Ministry of Human Rights to review establishment of NIHR

Islamabad : The future of National Institute of Human Rights (NIHR), a project initiated by the previous government under Federal Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR), looked doubtful as the Ministry plans to review the project for its feasibility.

The institute was part of the ‘Action Plan of Human Rights’ approved by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on February 13, 2016, with an allocation of Rs250 million.

The main objectives behind NIHR were to establish a principal government institution dealing with policy and legal interventions for entire spectrum of human rights framework through capacity building, research and development and to develop capacities not only for government stakeholders including Provincial Human Rights departments but also the private sector organizations and civil society.

The institute was also aimed at ensuring incorporation of national, regional and international perspectives of human rights into sectoral policies, programs and legal framework development, examining inter dependence and linkages between human rights and democracy, development, peace and harmony at national and international levels and conducting research on the issues of human rights and publish research work, books, journals on human rights. The Institute was also given mandate to support Parliamentary Business and Standing Committees.

The idea of establishing an institute of human rights faced both appreciation and criticism from the very beginning. It was appreciated by those working on human rights as it could be an added platform to promote human rights but it was criticized as added burden.

The critics argued that rights commissions established by the government, such as National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) and National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), have same mandate of creating awareness on human rights among people belonging to all walks of life besides engaging in research and supporting government in full filling national and international commitments and supporting Parliamentary businesses and Standing Committees.

One of the leading critics for NIHR was NCHR Chairperson Justice (r) Nawaz Ali Chohan who opposed creation of another institution and suggested the government to divert same funds to NCHR for the same purpose instead of establishing parallel institutions.

Despite criticism, the previous government continued with its plan. Initially, an amount of Rs58.7 million was allocated for the project in the fiscal year 2016-17. Among the total amount, only Rs10 million was utilised. For the year 2017-18, Rs 27 million were allocated for the establishment of the institution. For fiscal year 2018-19, Rs91 million were allocated for Acquisition of Construction of Building for National Institute of Human Rights Islamabad.

Activities conducted under the project include consultations on charter, role and rules of business for NIHR, provinces and civil society, MIS on human rights data collection with the support of provincial governments and international conference on human rights.

On the condition of anonymity, a ministry official told ‘The News’ that despite allocation of funds for three consecutive years, the project staff has not been recruited by the ministry. He said that after the change of government, it was decided to review the feasibility of the projects that have not been approved and NIHR is one of them. He said the fate of all unapproved projects under the ministry would be decided after discussion on the practicality of the projects with the Planning Division.

When contacted, Assistant Director Development Wing of the Ministry of Human Rights Rukhsana Omer said the Ministry is in the process of reviewing the feasibility of unapproved PSDP projects and may include new projects determined under the political directions from the Govt. She said that in the budget, presented by the new government, the fund allocation for Ministry of Human Rights has been reduced since majority of allocation was with unapproved projects.

The Ministry shared that the project staff has not been hired mainly because the hiring process of staff was stopped by the former Minister for Human Rights. "Once previous PSDP projects are internally reviewed, the same shall be forwarded to the planning Ministry to be included in PSDP portfolio of the ministry of Human Rights," she added.