The concept of human rights is the product of history and human civilization. Human rights are commonly understood as natural, inherent and inalienable basic fundamental rights of every human being regardless of their caste, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, colour, language, political or other ideological orientation, profession or social origin. The roots of the concept of human rights can be traced back to the concept of natural law. The concern for human rights has become an established reality with the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. The idea of the creation of an impartial institution of human rights in the States was initiated by the UNESCO in as early as in 1946. September 28, 1993 saw the setting up of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in India. The Government of Assam has constituted the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) on March 19, 1996. The Assam Human Rights Commission derives its structure, powers and functions from the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. There is no denying the fact that the Assam Human Rights Commission has numbers of limitations in terms of its powers and functions. However, the Commission has been playing a very crucial role in raising awareness on human rights issues and promoting the human rights culture in the State. This paper is an endeavour to critically look into the framework and functioning of the Assam Human Rights Commission. The paper adopts an analytical approach and is based on both primary and secondary data. Under primary sources government reports and documents published by the National Human Rights Commission and Assam Human Rights Commission have been consulted. As regards to secondary sources relevant books, journals, newspaper articles and articles available on the internet have been consulted.

Human Rights, Natural Law, NHRC, AHRC, Suo-motu