Experience of the Working of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 CHAPTER 2 2.1 Over the past nine years the Commission has daily endeavoured to give meaning and reality to the Objects and Reasons that led to the adoption of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. It has sought to use to the full the opportunities provided to it by that Act to promote and protect human rights in the country. But it has also had to deal with the infirmities of the Act and the opportunities that these, in turn, have provided to frustrate the efforts of the Commission and, on occasion, the very purposes of the Act itself. 2.2 It would thus be useful, in the light of the experience of the Commission, to reflect briefly on the Objects and Reasons of the Act and to examine how these have, in reality, been served. 2-3 The over-arching intent of the Act was to provide for the 'better protection of human rights' in the country and 'for matters coimected therewith and incidental thereto.' Read with the 'Functions of the Commission' contained in section 12 of the Act, this was indeed a broad and far-reaching purpose. The Statement of Objects and Reasons amplified the need for the Act. It expressly noted 'the growing concern in the country and abroad about issues relating to human rights* and, while observing that the rights embodied in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the same year were 'substantially protected' by the Constitution, nevertheless observed that there were 'changing social realities and emerging trends' that required the Government to review 'existing laws, procedures and the system of administration of justice, with a view to bringing about greater accountability and transparency in them, and devising efficient and effective methods of dealing with the situation'. NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION