For the purpose of regularizing and advancing the efficacy in the issue of summons and
convening of relevant parties, a special mechanism has been developed by the Inquiry and
Investigation Division, which is implemented at the Head-Office; that is the serving of summons
on a monthly basis. However in a case where an urgent inquiry is necessary priority will be given
to such a case. Admission to Grade One of schools, complaints on torture and detention and
special requests made by the parties are some of such cases.
In the year 2014 the Head Office received 5074 complaints of which only 3730 complaints came
under the purview of the Commission. The number of complaints out of the scope of the
mandate of the Commission were 1032. The number of complaints received by the regional
offices were 4082. All information relating to the complaints are stored in the data base of the
Commission. Data entry is performed on a daily basis. The Commission examines such stored
data when necessary.
1.2
Consultation Services
People contact the Commission seeking advice over a variety of issues. Consultations to provide
advice on infringements of human rights with the view to providing redress to complainants are
held daily. Directing persons to other relevant institutions is also done daily. A duty officer is
deployed daily for that purpose. He is attending 30 – 40 complaints per a day. The number of
persons obtained advices from HRCSL Head Office 3,170 for the year 2014.
The same service is offered at regional offices. Please refer chapter 5 for number of persons
attended for the consultations in the Regional Centres.
1.3 Hotline
A hotline was kept open for the general public round the clock (24 hrs) in year 2014. Introducing
an easy accessible hotline number (1996) has resulted in an increase in the access of this service
during the year. Matters relating to arrests and detentions have been urgently addressed on the
hotline service.
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