Mere setting up of state human rights commission would not serve any purpose: Justice Balakrishnan

Addressing a meeting of representatives of state human rights commissions in New Delhi, on August 17, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Justice KG Balakrishnan said that a mere setting up of state human rights commission would not serve any purpose, if they are not provided with sufficient manpower and infrastructure for their effective functioning.

All state governments should take steps to strengthen their state human rights commissions, he added. He also said states that do not have human rights commission should take steps to set them up at the earliest.

State governments need to appreciate that human rights commissions are meant to facilitate good governance and that they have been set up to help the administration and the people of the country achieve their social, cultural and economic rights.

The NHRC appreciated the cooperation being received from states, as 99 per cent of its recommendations had been implemented, Balakrishnan said.

Balakrishnan assured that the NHRC could assist in providing material and resource persons to state human rights commissions for the training of their personnel in human rights. He hoped state human rights commissions would improve their complaint management systems with the assistance of NHRC.