Joint NGO letter on India to the High Commissioner

To

Mr. Volker Türk

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Palais des Nations

Geneva

Dear High Commissioner,

We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to share our growing concerns over the serious regression in human rights in India and to request more robust action from the Office of the High Commissioner.

When India presented its candidacy to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2022-24 term, it pledged to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights” and “to foster the genuine participation and effective involvement of civil society, including human rights defenders.”1 In reality, however, the human rights crisis in India has only deepened since India took its seat at the Council.

Since then, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has ramped up its crackdown on civil society, arbitrarily detaining and prosecuting rights defenders and critics of the government on spurious charges, and using laws on foreign funding and other legislation to shut down civil society organizations. The government has fueled discrimination and violence against minorities and persons from other marginalized groups in the country. The situation in Jammu and Kashmir, as you noted in your update, remains “worrying.”2 Autonomous institutions to protect human rights, including the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), have become ineffective due to political appointments – the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions has decided to defer the review of the NHRC for 12 months (or two sessions).3

Despite a pledge by the Indian government to cooperate fully with UN Special Procedures, including by allowing access to India, no such visits have been facilitated since 2017 by any mandate holder. The Indian government is yet to respond to 71 outstanding and reminder visit requests – some requested over 24 years ago – such as from the Special Rapporteur on torture.4

Given the scale of the challenges, the situation requires dedicated and robust attention from the Office of the High Commissioner. Your leadership on this is crucial. In this context, we were disappointed that the broader human rights situation in India was not included in your global update to the Human Rights Council on March 7, 2023. We hope you are planning public engagement soon to signal your Office’s concern, as well as its support to human rights defenders and civil society in India.

Specifically, we encourage you to:

Press the Indian government – in public and private – on the key human rights concerns and recommendations set out in the annex to this letter, including in the context of your update to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-third session.

Prepare and publish a stand-alone report on the human rights situation in India, with concrete recommendations for improvement, in line with your independent mandate, building on the positive precedents under your leadership (including the two reports on Haiti and recent fact-finding report on Mali). This would provide an important common reference point for further engagement, and follow-up by your Office and the wider UN system.

Call on the Indian government to provide the Office of the High Commissioner meaningful access to Jammu and Kashmir to prepare and issue an update to the OHCHR reports issued in 2018 and 2019. This is critical given the lack of follow-up on the recommendation made in the reports to establish a Commission of Inquiry, the failure of the National Human Rights Commission to intervene robustly, and the challenges faced by civil society in documenting the situation.

Call upon the Indian government to immediately drop charges and release human rights activists including those linked to the Bhima Koregaon case, protesters and other critical voices, including those who protested against discriminatory amendments to citizenship laws, and Kashmiri journalists and activists, who have been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights.5

We would welcome an opportunity to meet with you to discuss your Office’s strategy to address the human rights crisis in India, and to support human rights defenders and civil society in the country who face increased attacks for their work.

Yours sincerely,

Amnesty International

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation

Front Line Defenders

Human Rights Watch

International Commission of Jurists

International Dalit Solidarity Network

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

International Service for Human Rights

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

1 UN General Assembly, Note verbale dated 16 August 2021 from the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations addressed to the President of the General Assembly, UN Doc. A/76/195, para 33, available at: https://www.un.org/en/ga/76/meetings/elections/hrc.shtml (accessed May 15, 2023).

2 “Global update: High Commissioner outlines concerns in over 40 countries,” Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights news release, March 7, 2023, https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2023/03/global-update-high-commissioner-outlines-concerns-over-40-countries (accessed May 16, 2023).

3 Report and Recommendations of the Session of the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA), Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, February and March 2023, https://ganhri.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SCA-Report-First-Session-2023-EN.pdf (accessed May 31, 2023). Also see, “Rights Groups Raise Concerns Over India’s National Human Rights Commission’s Record Ahead of its Review,” Joint letter to GANHRI, May 9, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/09/rights-groups-raise-concerns-over-indias-national-human-rights-commissions-record (accessed May 31, 2023).

4 Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, Country visits of Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council since 1998, https://spinternet.ohchr.org/ViewCountryvisits.aspx?visitType=pending&lang=en, (last accessed May 30, 2023).

5 “UN experts urge Indian authorities to stop targeting Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez and release him immediately,” Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights news release, December 22, 2021, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/12/un-experts-urge-indian-authorities-stop-targeting-kashmiri-human-rights (accessed May 12, 2023).