government appointees and that the quorum requirements would appear to allow nominations solely by those members. The SCA highlighted the importance of having a clear, transparent and participatory selection process that promotes the independence of, and public confidence in, the senior leadership of the Commission, and called upon the NHRC to advocate for the formalisation of the selection process in relevant legislation, regulations or binding administrative guidelines as appropriate. In response, the NHRC has proposed amendments to section 6(1) of the Act to increase membership on the Selection Committee to include: a Judge from the Appellate Division; a member of civil society nominated by the Speaker of the Parliament; the Chairperson of the Public Service Commission; and a Vice Chancellor of any public university nominated by the Vice Chancellor’s Forum. It also proposed an amendment to section 7(3) of the Act to increase the quorum requirement from four to six. The SCA encourages the NHRC to ensure that the new process addresses all of the following issues: a) Publicize vacancies broadly; b) Maximize the number of potential candidates from a wide range of societal groups and educational qualifications; c) Promote broad consultation and / or participation in the application, screening, selection and appointment process; d) Assess applicants on the basis of pre-determined, objective and publicly-available criteria; and e) Select members to serve in their individual capacity rather than on behalf of the organization they represent. Further, of the seven commissioners, the chairman and only one member are full time, the other five are appointed on honorary basis and they do not serve full time. However, it still lacks an effective institutional frame-work and adequate 42 JAMAKON manpower to unleash the huge potential of the National Human Rights Commission. The honorary members are not giving their full potential and they are attending the commission on invitation. The Commission needs more full time members who can enhance the functions effectively. 3. Organogram of the NHRC: In addition to one Chairman and six members, there is one Secretary and 48 officers and staff. Though the organogram contains 139 positions, but the rest positions are vacant. The NHRC is working with the Government to fill the additional 91 positions. The NHRC is still short off adequate manpower and is suffering for lacking of effective institutional framework to unleash the huge potentials of the institution. Besides, the NHRC needs more employees to extend its services to the divisional levels. At present, the Secretary and two Directorsare seconded from the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh. The Deputy Directors are seconded from the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh if no suitable candidate be found in-house to fill vacancy through promotion. A fundamental requirement of the Paris Principles is that an NHRI is, and is perceived to be, able to operate independent of government interference. Where a NHRI’s staff members are seconded from the public service, and in particular where this includes those at the highest level in the NHRI, it brings into question the capacity of the NHRI to function independently. The SCA is of the view that senior level posts should not be filled with secondees and that the number of secondees should not exceed 25% except in exceptional circumstances. Success of the NHRC mostly depends on the devotion and activeness of the people working in the NHRC. So, the appointed officers and staff need adequate training and skill enhancement activities to institutionalize the NHRC. The NHRC has to