The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India has launched its fifth capacity-building programme in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Executive Programme on Human Rights brings together senior officials from human rights institutions across the Global South. The six-day event started in New Delhi with participants from 14 countries.
The Programme Details
About 38 participants are attending the initiative, representing National Human Rights Institutions from Algeria, Chile, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Oman, Samoa, South Africa, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe.
Justice V. Ramasubramanian, Chairperson of NHRC India, inaugurated the programme and highlighted several emerging challenges to human rights in the modern world. These include questions around the right to life after death, the right to be forgotten, and the right to erasure. He noted that shifting social values and emerging technologies, including digital and genome technology, pose serious questions for human rights protection.
The Chairperson also drew attention to global conflicts, stating that 78 countries are currently engaged in armed conflicts outside their borders. These conflicts have displaced nearly 122 million people globally and caused an estimated economic loss of about 20 trillion dollars.
The six-day programme includes lectures, thematic sessions, interactive discussions, presentations by resource persons, country presentations and field visits. This is the fifth edition since the ITEC initiative on human rights began in 2023. Previous editions have shaped the current programme’s practical orientation.
What this means for you
If you work in a human rights institution in the Global South, this programme represents an opportunity to learn from India’s approaches and interact with peers from other countries facing similar challenges. The initiative aims to build lasting professional networks and partnerships among human rights bodies across developing nations. It also signals India’s effort to position itself as a knowledge-sharing partner on human rights issues relevant to the Global South.