Sambhali Trust Takes India's Community Rights Model to UNHRC

Sambhali Trust highlights India's community approach at UNHRC

Geneva, September 24

Addressing the General Debate under Item 5, Chouhan drew on Sambhali Trust's experience of working with communities in western Rajasthan and emphasised the importance of ensuring that human rights recommendations reach people in a form they can understand and use.

"A report may be written in Geneva, but its test comes later: can a woman in a village understand what it means for her?" he said, stressing that communities need clear information, avenues to raise questions and mechanisms for follow-up.

Highlighting India's experience, Chouhan referred to the 14,658 Women Help Desks established in police stations across the country, including 13,743 headed by women police officers. He said the significance of such mechanisms should not be measured only by their numbers but by their accessibility to women seeking assistance.

"Their value lies in being approachable," he said.

Chouhan said community-level mechanisms can help bring institutional support closer to women and other vulnerable sections rather than leaving them dependent on distant or complex systems.

He also called on the UN Human Rights Council and its mechanisms to adopt a stronger community-focused approach. He urged international bodies to consult grassroots organisations before finalising reports and to make recommendations available in short, accessible formats and local languages.

He further called for international mechanisms to return to communities after recommendations have been implemented and assess their impact by asking, "What changed?"

Emphasising the role of civil society, Chouhan said grassroots organisations should have a meaningful role in international human rights processes.

"Civil society should not appear only in a footnote," he said, describing grassroots organisations as a bridge between international institutions and communities.

He said such organisations can help take international guidance from Geneva to people on the ground while also bringing the experiences, concerns and feedback of communities back to international forums.

The intervention particularly highlighted India's community-level support mechanisms, the accessibility of institutional assistance for women and the role of women police officers in making such mechanisms approachable.

Chouhan concluded by underscoring the importance of trust between human rights institutions and communities, saying, "That is how a mechanism earns trust."

— ANI