Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Union should force the government of India to immediately function to end serious human rights breaches in the country, five organizations demanded.
How Has India’s Government Escalated Its Crackdown on Civil Society?
The organizations said that the Indian Government should switch its abusive and discriminatory laws and procedures against Muslims, Christians, and other minorities; future restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceable assembly; and free all human rights defenders, journalists, and others imprisoned for exercising their basic human rights.
Organizations include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), and CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide).
How Has India’s Use of Anti-Terrorism Laws Affected Human Rights Defenders?
They highlighted that the Indian government has escalated its crackdown on media, political adversaries, and civil society groups, and is utilising allegations of financial irregularities and even its draconian anti-terrorism law to persecute and indict human rights activists, journalists, students, government critics, calm protesters, and members of minority communities.
The Financial Action Task Force, of which the EU Commission is a member, an intergovernmental organization that operates to combat threats to the global financial system, has suggested that India put in place measures to stop abusing anti-terror policies against nongovernmental groups.
What Impact Has the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act Had on NGOs in India?
Moreover, the organisations stated the Indian government repeatedly abuses its Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), a rule to regulate foreign funding for nongovernmental organizations to arbitrarily revoke licenses and shut down foreign funding. Over 20,600 nongovernmental organizations have relinquished their licenses in the past decade, many of them groups that have long advanced human rights and democracy.
What Are the Implications of India’s New Criminal Laws for Human Rights?
In July, the Indian government implemented three new criminal laws – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhinayam (BSA) – which superseded the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act. The latest laws expand police powers, raising worries about their being used to intrude upon the rights to freedom of expression, affiliation, peaceful assembly, and fair trial.
