Interview:
We would like to thank Ravi Nair, Executive Director of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Center (SAHRDC), and Coordinator of the Asia Pacific Human Rights Network (APHRN), for answering the following interview questions. Mr. Nair is a member of the World Movement for Democracy Steering Committee.
1. Please explain the background of SAHRDC? When and how was it established and what are its main objectives?
SAHRDC was founded in October 1990 with the aim of researching and documenting violations of civil and political rights, chiefly in South Asia. Over the years, its work has expanded to cover Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. At the international level, for example, at the UN Commission on Human Rights, SAHRDC addresses human rights issues beyond Asia and the Pacific.
SAHRDC’s objectives are to investigate, document, and disseminate information about human rights treaties and conventions; human rights education; arrest, detention and disappearances; refugees and asylum; torture, capital punishment and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; freedom of the media; custodial deaths; and extrajudicial killings.
2. What is the structure of the SAHRDC? How do you operate and gather the information?
SAHRDC is a small set-up with a staff of eight, which includes research as well as administrative staff. The policy framework is set by a board of trustees. SAHRDC also accepts a large number of research interns from all over the world. SAHRDC collects information on human rights, specifically on violation of civil and political rights, as described in the answer to your first question. All our information is either in English or translated into English from other languages.
The type or form of information collated includes international instruments, national legislation, court documents, affidavits, data questionnaires, reports, leaflets, letters, and clippings from media reports and books. Our information sources are individuals, human rights activists and groups, lawyers, journalists, media representatives, and national and international organizations. As information reaches the office, we classify it into thematic and geographic areas, which are given internally developed call numbers, and filed accordingly. Before the information goes into the manual files, it is recorded on the computer worksheets according to the standard formats, which eventually enables us to retrieve it whenever we want with the help of key words.
3. How does each individual member of the network contribute to its overall mission?
SAHRDC’s research contacts contribute to the organization’s overall mission by sending news clippings from their area/region on a regular basis; sending specific information on cases of human rights violations that are brought to their notice; and sharing reports they may have produced in the course of their work. Not all cases of human rights violations find their way to the national or mainstream press, which makes the contribution of SAHRDC’s research contacts extremely valuable.
4. How does SAHRDC select the human rights issues to focus on? How does reporting and documentation contribute to the improvement of human rights situations in the region?
SAHRDC focuses on civil and political rights. Some types of human rights violations are endemic throughout the region and require constant scrutiny. Reporting and documenting are essential if pressure is to be brought to bear on legislators, policy makers, and on civil society in general. The efficacy of reports, however, lies in their use. SAHRDC’s reports are used to lobby officials and policy makers at the national, regional, and international levels. For example, a report analyzing a proposed anti-terrorism law that threatens to undermine civil liberties includes comprehensive recommendations targeted at parliamentarians, key regional mechanisms in the Asia-Pacific, as well as at the UN and the international community as a whole. The recommendations are restated at every domestic, regional, or international human rights forum that SAHRDC participates in, and during SAHRDC’s interactions with government officials and nongovernmental organizations. The wide, but focused, dissemination of SAHRDC’s documents and research findings ensures that the message reaches the right persons at the right time.
5. What are some of the difficulties that you face in documenting human rights violations?
The lack of easy access to official records and to other information necessary to pin accountability onto state agencies often makes the documentation process difficult. Furthermore, the functioning of many nongovernmental organisations, including SAHRDC, is made particularly difficult by the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, 1976 (FCRA). The FCRA requires all Indian organizations and individuals that seek to receive foreign contributions to receive clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs, in the form of either registration or prior permission. FCRA is monitored by the highly politicized Ministry of Home Affairs rather than the Ministry of Finance, and is not meant to ensure financial accountability but instead aims to control the functioning of the NGOs. The FCRA is the most serious obstacle faced by NGOs in India. More information on this legislation is available at: www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF09.htm and www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF07.htm.
6. How do you verify the information that you gather?
Verification of information is carried out by having it checked by SAHRDC’s contact persons on the ground, and also by making personal visits to the area and interviewing victims of human rights violations or their families.
7. What are some of your functions as the Secretariat for the Asia Pacific Human Rights Network?
As secretariat of the Asia Pacific Human Rights Network (APHRN), SAHRDC supplies information on national human rights institutions, the United Nations and its specialized agencies to APHRN members; campaigns and lobbies on country situations and individual cases; provides training to human rights activists on the use of national and international norms and procedures; and provides legal, political and practical advice according to the needs of individual NGOs.
Source: http://wmd.org/resources/whats-being-done/human-rights-networking/interview-ravi-nair-executive-director-south-asia