The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said it would initiate human rights monitoring campaign across the country in three phases for the upcoming two-phased local level elections slated for May 14 and June 14. 

The commission will be deploying around 22 teams of human rights officers to monitor human rights situations before, during and after the elections. 

A Human Rights Monitoring and Coordination Committee has been formed under NHRC member and Spokesperson Mohna Ansari. 

The NHRC has been providing orientations and briefings about the monitoring process to 14 different teams at central, regional and sub-regional offices for the past two weeks. Six teams, each comprising two to three members, were on Thursday deployed to various places. 

The human rights teams will be monitoring whether the political parties have been able to gather peacefully to freely express their opinions, the NHRC said in a statement on Thursday. “They will also observe if any child is used to carry out any kind of political activity.” 

The NHRC will also monitor the voter’s education and civic awareness, possible human right violations of political parties during the elections along with the guarantee of safe voting by the persons with disabilities, senior citizens, minorities and in general all the citizens. 

The teams will scrutinize over the subjects of Human Rights and security conditions as mentioned in the ‘Local Level Election Code of Conduct, 2017’, the NHRC added. 

Speaking to the Post, Ansari said, “The upcoming election marks a greater significance for us as it is inclusive. But human rights-friendly election is what we advocate right now.” 

The monitoring campaign will be toughened up between May 14 and June 14, she clarified. 

“There are times when violence is incited on purpose to halt elections or when the results are not satisfactory to some groups, which could result in human right hazard in the society.”  

The NHRC has urged the political parties and all the stakeholders not to boast outrageous and destructive activities during the elections and respect the human rights of all the citizens though political parties or individuals have their right to support or oppose any sort of political subject matter.