India's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was established on 12 October 1993. The statute under which it is established is the Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA), 1993 as amended by the Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act, 2006. It conforms with the Paris Principles, adopted at the first international workshop on national institutions for promoting and protecting human rights in Paris in October 1991 and endorsed by the General Assembly of the United Nations by its Regulations 48/134 of 20 December 1993.
The NHRC is an embodiment of India’s concern for the promotion and protection of human rights.
Section 2(1)(d) of the PHRA defines Human Rights as the rights relating to life, liberty, equality, and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India.