrate, in 2023 nhrc India organized three short-term internshipprograms of fifteen days involving two hundred eleven students of various
disciplines from universities all over the country as participants. In addition,
there were two month-long winter internship programs with one hundred

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thirty-three students in total and another month-long summer internshipprogram with sixty-eight students participating.19
Throughout the year, nhrc India also organized twenty collaborative
training programs with over a thousand participants in the states of Uttar
Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh, Kerala and many others.
These collaborative training programs have been organized through various
academic institutions such as law universities, colleges and ngos. In addition, over a thousand students of schools and universities have also visitednhrc India in order to have first-hand experience of its operations.
As a new element to its human rights advocacy and awareness program,training of trainers for police personnel and officers of the central investigative agencies was introduced in 2023. Two residential training activities
were held for twenty-one and twenty-five trainers respectively belonging to
Police Academies of states and Union Territories and Central investigative
agencies.
Hence it is pertinent to state that nhrc India is expanding its humanrights awareness and advocacy activities with commendable results after undertaking them through the years. But there are still some issues toovercome.
Nhrc India implemented human rights awareness and advocacy programs and activities for students, bureaucrats and police personnel by involving various stakeholders such as academicians and government andngo representatives. These activities and engagements are limited to thepeople belonging to the upper strata of society and specially those who
can have easy access to nhrc India. In addition, the training and advocacy of human rights activities involved are short-term in nature and do
not aim towards any holistic solution. For example, nhrc India organizes
regular visit of students of schools and colleges to its premises. It is an excellent way of educating students about human rights, but it does not havemassive impact on the students from all corners of the country. Therefore,
there has to be continuous long-term efforts such as policy intervention
on incorporating the discourse of human rights and introduction of nhrc
India into the school syllabus, introducing professional degrees on humanrights at tertiary levels, etc. This will help the students to become awareof human rights as citizens and stand for the rights of their own and theircommunities.

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Further, to a certain extent, the awareness efforts of nhrc India alsolack the direct and continuous engagement with communities and people tounderstand their specific human rights concerns and ways to address them.
nhrc India is yet to introduce effective ways of reaching out to the massesof the society. The grassroots approach to advocacy efforts to address theunique challenges faced by different communities is yet to become part ofhuman rights awareness and advocacy initiatives of nhrc India. The activities being done need to be taken to the districts, villages and rural communities, especially those of the marginalized and disadvantaged.
To translate this into reality, nhrc India has to strengthen its engagement with State Human Rights Commissions (shrcs) and local self-governance system. India has a comprehensive framework of local self-governance in the country including the Panchayati Raj institutions and Urban
Local Bodies as a mandated by the 73rd20 and 74th21 constitutional amendments of 1993.
There are two major forms of local self-government existing in India,
one in the urban areas (towns and cities where local self-governance is carried out by municipalities and corporations) and other in the rural areas (villages and panchayats). The primary objective of these local governance bodies is to promote local economic development, infrastructure development,social justice and ensure the proper implementation of various development programs. These local self-governments have been playing extremely
effective role in the development of the country and in ensuring people’s
participation and democracy even at the remotest corners of the country.
nhrc India may effectively utilize these local self-governance bodies for human rights awareness and advocacy. As local self-governments function on
the ground, they are better equipped with knowledge of the realities, challenges and the strategies needed to overcome them. Hence, they may playextremely vital role in spreading human rights awareness and advocacy at
grassroots level.
At present, India has over 260,000 Gram Panchayats or equivalent bod22
ies. nhrc India may design mass human rights awareness programs withtraining of representatives of these local self-government units in order forthem to implement human rights awareness programs for the people in the
districts, blocks, villages and communities. Since such mass human rights
awareness programs may require expertise in implementation, the participation of grassroots ngos and shrcs is necessary. Under the phra, shrcs

