“The most recent annual report of the NHRCI publicly available is for 2012-2013. The SCA acknowledges that the NHRCI annual reports for 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 have been submitted to the government, but as the government has not developed its responses to the recommendations in those reports, they have not been tabled in Parliament or made public. 

The SCA considers it important that the enabling laws of an NHRI establish a process whereby its reports are required to be widely circulated, discussed and considered by the legislature. It again notes that the SCA finds it difficult to assess the effectiveness of an NHRI and its compliance with the Paris Principles in the absence of a current annual report. 

The SCA notes that NHRCI has proposed amendment to section 20(2) of the Act whereby its annual reports can be tabled in Parliament without Government’s memorandum of action. The SCA further notes that the NHRCI reports that it has mitigated this limitation in its ability to publicize current annual reports by publishing other reports on thematic issues or the state of human rights generally. The SCA encourages the NHRCI to continue to advocate for changes to its enabling law and to ensure that, in the interim, it releases additional public reports to inform the public about the situation of human rights and the activities of the NHRCI.”