Apr
28
ENSAAF: New Organization Enforces Human Rights and Fights Impunity in India
April 28, 2004 | Comments Off on ENSAAF: New Organization Enforces Human Rights and Fights Impunity in India
ENSAAF—a new U.S.-based organization launched to enforce human rights and fight impunity in India— works with survivors to engage in advocacy and outreach, documents violations, and educates the public about human rights abuses in India. ENSAAF has five programs: United Nations, Media and Human Rights, Human Rights Education, Legal Advocacy and Community Advocacy. ENSAAF, which […]
Apr
26
Chief of Minority Commission Criticizes Muslim Community
April 26, 2004 | 1 Comment
The chief of India’s National Commission for Minorities, Tarlochan Singh, has basically blamed the Muslim community for the attacks perpetrated on them in India: ‘‘For the last 15 days, Muslim clerics have been openly asking their people to vote for a particular party—this kind of politics is precisely responsible for the plight of the Muslim […]
Apr
13
Manipur Groups Protest Armed Forces Special Powers Act
April 13, 2004 | Comments Off on Manipur Groups Protest Armed Forces Special Powers Act
Political parties in Manipur are coming together to demand a revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. This act allows security forces to shoot to kill a suspected terrorist, with prosecutorial immunity also granted in the act: These organisations have been holding dharnas and sit-in protests against reported excesses by the security forces. Organisations […]
Apr
2
UN Human Rights Committee Set to Conclude Meeting
April 2, 2004 | Comments Off on UN Human Rights Committee Set to Conclude Meeting
On April 3, 2004, the Human Rights Committee will conclude its meeting, which began on March 16 in New York. The Human Rights Committee evaluates the compliance of a State Party with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). State Parties are required to regularly submit reports regarding their compliance, which are then […]
Mar
4
US State Dept. Annual Human Rights Country Report on India
March 4, 2004 | Comments Off on US State Dept. Annual Human Rights Country Report on India
The U.S. Department of State has recently issued the 2003 Human Rights Reports (aka the “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices”). The section on India takes note of the pending issues of unaddressed cases of wide scale disappearances in the early 1990s. The report mentions the CCDP report documenting hundreds of enforced disappearances, Reduced to […]
Feb
28
Use of Civilian Human Shields in Firefights with Militants
February 28, 2004 | Comments Off on Use of Civilian Human Shields in Firefights with Militants
The latest edition of the weekly Tehelka carries an Op-Ed by Ashok Agrwaal (one of the co-authors of Reduced to Ashes and the plaintiffs’ lead counsel in the NHRC case), criticizing the use of innocent civilians as human shields during armed operations against militants: From Nagaland to Punjab, Andhra Pradesh to Kashmir, from the early […]
Feb
22
Bringing Laws on Course
February 22, 2004 | Comments Off on Bringing Laws on Course
In his article, Bringing Laws on Course, Dilip D’Souza discusses how investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) tend to end in dead ends: [T]o my knowledge, it [the CBI] has never succeeded in bringing about a conviction of a single significant Indian politician. And despite that admirable achievement, too often we find ordinary […]
Feb
15
Reflections on Impunity Panel
February 15, 2004 | 1 Comment
In his article, “Quest for Democracy: Nothing Obsolete About That,” prominent reporter Dilip D’Souza writes about the role of the World Social Forum (Mumbai) in airing alternative opinions and political views. He specifically focuses on the panel, Fighting Impunity in India: Perspectives from Victim Families and Human Rights Defenders, organized by the Committee for Information […]
Feb
13
Report by US Commission on Religious Freedom
February 13, 2004 | Comments Off on Report by US Commission on Religious Freedom
The U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom has recommended to the Secretary of State to include India in the list of Countries of Particular Concern. 10 other countries were recommended, including Burma, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan and Iran: “Several Ministers from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have publicly allied themselves with extremist Hindu organisations known collectively […]
Feb
12
A Possible New POTA Case
February 12, 2004 | 1 Comment
Police claim to have arrested an alleged former Sikh militant living in Gujarat. The police arrested 74-year-old Navrang Singh from his home and asked the state government to invoke the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against him. The General section of this blog gives news updates on POTA. Amnesty International conducted a briefing on draconian provisions […]