India’s National Human Rights Commission Faces ‘Historic’ Downgrade as UN-Linked Body Flags Govt Interference

New Delhi: The Geneva-based United Nations-linked Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions’ (GANHRI) sub-committee on accreditation report (SCA) has recommended downgrading India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) from category ‘A’ to category ‘B’. This is the first time in its history that NHRC’s status has been downgraded.

The recommendation, made during the GANHRI’s 45th session held in March, cited concerns including the involvement of police officers in investigations that may impact its impartiality, the capacity for the government to make a senior civil servant the secretary general, and has recommended that the NHRC is independently able to recruit candidates for the position. 

It has also recommended transparency in the selection process of the members of the commission including one that reflects pluralism. It has said that the NHRC should address all human rights violations and expressed concern that the body has not addressed the “shrinking civic space and increased instances of targeting human rights defenders, journalists and perceived critics”.

“In view of the information before it, the SCA is concerned that the institution’s independence and effectiveness has not been sufficiently maintained in line with the requirements of the Paris Principles,” the report said.

The SCA report also said that the NHRC had been under review since 2023 and had deferred accreditation to the body for two consecutive years. While the downgrading of its status has now been recommended, such a recommendation does not take effect for a period of one year. This means that the NHRC will maintain its ‘A’ status till the 47th session scheduled for 2026 and provides the body with the opportunity to establish its conformity with the Paris Principles.

Notably, GANHRI is a body of 120 members, of which 88 countries have ‘A’ status accreditation – said to be “fully compliant with the Paris Principles” – while 32 have ‘B’ status” – which are “partially compliant with the Paris Principles”. The Paris Principles were adopted in 1993 by the UNGA.

The SCA has flagged the involvement of police officers in investigations of human rights violation cases and said that it “poses a concern about the perceived or real conflict of interest in having police officers seconded from government engaged in investigations of human rights violations including those committed by police.”

The SCA also noted that the secondment of police officers to act as investigative staff may impact on the NHRC ability to conduct impartial investigations as well as the ability of victims to access human rights justice.

Meanwhile, the NHRC in its presentation to the SCA has said that its concerns were “misplaced” and that its conclusion that police officers may not be able to conduct impartial investigations is “unfounded and unjustified but also far from reality”.

However, the SCA restated its concerns and called on the NHRC to amend its investigative structure to remove the capacity of government second police officers to act as investigative staff.

Appointment of secretary general

The SCA had in previous sessions called for the NHRC to advocate for amendments to remove the capacity for the government to make a senior civil servant the  secretary  general,  and  to  empower  the  NHRC  to  independently  recruit candidates for the position. The report said that while the SCA acknowledged that the current secretary general, who was appointed in June 2023, was a retired civil servant and not a civil servant in post, it reiterated that “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 an NHRI members are seconded from the public service, and where this includes those at the highest level in the NHRI, it raises question about its capacity to function fully independently,” it said.

In December 2024, former Supreme Court judge V. Ramasubramanian was appointed as the NHRC chairperson. The appointment had been criticised by leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, in a joint dissent note, calling the selection process a “predetermined exercise” that was “fundamentally flawed,” 

It added that the committee had “relied on its numerical majority to finalise the names” and that the balance of “region, caste, community, and religious diversity of the nation” had been ignored.

Non-addressal of shrinking civic space, targeting human rights defenders, journalists

The SCA in its report has said that the NHRC should address all human rights violations and expressed concern that the body has not addressed the “shrinking civic space and increased instances of targeting human rights defenders, journalists and perceived critics.”

“The SCA is also concerned that the NHRC has not publicly communicated its positions on these issues in a way that promotes the credibility of the institution and addresses the systemic nature of these violations,” the report said.

It also stated that it had considered information from civil society alleging the failure of the NHRC to provide meaningful follow-up in significant human rights cases and the lack of use of its intervention powers or visitation to ascertain the condition of human rights defenders detained under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act). 

“The third-party information also alleges that the NHRC has not done enough to address declining press freedom despite several complaints,” it said.

Pluralism and gender representation of staff

The SCA has also noted that the composition of the NHRC membership, with only one woman, as well as the composition of its staff was not sufficient to meet the pluralism requirements of the Paris Principles. 

Flagging positions lying vacant, the SCA said that as of March 2025, the NHRC was not fully constituted with two out of the six standing commissioners’ positions being vacant. 

Although the NHRC had reported that out of its staff of 339, 93 were women, the SCA said that the composition of 246 men out of 339 "was not gender representative." It also said that it was unclear what was the percentage of women within the NHRC senior leadership.

The NHRC has till 2026 to provide documentary evidence to establish its conformity with the Paris Principles, although the AiNNI (All India Network of NGOs and Individuals Working with National and State Human Rights Institutions) has said in a statement that the decision to downgrade NHRC to ‘B’ status is “historically the first downgrading of the Indian NHRC since its inception in 1993 and after its 2016, 2023 and 2024 deferrals.”

“NHRC has challenged these recommendations under the GANHRI statute. AiNNI hopes NHRC will upload this report on its website, truly respecting the human rights principles of transparency and accountability,” it stated.

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