Annual Report 2016 Chapter 1 About National Human Rights Commission 1.1 Background of National Human Rights Commission: 1.2 Mandates of National Human Rights Commission: The first initiative to form a Commission relating to human rights at national level was taken in 1998. At that time with the help of UNDP a draft was made for legislation. The issue remained pending and under consideration for a long time. At last a Commission came into being on 1st September 2008 with the promulgation of National Human Rights Commission Ordinance 2007. With the appointment of a Chairman and two members that Commission started working on 1st December, 2008. But virtually the National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh comes into being with the enactment of National Human rights Commission Act-2009. With the legislation NHRC starts functioning in its full force on June 2010. The second Commission under the spell of the NHRC Act 2009 works for two terms National Human Rights Commission is committed to creating a broad-based human rights culture in the country. According to the National Human Rights Commission Act- 2009 the mandates of the Commission include inter alia the following aspects: Complaint Handling & Conducting Inquiry into HR Violations Detailed Functions of the National Human Rights Commission National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh is always focused to addressing human rights agenda in a wider scale as to reach its visionary goal of establishing a human rights culture and a society free from discriminations, violence and violations of rights. NHRC wants to reach to the people of all strata of life irrespective of class, caste and creed and wants to render its services as Research & Publications on HR Issues HR advocay and Awareness Building Recommendations on different HR Issues Role as Watchdog of HR until June 2016. The present one is literally the fourth Commission that commences its journey on 02 Aug 2016. It is composed of a Chairman and six Members. International Reporting & Coordination Providing free legal aid per the set priorities in such a way that the poor people, the excluded groups, the religious minorities, the ethnic communities of Chittagong Hill Tracts and plain areas of the country can enjoy their rights to the full. To that end NHRC performs regularly the activities that include the following: 1