We, the undersigned, are regional and international human rights nongovernmental organizations as well as individuals expressing concerns over the developments at the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRCI).
The submitting organizations have varying degrees of direct work with the NHRCI. Most of us have been involved in advocacy to push for the NHRCI’s compliance with the United Nations Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (The Paris Principles). We have repeatedly made submissions to the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) concerning the accreditation of NHRCI in 2023, 2024, 2025, most recently in March 2026 and now in this “Alteration of Accreditation.”
Summary:
In March 2025, the GANHRI-SCA recommended downgrading NHRCI’s accreditation and gave it one year before making a final decision. The SCA recommended that the NHRCI improve its processes and functions in line with the Paris Principles. The NHRCI challenged the downgrade before GANHRI but it was rejected in December 2025, and the NHRCI’s “Alteration of Accreditation” review was postponed from March to November 2026.
The SCA formally raised concerns about the NHRCI in 2011 and then reiterated it in its 2016, 2017, 2023, 2024 and 2025 reports to the Indian government and the NHRCI over its mandate to respond to the escalating human rights violations in India, lack of pluralism in selection and appointments of its core members, insufficient cooperation with human rights bodies, and concerns over its ability to function independent of government interference.
In March 2026, several of us wrote to your office sharing our concerns about the NHRCI’s functioning and its limited compliance with the recommendations made by the SCA.
We acknowledge that there has been an increase in the number of suo motu cases taken up by the commission, and media coverage and external communications of NHRCI’s activities appears to have improved. However, these improvements appear to b
… [more]
