Maja Daruwala receives 5th Nani A Palkhiwala Award
Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative(CHRI) Maja Daruwala will be awarded the fifth Nani A Palkhivala Award in Mumbaion Thursday (January 14, 2010), for defending and preserving civil liberties in India.
MAJA DARUWALA, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) will receive the fifth Nani A Palkhivala Award in Mumbai on January 14, 2010. The award honours individuals and
organisations who have displayed extraordinary initiative in the preservation and defence of civil liberties in India.
Maja Daruwala, a barrister by training, has been working to advocate for rights and social justice for over 25 years. Since 1996, she has headed up CHRI, an international non-governmental organisation headquartered in India, mandated to work for the practical realisation of human rights in the lives of ordinary people across the Commonwealth. India has been the crucible of CHRI's work.
Daruwala and CHRI, the organisation she leads, have worked consistently for the past twelve years towards access to justice, particularly through police and prison reforms; and access
to information, in the belief that these are pivotal to the large majority of the people who are impoverished.
to information, in the belief that these are pivotal to the large majority of the people who are impoverished.
CHRI has worked hard in the recent past to step up the momentum for police reforms based on international good practice and principles of accountability, transparency and peoples' participation. Recognising that in order to seize the moment for police reforms, we need a wide range of actors with specialist knowledge about pivotal structures and institutions, CHRI has worked at increasing the pool of specialists able to go beyond passive complaining toward proactively engaging with government in knowledge based dialogues, as also build public
opinion in favour of meaningful long term reforms by shifting the discourse from 'arm the police' to 'change the police'.
opinion in favour of meaningful long term reforms by shifting the discourse from 'arm the police' to 'change the police'.
CHRI's effort is to build the argument that increased public insecurity requires, among a host of other initiatives, honest, unbiased, clean and accountable, policing and not 'tough' policing. The preoccupation with terrorism along with its concomitant public anxiety for greater security is used as a justification to demand 'tough policing', which is often just a euphemism for unaccountable policing where impunity and violence rule. It is much praised but is demonstrably ineffective.
Tough policing actually hinders progress and increases public insecurity. The need of the hour is policing that conforms to human rights principles and not tough policing. CHRI was intensely involved in advocating for the enactment of the Right to Information Act 2005 alongside the grassroots community and took an active role in the law's drafting process. Deeply involved with the evolution, adoption, monitoring and strongly resisting attempts at dilution of the law in India, CHRI has shared this learning widely and has spurred and supported efforts in South Asia as well as in Africa where CHRI Ghana office's core activity involves promoting open government and access to information. CHRI has contributed significantly to the movement demanding for and culminating in the passing of the RTI Act in Bangladesh in 2009. CHRI manages the South Asian Right to Information Advocates Network in an attempt bring right to information in sharp focus within the South Asian civil society.
Tough policing actually hinders progress and increases public insecurity. The need of the hour is policing that conforms to human rights principles and not tough policing. CHRI was intensely involved in advocating for the enactment of the Right to Information Act 2005 alongside the grassroots community and took an active role in the law's drafting process. Deeply involved with the evolution, adoption, monitoring and strongly resisting attempts at dilution of the law in India, CHRI has shared this learning widely and has spurred and supported efforts in South Asia as well as in Africa where CHRI Ghana office's core activity involves promoting open government and access to information. CHRI has contributed significantly to the movement demanding for and culminating in the passing of the RTI Act in Bangladesh in 2009. CHRI manages the South Asian Right to Information Advocates Network in an attempt bring right to information in sharp focus within the South Asian civil society.
Across the Commonwealth and more recently in the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHRI had addressed concerns on Rwanda's Commonwealth Membership following a fact-finding mission, called for restructuring and revamping of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, as well mounted a campaign against President Jameh of Gambia's appalling comments on human rights defenders.
Maja Daruwala says, "I am delighted and honoured to receive the Nani Palkhiwala award for civil liberties. This award is a recognition for CHRI and for everyone who believes in civil liberties, particularly in access to information and access to justice as matrix conditions without which realisation of human rights and good governance can’t become reality. It is on the practical realisation that we place our emphasis and on the rights-aware citizen that we place our hope to make it happen."
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