Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International called for the European Union (EU) to urge the government of India to end human rights abuses in a joint statement released Monday ahead of the EU-India Human Rights Dialogue.
HRW and Amnesty International, alongside Front Line Defenders, the World Organisation Against Torture and Christian Solidarity Worldwide, called for the EU to “ensure public oversight and accountability” for their India policy. The statement included a series of priority recommendations for the EU to urge the Indian government to address human rights violations.
The recommendations included calling for the immediate release of “all arbitrarily detained human rights defenders and journalists” and repealing or amending “repressive laws used to target minorities” and “silence dissent.” It addressed the Indian government’s abuse of foreign funding laws to target nongovernmental organizations. The statement petitioned the EU to press the Indian government to publicly condemn and prosecute those responsible for attacks on religious minorities and take decisive action in deterring state governments from carrying out the “arbitrary and collective punishment of minority communities.” It also advocated for granting access to be granted to “all United Nations independent experts and international human rights monitoring mechanisms, including in Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur.”
The statement addressed the discrimination minority communities in India have faced in the decade Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been in office. Criticizing laws the Modi administration has enacted, the organizations denounced the violence minority groups have been subject to through systematically discriminatory policies. Of particular concern were the exclusion of Muslim asylum seekers through the Citizenship Amendment Act and a lack of due process, which has allowed BJP state governments to discriminate against Muslims. Condemning statements made by Modi and other BJP leaders as “inciting hostility and violence against marginalized groups,” the joint statement noted such speeches “have normalized abuses against Muslims, Christians and others.”
Pointing to the expansion of police powers granted through the new Code of Criminal Procedure and the amendments to the Information Technology Rules, the statement expresses concerns that such laws are “being used to infringe upon the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and fair trial,” and additionally “seriously undermine media freedoms, rights to privacy and freedom of expression online.” It noted the disproportionate effect restrictive internet policies have on impoverished communities relying on the government’s social protection measures.
During last year’s visit to the US, Modi, when prompted to address concerns raised by human rights groups said, “regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender—there is absolutely no space for any discrimination.” India dismissed the US State Department’s critical human rights report on the country as “deeply biased” and “reflecting a very poor understanding of India.” Ahead of India’s 2024 election, UN human rights experts called on the country to “implement its human rights obligations fully” by “reversing the erosion of human rights and addressing recurring concerns raised by UN human rights mechanisms.”
