NEW DELHI: Addressing a function organised by the National Human Rights Commission to mark Human Rights Day, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee called for a sustained movement to create a positive and active awareness of the rights of each individual. "When such a movement is generated and sustained, we can hope that exploitative and oppressive social and economic practices which still exist in our country will gradually fade away," he said.

"The NHRC is not a substitute for the regular justice-delivery system," Mr. Chatterjee said. "Delay in justice is a violation of an individual's rights and undermines the judiciary's credibility. The NHRC is a bulwark in the midst of communal bigotry and violence."

Delivering the keynote address, NHRC Chairperson Justice A.S. Anand said the Commission had expressed concern at reports that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences was planning to levy charges for tests and procedures, which were free for the weaker sections of society. "The levy of such charges might amount to an indirect denial of quality health care to poor patients."

Mr. Justice Anand said the Commission was extremely disturbed by the plight of mentally ill prisoners.

The Government must give serious thought to a recent matter where a person languishing in the mental institute in Tejpur, Assam, as an undertrial for 54 years was released after the Commission's intervention. He expressed concern at the plight of people living with HIV/AIDS, especially children.

Mr. Rajiv Chandran from the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) read out a message from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Mr. Annan called upon all countries to sign the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, as well as the Optional Protocol to the Torture Convention. Mr. Annan urged all States to allow the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Torture independent access to detainees within their control.

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