Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) was in the forefront of advocacy initiatives started in the 90s for the establishment of a national human rights institution in Bangladesh. ASK strengthened its international advocacy for the establishment of independent and effective NHRC since 2006. ASK also started to prepare the yearly assessment report on the establishment and performance of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Bangladesh .

ASK is a member of the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI), a network of human rights organisations and defenders engaged with National Human Rights Institutions in Asia, to ensure the accountability of these bodies for the promotion and protection of human rights. As a member of this network, ASK has been preparing the country report (yearly assessment) on the performance of National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh since 2007 to identify how NHRC addresses the violations of human rights and weakness in its mandate as well as approaches which reduces its independence and effectiveness of its strategies.

Capacity Assessment of NHRC, Bangladesh

The United Nations Development Programme-Asia Pacific Regional Centre (UNDP-APRC), the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) and the National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Section of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR-NIRMS), have developed a project to support the institutional capacity development of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in the Asia-Pacific region.

In this context a four member team composed of representatives from APF, OHCHR and UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre came to Bangladesh to act as facilitators to the process by which the NHRC assessed its own capacities, recognize and prioritize its capacity development needs. The capacity assessment was done in December 2013 by the UNDP’s Asia Pacific Regional Centre (UNDP-APRC), the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) and the National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR-NIRMS) under the aforesaid project to support the institutional capacity development of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is an independent statutory body formed under the National Human Rights Commission Act 2009. The team is working in close consultation with the NHRC, Bangladesh and at the end of the mission,it drafted an analytical report, measuring required future capacities of the NHRC, Bangladesh against its current capacities and making recommendations for capacity development strategies.

Objective of Capacity Assessment 

• Systematically understand existing capacity strengths and gaps of the NHRC.

• To assess the current situation of the NHRC, identifying key challenges, weakness, and forecasting future capacity requirements.

Members of Capacity Assessment Team

• Nicholas Booth, UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre.  Bangkok, Thailand
• Naveed Ahmed, Asia Pacific Section, OHCHR, Geneva , Switzerland
• Bed Prasad Bhattarai, Acting Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Professor Chris Sidoti, Asia Pacific Forum of NHRIs

As part of the work plan for Capacity Assessment of NHRC in Bangladesh, the team had interviewed external stakeholders from different arena like NGOs, Academia, Court, Media and Government etc. The team met Sultana Kamal, Executive Director of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) on 7 December 2013 and ASK made a written submission on 8 December 2013.

Written Submission by ASK 

NHRC Capacity Assessment- ASK’s Written Submission- December 2013(1) (1)

Read Full Country chapter of ANNI Report 2013 

The Bangladesh Chapter in the ANNI (Asian NGO Networks on National Human Rights Institutions) Report, prepared by ASK seeks to evaluate the compliance of the NHRC with the Paris Principles and provides a brief assessment of the human rights situation in Bangladesh. The report also identifies how the NHRC addresses the violations of human rights and the weakness in its mandate as well as approaches which reduces its independence and the effectiveness of its strategies.

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