By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA | 14 July 2024 (IDN) — CIVICUS, World Alliance for Citizen Participation, has documented the use of restrictive legislation against activists, journalists and others critical of the state, along with harassment and attacks. In its report to the UN Human Rights Committee on the state of civic space in India, CIVICUS notes the use of sedition law against critics and that under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sedition cases have increased by 28 per cent with over 500 cases against more than 7000 people.
The organisation, with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, and offices in New York and Geneva, sumbitted the report ahead of the UN Human Rights Committee’s review of the state’s implementation of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) this month.
The submission highlights that Indian authorities continue to use restrictive legislation to prosecute journalists, including by harassing and intimidating them. Journalists from Kashmir have faced targeted harassment including arrest and criminalisation under counter terror laws, suspension of passports and arbitrary travel bans.
Passports suspended
“It is reported that people have had their passports suspended based on ‘instructions from intelligence agencies’. Authorities in New Delhi stopped Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo travelling to the USA in 2022. Earlier that year, when she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of COVID-19, she was barred from travelling to attend the award ceremony and said to be on a no-fly list,” CIVICUS said.
The Indian government has also restricted online space and have used internet shutdowns to block the flow of information and there have been multiple shutdowns documented in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and during the farmers’ protests.
The Indian government has increasingly used the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to restrict foreign funding for CSOs. The law and its amendments have been used to target and harass civil society and human rights defenders (HRDs), who very often express criticism and dissent towards the government.
Criminalisation of Human Rights defenders
The Indian government has also brazenly used its federal law enforcement agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department to harass CSOs and HRDs and criminalise them for their human rights work and for speaking out on human rights issues.
CIVICUS has also documented the ongoing criminalisation of human rights’ defenders in reaction to their work in India. Since 2019, HRDs critical of the government have been implicated and imprisoned in politically motivated cases under the UAPA, including in relation to riots in Bhima Koregaon and Delhi. Under the UAPA’s draconian provisions, activists remain in detention for long periods and are often denied bail even on health grounds.
Human rights work in Kashmir has almost come to a complete standstill due to arrests of activists and continuous harassment of CSOs and activists through raids and interrogations. This trend has increased rapidly since August 2019, when the central government abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which recognised Kashmir’s special autonomous status.
Recommendations
The submission calls on the UN Human Rights Committee to make a series of recommendations.
Review and amend criminal laws to conform to international law and standards as set out in the ICCPR, including sedition provisions in the Indian Penal Code.
End restrictions on the movement of journalists and arbitrary travels bans, particularly for Kashmiri journalists.
Repeal or amend the FCRA so that it does not violate India’s obligations to protect freedom of association, which includes the ability of CSOs to access foreign funding and ensure its not misused to prevent the legitimate activities of CSOs.
Immediately and unconditionally release all HRDs, including Khurram Parvez, HRDs detained in the Bhima Koregaon case, student activists Umar Khalid and Gulfisha Fatima, journalists including Irfan Mehraj, academics and others detained for exercising their fundamental freedoms, and review their cases to prevent further harassment.
CIVICUS was established in 1993 and since 2002 a membership alliance with more than 15,000 members in more than 175 countries. Its definition of civil society is broad and covers non-governmental organisations, activists, civil society coalitions and networks, protest and social movements, voluntary bodies, campaigning organisations, charities, faith-based groups, trade unions and philanthropic foundations. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Image source: International Commission of Jurists.
