New Delhi, March 8 Amid multiple ongoing conflicts in the world, NHRC chairperson Justice V Ramasubramanian (retired) has called for a "complete overhaul" of the Paris Principles so that international standards can be set for better protection of human rights.
In his remarks during a session – 'NHRCs in Turbulent Times' – held as part of the Raisina Dialogue here on Saturday, he argued that the Paris Principles only address a "cosmetic aspect" of the matter, namely, how a human rights institution should be constituted.
The Paris Principles are a set of standards for National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) developed by the United Nations in 1993.
These were subsequently endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 1993, and set out the basic guidelines recommended by the UN for the establishment of a national human rights institution.
In the current global situation, when several conflicts are taking place in the world, the NHRC chief, without naming anyone or any country, lamented that the first prerequisite for upholding human rights is to "speak out the truth, but today, no world leader can take the microphone and speak the truth, the whole truth".
This is because of diplomacy, multilateral relationships, and the interests of a country, he said, adding, "Today, we have to use a lot of diplomacy, we have to be careful in choosing words, in choosing names".
Justice Ramasubramanian, referring to global conflicts, said the irony of history is that "perpetrators become victims and victims become perpetrators, they reverse their roles".
"I think the first half of the 21st century will be the mirror image of the first half of the 20th century. So, what should we do?" he asked.
The NHRC chief called for "collaboration between NHRIs of various countries, irrespective of whether historically they were perpetrators or victims".
"If we come together as a society and strengthen the civil society and human rights institutions to question their respective governments, they can't, they shall not do what they are now doing, it will be very difficult for one international organisation to take up the burden upon itself," he added.
The NHRC chief said, post WW2, it was possible for "one organisation" to take it upon itself, because everybody saw some reasons after a lot of bloodshed.
"Today that reasoning is gone because self-interest or interest of the country, interest of my country takes precedence over the interest of other countries, every way," he said.
The NHRC chief said there must be some "recalibration" of the ideological issues.
All these human rights institutions in various countries were established in accordance with the Paris Principles. "Unfortunately, the Paris Principles only address a cosmetic aspect, as to how an institution is to be constituted," he argued.
"The Paris Principles require a complete revamping, overhauling, so that international standards are set. After it is set, we should have three to four international bodies which will provide check on their own countries, their respective countries," the NHRC chairperson suggested.
"Unless this is done and dialogue is prompted, I don't think it will be easy to tame countries which have..," he said.
Bharat Lal, Secretary General, NHRC, said post WW2, the countries which are responsible for maintaining peace, somehow, "they themselves are becoming responsible for various disruptions leading to human rights violations in different parts of the world".
The NHRC chief also urged the Indian society to practice whatever values historically it has been proud of. "Here preachers are different from practitioners, preachers don't practice and practitioners don't preach," he said, without elaborating.
Justice Ramasubramanian said societal values need to improve, and underlined that an "ideal society is one where there is no need for police, court or an NHRI".
