Remembering 2006: An AHRC–PVCHR Human Rights Journey

 A photograph shared by Manoj Kumar Singh on 25 September 2016 takes me back to a field visit in Taad Ke Ahladpur, Ambedkar Nagar, in 2006—a time when human-rights work was deeply rooted in field visits, direct listening, documentation and solidarity with communities.

In the photograph, Prashant Singh, Manoj Kumar Singh and I, from PVCHR, are seen with colleagues from the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), including Jinju and Bijo, during the field engagement. The image captures more than a moment from a visit; it preserves the relationships and collective commitment that connected local human-rights work with wider national and international networks.

For us at PVCHR, fieldwork was never simply about collecting information. It meant travelling to communities, listening to people in their own surroundings, understanding their experiences and documenting realities that often remained invisible within formal institutions. The collaboration with colleagues from AHRC strengthened this process by connecting local testimonies and experiences with broader human-rights conversations.

Looking at the photograph nearly two decades later, I am reminded of how much human-rights work depends on trust, relationships and sustained engagement. Before the widespread use of digital documentation and social media, much of this work involved physically reaching communities, sitting with people, recording their testimonies and building relationships that could sustain advocacy over time.

There is also something deeply human in an old photograph. Reports preserve facts, but photographs preserve relationships. They remind us of the people who travelled together, listened together and worked together. They preserve a particular moment in a much longer journey.

The field visit to Ambedkar Nagar was part of that continuing journey of PVCHR and its collaboration with human-rights networks such as AHRC. The work was grounded in the belief that people affected by injustice should not merely become subjects of reports; their experiences and voices should inform the struggle for dignity, justice and accountability.

Today, when I look back at this photograph, I see not only the younger faces of colleagues and friends but also the values that brought us together. Organisations evolve, methods change and technology transforms the way human-rights violations are documented and communicated. Yet the fundamental task remains unchanged: to listen to those whose voices are too often unheard, to document their experiences with care, and to stand with communities in their pursuit of dignity and justice.

This photograph, first captured in 2006, remembered publicly in 2016, and revisited today, has therefore become more than a historical image. It is a small visual archive of a period of human-rights work, friendship and solidarity between PVCHR and AHRC.

Twenty years later, the faces remain a reminder that human-rights movements are built not only through institutions and documents, but through people, relationships, trust and the courage to walk together with communities.