India moots Asia Pacific human rights commission

India proposes to bring together all the Asia Pacific countries to set up a joint human rights commission in the region.

The decision comes in the wake of frequent criticism of the Asia Pacific countries's human rights record by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the Amnesty International and Asiawatch.

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, Home Minister Indrajit Gupta and officials of the National Human Rights Commission will discuss the proposal with representatives of these countries next week in New Delhi during the second Asia-Pacific regional workshop on human rights.

India will impress upon the Asia Pacific countries including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Philippines that such an institution could help expand the mutual support and cooperation between them.

The initiative, said to be Gujral's brainchild, will also make it clear to the West that, despite problems of poverty, violence and terrorism, countries in the region are committed to safeguarding human rights.

To be headquartered in one of the major cities in the region, the proposed Asia Pacific Human Rights Commission will facilitate, among other things, information exchanges and training for security forces on human rights.

The APHRC will work in close co-operation with governments, non-government organisations and UN agencies to ensure that human rights principles are fully implemented in the region.

India will also urge the governments of the region to constitute national human rights commissions in their countries. At present, only India, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Philippines and Sri Lanka have national commissions that are judicially empowered to investigate human rights violations.

In India, the five-year-old National Human Rights Commission has been probing complaints of rights violations in the strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir as well as the North-East.