NHRC, India CHAPTER - 3 NHRC: ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS 3.1 NHRC India was set up by an Act of Parliament on 12 October 1993 as amended in September, 2006 and July, 2019, called as the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (PHRA). This Act is aimed at giving ‘better protection and promotion of human rights’. It is an institution, which acts as a compliment to the judiciary and is engaged in the protection and promotion of the constitutionally enshrined fundamental human rights of all people in the country. 3.2 As per the Act, ‘human rights’ means the ‘rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India’. International Covenants include the International Covenanton Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The Government of India acceded to the ICCPR and ICESER in 1979. It ratified the CEDAW in 1993, the CRC in 1991 and the CERD in 1968. Many of the rights as referred to in the ICCPR and the ICESCR were available to Indian citizens when India became independent. These rights are primarily reflected in Part III and Part IV of the Constitution under the broad heading of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. 3.3 Unquestionably, the greatest strength of the PHRA is to provide the Commission with ‘independence, functional autonomy and broad mandate’, which are essential to the composition and proper functioning of a NHRI conforming with the Paris Principles. NHRC-India is an embodiment of India’s concern for the promotion and protection of human rights. 3.4 The experience of NHRC-India, ever since it came into existence, has shown that its independence and strength is well guaranteed by the requirements of the statute relating to its composition, appointments procedure, and powers relating to inquiries, extensive range of functions and specialised divisions and staff. A. Constitution of the commission 3.5 Section 3 of the PHRA, (amended in 2019) provides for the constitution of a Commission consisting of: i. A Chairperson who has been a Chief Justice of India or a Judge of the Supreme Court; ANNUAL REPORT 8 2021-22