HRF Monthly

NHRC Appointments: Hindutva Deep State Expands Armoury

/ / HRF Monthly

 JUNE 5, 2021

Protecting and upholding human rights just got more difficult in India. Vacant positions in the NHRC are going to pliant retired judicial officers, policemen on deputation, and sleuths who probe and track complainants and not the human rights issues they raise, writes human rights activist RAVI NAIR. 

There is a certain insouciance and disesteem on the part of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in matters of upholding norms or respecting institutions. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) appointments committee has picked former Supreme Court judge Arun Kumar Mishra as chairperson. It has also made an insidious choice in Rajiv Jain, former head of the Intelligence Bureau. The third appointment is of a former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Mahesh Mittal Kumar.

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HRF Monthly

How Fair is Compensation for Human Rights Violations in India?

/ / HRF Monthly

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Violation of human rights by the state, through wrongful confinement and arrest, imposes a liability on the state, one being of compensation. However, does the victim have a right to claim compensation? RAVI NAIR of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre examines the Indian jurisprudence on compensation to victims of state negligence and persecution.

 

INDIAN citizens, who are unlawfully arrested, detained, tortured, and even killed while in police custody are not guaranteed a right to compensation. International standards require reparations and compensation for victims of violations of fundamental rights.

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HRF Monthly

South Asian Human Rights statement on refugees from Myanmar mendacious SAHR leadership needs to repudiate it

/ / HRF Monthly

24 July 2021

The South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) is a Colombo based regional organisation. Its Bureau consists of many knowledgeable individuals from the region. However, it is doubtful if they exercised oversight on a public statement put out in the name of the organisation dated 9 July 2021. The public statement titled, ” SAHR Is Deeply Concerned For The Myanmar Nationals Fleeing To India And Their Impact On The Host Community” (see full text at https://www.southasianrights.org/sahr-is-deeply-concerned-for-the-myanmar-nationals-fleeing-to-india-and-their-impact-on-the-host-community/ ). It is dated 9 July 2021 and was brought to SAHRDC’S notice on the afternoon of 21 July 2021.

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HRF Monthly

Testing times for National Law University Delhi: Is it being used by Ministry of External Affairs?

/ / HRF Monthly

June 26, 2021

ndia’s academic institutions are all facing authoritarianism. One more example of it was seen when the MEA farmed out the writing of the first draft of their reports to UN rights bodies to academic institutions like the NLUD. The draft report for the Universal Periodic Report by NLUD academics was decent. By the time the MEA worked on it and the final product was submitted, it had made unbelievable claims to India’s human rights record. The same exercise is being repeated for the fourth periodic report to the HRC. The NLUD draft report should be put into the public domain and its academic integrity preserved, writes RAVI NAIR.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the National Law University Delhi (NLUD) have held three consultations on India’s fourth periodic report to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee in May and June 2021. It is due for submission in August 2021.

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HRF Monthly

Violations of Rights and Compensation: India’s Failure to Adhere to International Standards

/ / HRF Monthly

October 4, 2020

Without a mandated right to compensation, India does not meet international standards when it comes to recompense and rehabilitation for victims of rights violations, putting a veritable question mark on India’s commitment to democracy writes RAVI NAIR of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre.

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India may be a signatory to many international agreements and treaties but some of the commitments made to the world community do not find the desired application within the country because of gaps and lack of clear-cut direction within Indian jurisprudence.

A case in point is the right to compensation for victims of human rights violations, including those perpetrated by the state like unlawful detention, torture, and custodial deaths. Currently, cases of recompense are virtually left to the discretion of individual judges.

However, there are several international agreements and reports that underline the need for governments to provide for suitable compensation.

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HRF Monthly

Open Letter to the UN Secretary-General

/ / HRF Monthly

OCTOBER 02, 2018

Open Letter to the UN Secretary-General

Dear Secretary-General,

I write to you in great hope. Your human rights credentials are impeccable. You fought the Salazar and Caetano dictatorships. As UN High Commissioner for Refugees, you put the protection of refugees back at the centre of UNHCR’s work.

Your present visit to India comes at a time of a serious backlash against human rights. I hope you will speak about some of these issues, in your public pronouncements and in your talks with government. Some key questions I hope you will raise are:

Caste and sanitation– As the Government of India observes Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary at the grand conference on sanitation that you will be attending, we ask you to urge the organisers to take a close look at the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on water and sanitation who visited India recently. The rapporteur emphasized that “States cannot fully realize the human rights to water and sanitation without addressing stigma as a root cause of discrimination and other human rights violations”.

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