ultimate benefit of the poor and common citizens of the country. The beneficiaries have been magnanimous in acknowledging the positive role and contribution of JAMAKON. recommendations to the government to this effect and we sincerely hope that the government will give a serious thought over the issue. Likewise, active participation of JAMAKON in different international and regional conferences, seminars, workshops, training programmes etc. enabled the Commission to occupy a position of respect in the international community. This was clearly noticed when in 2015 re-accreditation of JAMAKON by the ICC (now renamed as GANHRI- Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions) it was once again awarded ‘B’ status. When it was announced, I was personally approached by a number of NHRC Chairpersons expressing their ‘disbelief’ and telling me “if your Commission does not get ‘A’ status, what’s the use of so much of hard work?” 7. In the following pages dear readers will get a more detailed picture of divergent activities of JAMAKON in 2015. We realize that common citizens’ expectations from JAMAKON are sky-high! But, the truth is that we are compelled to work under serious constrainslimitations of economic nature, lack of requisite human resources, institutional and structural weakness, legal barriers, lack of due respect to the Commission on the part of the bureaucracy, etc. Nonetheless, I can today say with all firmness that JAMAKON of 2015 is not the JAMAKON of 2010! We have travelled a long way, though we know that we will have to traverse even a longer distance! We only expect and hope that the hands of collaboration and cooperation of all and sundry that we have been so fortunate to be blessed with will not be taken away. Your help and assistance enriched us, emboldened us, and gave us the courage not to bow down to undue pressure, criminal threats, compromise with the dignity of a human being. Challenges will be there, path ahead may be a thorny one, but there is no force today that can stop the forward march of JAMAKON-a trusted institution of the poor, marginalized, deprived common citizens of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. So, please allow me, borrowing these couplets from Tagore, to make this final appeal to all the citizens of Bangladesh: What is lamentable is that, JAMAKON has been awarded with ‘B’ status not because of inherent weakness of the Commission or not for not doing enough for protection and promotion of human rights in the country, but because of certain provisions of the JAMAKON founding act of 2009 which, in the opinion of SCA of ICC/GANHRI are not compliant with the Paris Principles – the core legal document identifying the necessary ingredients of an independent national human rights institution. In the opinion of SCA, if these provisions (please see the annexure) are amended, NHRC Bangladesh can enjoy the elevated, desired and expected prestigious ‘A’ status and take its due place among the international community of NHRIs. I am confident that the reader will not dissent that amendment of the Act is beyond the jurisdiction of JAMAKON. Hence, during the Annual General Meeting of ICC/GANHRI in March, 2016 in Geneva, I told the general body in no unequivocal term, followed by huge applause that “it is unfair, unjust and unacceptable to shift the burden of State’s non-compliance/negligence to the shoulder of the NHRC!”It is really unfortunate that a country which sits as a proud member of the UN Human Rights Council cannot boast of a NHRC of the highest status, and that merely because of a few provisions of the law which in the opinion of all stakeholders may be amended without any hassle whatsoever and without inviting any serious problem for the state. JAMAKON has already made concrete “The dark evening creeps in, slowly, silently All the songs of nature are hushed by unknown omen There is no companion for the lonely bird in the sky Tiredness crushes its wings like heavy mountains The drowning silence warns of an unholy fear And the darkness engulfs every horizon, every last ray of light. But alas, my lonely bird, ‘Tis not time! For you must fly on, for there Translation: Arpeeta Shams Mizan] ix JAMAKON