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have similar function23 of spreading human rights awareness and advocacy;hence, shrcs along with the ngos may act as the implementation and execution partners for such mass human rights awareness programs in theirrespective States. A comprehensive framework of this kind will ensure astrong reach of nhrc India at the grassroots level, along with having informed, sensitive and aware citizens of the country and a culture of humanrights in the society.
Conclusion
As per its mandate and resources, nhrc India has developed a comprehensive mechanism for promotion of human rights, spreading human rights
awareness and literacy and human rights advocacy at every possible level
through a number of initiatives. These initiatives have been extremely important and commendable to produce societal changes and as response tosocial reality for the realization of a sense of social justice for weaker sections of society. Through its training and advocacy efforts, nhrc India has
been paving the way towards creating a society that values and protects theinherent dignity and rights of its people.
Article 1(2) of United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education
and Training reads,
Human rights education and training is essential for thepromotion of universal respect for and observance of all humanrights and fundamental freedoms for all, in accordance with theprinciples of the universality, indivisibility and interdependenceof human rights.
In the Indian context, few of the considerable efforts for human rights
education and literacy are seen as inculcating the ideas of Article 1(2),through the formal education system. But the success of such efforts at large
scale level is still a distant reality and hence, there is a long way to go.
India being a diverse country of 1.4 billion people, reaching out to all ofthem and making them become aware about their rights and stand for theirrights remains a challenge. In such a context, the role of institutions like
nhrc India becomes extremely important.

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1 The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/15709/1/A1994____10.pdf .
2 Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (The Paris
Principles),www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/
principles-relating-status-national-institutions-paris.
3 Training Division, National Human Rights Commission, https://nhrc.nic.in/
about-us/organization-structures/specialized_divisions_and_staff.
4 Handbook on Bonded Labour, National Human Rights Commission, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/Hand_Book_Bonded_Labour_08022019_1.pdf .
5 The Coasts, the Fish Resources and the Fishworkers’ Movement, National
Human Rights Commission, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/The_Coasts_the_Fish_Resources_and_the_Fishworkers_Movement.pdf.
6 Human Rights Best Practices Relating to Criminal Justice in Nutshell, National
Human Rights Commission, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/Human_Rights_
Best_Practices_Relating_to_Criminal_Justice_in_Nutshell.pdf.
7 Non-Priced Publications, National Human Rights Commission, https://nhrc.
nic.in/publication-non-priced?field_publications_type_tid=All .
8 NHRC releases booklets on ten subjects with a human rights perspective, National Human Rights Commission, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/
files/2019_05_EN.pdf .
9 Human Rights Newsletter, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/2019_05_
EN.pdf .
10 Journal, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/NHRC_Journal_V21_2022.
pdf
11 Nae Dishae, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/NHRC_Nai_Dishayein_
V19_2022.pdf .
12 For more information on MOOCs of National Law School of India
University, Bangalore, visit https://nludelhi.ac.in/moocs.aspx.
13 Human Rights, National Law School of India University and CEC via
Swayam, www.classcentral.com/course/swayam-human-rights-23778.
14 Refer to Chapter II, Section 3(3) of The Protection of Human Rights Act,
1993, www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/15709/1/A1994____10.pdf.
15 The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) & Indian
Legislations, Judgments & Schemes: A Comparative Study, National Human Rights
Commission, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/UNCRC_2020.pdf .
16 Women’s Rights in India - An Analytical Study, NHRC, https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/Women%E2%80%99s%20Rights%20in%20India%20complete_compressed.pdf.
17 See for example the recent issue of the newsletter in this url: https://nhrc.
nic.in/media/nhrc-news-letter?field_date_value%5Bvalue%5D%5Bmonth%5D=10&fi
eld_date_value%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=2023.
18 NHRC selects Marathi short film “Chirbhog” for the first prize of Rs. 2 lakh;“Enabled” in Assamese and “Atcham Thavir” in Tamil get the 2nd and 3rd prize of
Rs.1.5 lakh and Rs.1 lakh in its 8th Short Film Competition on human rights, National

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Human Rights Commission, India, https://nhrc.nic.in/media/press-release/nhrcselects-marathi-short-film-%E2%80%98chirbhog%E2%80%99-first-prize-rs-2-lakh%E2%80%98enabled%E2%80%99.
19 Based on reports in several issues of NHRC’s monthly newsletter fromJanuary 2023-December 2023, https://nhrc.nic.in/media/nhrc-news-letter?field_
date_value%5Bvalue%5D%5Bmonth%5D=7&field_date_value%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=2023.
20 The Constitution (Seventy-Third Amendment) Act, 1992, www.education.
gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/73amend.pdf.
21 Seventy-Fourth Amendment Act, 1992, https://cag.gov.in/uploads/download_audit_report/2022/Chapter-I-06239c581cc6841.99798296.pdf.
22 Refer to the data of Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI at https://meetingonline.gov.in/staffDetailsReport.do.
23 Refer to Chapter V, Section 21 of The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993,
www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/15709/1/A1994____10.pdf .