Regional Mechanism: Indian judge for South Asia rights body

Judge says that New Delhi should take the lead in establishing a South Asian Human Rights Commission.

NEW DELHI: An Indian judge said on Saturday that New Delhi should take the lead in establishing a South Asian Human Rights Commission to deal with rights violations in the region. Noting that rights abuses were common across the region, Justice A K Ganguly said a regional mechanism should be set up for upholding human rights and India must take an initiative to establish a rights commission (SAHRC) convention. “India also has the inescapable responsibility in the establishment of a Human Rights Convention for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) nations and therefore the country must take the lead,” he said in his key-note address on the occasion of Human Rights Day at Sonipat-based O P Jindal Global University.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2011.