The UN is going to take a call on renewing the accreditation of India's national human rights commission (NHRC) on Monday and a media report says out human rights body may face a downgrade.

However, as Governance Now reported in January, the UN was casting aspersions on the NHRC for quite a while -- in particular, thanks to the allegations against its current chief and former chief justice of India, KG Balakrishnan. Here is the updated report:

In January, the UN surprised many when it questioned the selection of the mebers of the NHRC, where the position of the chairperson is reserved for a former chief justice of the supreme court. The UN has also questioned the selection of other members of the team as well.

“The selection procedure, restricting clause of selecting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as NHRC chairperson should be broadened,” Margaret Sekaggya, UN Special Rapporteur told reporters in New Delhi in January. "The functioning of the National Human Rights Commission should be reviewed with a view to strengthening the Commission by, inter alia: extending the one-year limitation clause; establishing an independent committee in charge of investigating complaints filed; elevating the status of the human rights defenders focal point by appointing a Commissioner," she said in her preliminary recommendations.

Sekaggya also criticised the way NHRC functions. “The human rights defenders have submitted complaints related to human rights violations to the commissions, but reportedly their cases were hardly taken up, or the investigation, often after a significant period of delay, concluded that no violations occurred,” she said at the presentation of her preliminary report on India after her 10-day visit to the country.

Sekaggya put forth the question, “Can we broadened the selection of NHRC members and chairperson and bring more diversity in it? Functioning of human rights commission must be reviewed.”

However, she did not single out the NHRC chairperson during the press conference. "I am aware of the certain charges leveled against his relatives in media reports," Sekaggya told Governance Now after the press conference.

Sekaggya was also keeping tabs on human rights activist and paediatrician Dr. Binayak Sen's incarceration ovr alleged sedition. “We are looking waiting the outcome. We are looking at how court comes with judgement,” She told reporters. Sekaggya also met Dr. Sen’s wife Prof. Illina Sen during her visit to India. Dr Sen has been released on bail since then.

Talking about allegations of human rights violation in Jammu and Kashmir, the UN official also said that the government must address the issues of the people of the state. “During my Kashmir visit, I listened to the testimony from the families from where their relatives died,” she said.

She also asked India to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSA) and the Public Safety Act.

Sekaggya also criticised the Maoists violence. “Non-state actors commit violence too. Protection mechanism of the people of the country must be strengthened.”

“The state should put a mechanism in place so that the RTI activists are not targeted,” she said in the press conference. At least ten RTI activists have been killed while raising poor governance issue around the country.

Her preliminary report is based on touring New Delhi, Bhubaneshwar (Orissa), Kolkata (West Bengal), Guwahati (Assam), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Jammu and Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) and submit the report to UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR).

Sekaggya’s visit was the first by any UN special rapporteur to India. Previous requests to visit India in 2002, 2003 and 2004 were not entertained by the government. However, the government allowed her a ten-day to visit while she applied for a three-week one. “In ten-days you can’t cover such a huge country,” she said.

“India is a party to international commitment and law, so the basic question is how to improve situation of human rights of the country,” Sekaggya told reporters.

On her visit to India, Sekaggya met people from all sides – government officials to human right defenders.