X INTERACTION WITH EXTERNAL GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS 1O:f This Commission believes that lndia should be in the vanguard of the world-wide mclvement to promote and protect human rights. All countries have problems and lndia is no exception. Indeed, given the history of our planet, there is no place for self- rigjlteousness, anywhere in the world, when it comes to human rights. The furtherance of such rights thus requires a certain humility and the development of trust, both between nations and within them. 10.2 In this spirit, the doors of the Commission have been wide open to visitors - first and foremost to the people of this country who have come to express their views and to seek redressal of their grievances; next, to those who are interested in lndia and have sought'to understand the nature of our society and the role and place of the Ccumrnission within it. In the course of the year under review, the Commission has had occasion for frequent discussionswith members of the diplomatic corps stationed in Delhi'. Ministers ard other leading personalities visiting the muntry have often called-onthe Commission. Eminent parliamentarians, senators and coigreskmen, jurists, scholars, journalists and representatives of international non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty Infernational, spent time at the Commission, exchanging-viewswith it. It was a particular pleasure for the Commission to receive visit~rsfrom the South region, notably the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and a delegation from Bangladesh, led by its Minister of Law,that held discussions with this Commission on the composition, powers and functions of National Institutions set-up for the promotion and protection of human rights. Likewise, the Commission welcomed visits to its Headquarters by 'representatives of o t h a National Institutions: the Human Rights Commissioner.of the'Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission of Australia, ard the Secretary General and a Director of the Canadian Human Rights.Commission. The Commission also received with pleasure the Chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission of the United Kingdom. Amongst other visitors to the, Commission was the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, who subsequently presented his report to that Commission. 10.3 . ' 10.4 The Chairperson of the National Wrnan kighta ~ornrnis&n.of l k i a h8s had ths honour of serving as the Chair of the Coordinating Committee of ~atib"ahnstitut1ons for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights since April 1996. This group, which a t present comprises Australia, Cameroon, Canada, France, India, New Zealand, .