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UNHRC’s examination of India’s periodic report after 28 years: Part 1

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This eight-part series examines the context and the sub-text of India’s human rights record in light of its examination by the United Nations Human Rights Committee after 28 years.

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THE flagship of the United Nations treaty body system will be examining India’s fourth periodic report in all probability on July 15 and 16, 2024. The Human Rights Committee (HRC) is the treaty body tasked to monitor compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

India signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on June 10, 1948. It must be remembered that in international law, a declaration is merely a statement of intent, not a binding instrument like signing an international covenant.

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Rwanda Bill militates against human rights

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ByRavi Nair
Apr 26, 2024 10:06 PM IST

The Act seeks to ostensibly deter unlawful migration, particularly by unsafe and illegal routes, by allowing some migrants to be sent to the Republic of Rwanda.
The innocuously named Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 is now an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom (UK). Orwellian in content, the Act seeks to ostensibly deter unlawful migration, particularly by unsafe and illegal routes, by allowing some migrants to be sent to the Republic of Rwanda.

TOPSHOT – Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives to attend a press conference, at the Downing Street Briefing Room, in central London, on April 22, 2024 regarding the Britain and Rwanda treaty to transfer illegal migrants to the African country. Rishi Sunak promised on April 22, 2024 that deportation flights of asylum seekers to Rwanda will begin in “10 to 12 weeks”, as the plan entered its final stage in parliament. (Photo by Toby Melville / POOL / AFP)(AFP)PREMIUM

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Bhutan–India relations: Between meditation and hallucination

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As Bhutan gets on the highway of diplomacy with China, is India being side-lined or waylaid, Ravi Nair muses.

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READING tea leaves in the best of circumstances is hazardous. More so when there are so many varieties on offer.

Indian Darjeeling, one of the best teas, is exquisite in all its varieties, it is also the easiest to classify. Oolong, one of the finer Chinese teas, with its many varieties, is much more difficult. Suja, Bhutanese butter tea, is difficult to read due to the infusion of generous dollops of extraneous butter.

The Sino-Bhutan talks

From a careful reading of the tea leaves from all three countries, it is evident that a border agreement between the People’s Republic of China and the Kingdom of Bhutan is ready to be signed. It is not known if the exact details have been shown to India but it would defy comprehension if Thimpu has not shared the contours with New Delhi.

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Has West lost its appetite for a rules-based order?

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The ICJ decision on interim measures was carefully crafted. It is as political as it is legal. Pointedly, it did not call for an immediate ceasefire ap

 

By Ravi Nair – 18/02/2024

On February 27, or a few days earlier, Israel will hopefully submit its response report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) interim order of January 26, 2024. The final decision in the South African plaint, now supported by other countries, is in the distant future. Soon, the registrar of the ICJ will call in South African and Israeli lawyers to outline the time frame for filing papers on the merits of the case. South Africa has hoped that it would take no more than six months for both sides to file papers. This would just be the first step in a very long process.

The ICJ decision on interim measures was carefully crafted. It is as political as it is legal. Pointedly, it did not call for an immediate ceasefire. All countries that are party to the genocide convention, including India, have to ensure that these interim measures are implemented. The United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), the European Union (EU), Germany and many other European States are doing are doing everything but that. The continuance of armament shipments and economic bailouts to a beleaguered Israeli economy is evidently not furthering their legal obligations to prevent genocide.

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An ocean Indian in name only: Reflections on the Maldivian contretemps

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As the Maldives deadline for withdrawal of Indian armed forces comes close, Ravi Nair traces the historical and contemporary dynamics of the geopolitics in the ‘Indian’ Ocean that have led to this crucial juncture. 

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MOST Indians, including those who should know better, think the Indian Ocean belongs to India.

In this era, when official history is only issued in denominations of 500 and 1,000 years, they would do well to remember that prior to 1515, it was called the Eastern Ocean.

But when those in power and in proximity to it believe that, in 2024, the Indian Ocean is Indian in the geopolitical sense, it is delusional.

The Maldives is a sovereign nation

The contretemps with the Maldives is a recent example.

The air of injured innocence on the part of many in India at the request of the Maldives for the withdrawal of Indian armed forces personnel borders on the ludicrous. The Akhand Bharat (Greater India) groupies conveniently forget the Maldives is a sovereign nation.

The air of injured innocence on the part of many in India at the request of the Maldives for the withdrawal of Indian armed forces personnel borders on the ludicrous.

The Indian media is replete with all the benefits that accrue to the Maldives thanks to the Indian connection. The Maldivian media, on the other hand, has chosen to downplay the assistance rendered by India in 1988.

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Post Nijjar and Pannun fiascos, can India continue without parliamentary oversight for intelligence services?

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Ghar mein ghus kar marenge is a great movie dialogue. It is an even better election slogan. But can the demands of democracy and the delicate balance of international relations afford India such bravado, asks Ravi Nair.

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NEW Delhi Chatterati loves to play Chinese Whispers. The most popular one presently is, “If the US can do targeted killings outside their country, why can’t we do it?”

Targeted killings internally, within India by official agencies, or by using proxies, are an age-old practice. Too well documented to need reiteration here. Euphemistically called ‘encounter deaths’, they are endemic.

Targeted killings of non-Indian nationals

There is credible information in the public domain about the killing of a pro-Chinese Marxist tribal leader in Bangladesh in 1983 by a pro-Indian tribal leader now living in India.

Operation Leech

On February 11, 1998, an Indian tri-services detachment gunned down in cold blood six of the leadership of the nascent Arakan-based Rakhine armed group fighting the Myanmar junta. They were gunned down on Landfall Island of the Andaman group of islands.

The Rakhine now have the Arakan Army (AA), one of the more formidable armed groups fighting the Myanmar junta.

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