On November 20, World Children’s Day, marks the 30^th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child—an international legal framework adopted by the UN General Assembly for the recognition of children as right-holders.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN-CRC) which monitors compliance of the Convention by its signatories released a report titled, “The Convention on the Rights of the Child at a Crossroads.”

The Committee noted that while there have been historic gains overall for the world’s children since the Convention’s adoption 30 years ago, many of the poorest children are yet to feel the impact.

“..The odds continue to be stacked against the poorest and most vulnerable,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “In addition to the persistent challenges of health, nutrition and education, children today have to contend with new threats like climate change, online abuse and cybe rbullying.”
 

The Report

The first part of the report looks at the undeniable achievements of the past three decades.  

The global under-five mortality rate (G5MR) has fallen by about 60 per cent, with every region recording a reduction of more than 40 per cent. Global access to education has improved. Four out of five children in the lower secondary level cohort are now enrolled in education. The proportion of primary-school-aged children that aren’t in school has decreased from 18 to 8 per cent.

The second part looks at the Challenges-worrying signs that some of the gains achieved under the Convention are at risk of stagnation or even reversal.

Although safe and effective vaccines are widely available to families, often free of cost, somehow, over the past decade or so, the drive for global immunization coverage has stalled. Only 50 per cent children from the poorest households in sub-Saharan Africa are vaccinated against measles, compared to 85 per cent of children from the richest households.  In low and middle-income countries, including India, children from the poorest households are twice more likely than those from the richest households to die from preventable causes before their fifth birthday.

The youth graduating from formal education leave schools without gaining the skills and competencies required to succeed in the competitive, globalized labour market of the twenty-first century.

The report also noted that cultural, social, economic and political obstacles often remain entrenched despite years of efforts to remove them. Despite a decline in child marriage rates globally, the poorest girls in some countries are more at risk today than they were in 1989.

“The Convention stands at a crossroads between its illustrious past and its future potential. It is up to us to recommit, take decisive steps and hold ourselves accountable,” said Fore. “We should take our lead from young people who are speaking up and speaking out for their rights as never before, we must act now – boldly and creatively.”

She noted that the vision of the Convention on the Rights of the Child can only be translated into a reality with innovation, new technologies, political will and increased resources for the cause.

The UN Report can be read here:

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A UN report reveals that one-third of all immigrants come from 10 countries and that Immigrants living in India have declined from 5.4 million in 2015 to 5.15 million in 2019

Even as the ultra right wing Indian government continued its tirade against the bogey of “illegal immigrants”, a UN report concludes that it is India that  has emerged as the leading country of origin for immigrants across the world, with 17.5 million international migrants in 2019 coming from India, up from 15.9 million in 2015, according to a dataset released by the Union Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York on Tuesday.

Sharp Spiral
The report is titled ‘The International Migrant Stock 2019’ , released by the UN DESA’s Population Division. It states that the number of international migrants in the world had reached an estimated 272 million 2019 — 51 million more than in 2010. The percentage of international migrants of the total global population has increased to 3.5% from 2.8% in 2000.

Interestingly, while India remained as the top source of international migrants, the number of migrants living in India saw a slight decline from 5.24 million in 2015 to an estimated 5.15 million in 2019 – both 0.4% of the total population of the country.

Bangladesh was the leading country of origin for migrants in India, the report stated.

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Indian government’s claim that the report was “fallacious” and “a selective compilation of largely unverified information” is problematic, as it was the Indian government which had turned down repeated requests of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for unrestricted access to Jammu and Kashmir. Explaining the methodology adopted by the team which worked on the report, the High Commissioner explains, “As OHCHR was denied access to Kashmir, it was not possible to directly verify allegations. OHCHR bases its findings on its methodology, using a “reasonable grounds” standard of proof.

On the issue of the Indian government calling the OHCHR report as a violation of India’s sovereignty and integrity, let us briefly examine the mandate of the UN Human Rights Council and India’s role in the Council which is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote and protect human rights around the world. Several member countries of the UN, including India were unhappy with the older UN body, the Human Rights Commission as they felt that the Commission was being manipulated by powerful countries such as the US which prevented the review of their friends and allies such as Israel. The Council was created by the General Assembly in 2006. The Council has 47 members elected by the UN General Assembly for staggered three-year terms on a regional basis. India has been a member of the Council for two terms till 2017. On being re-elected for a second term India’s Ambassador to the Council, Asoke Mukerji emphasised that India’s focus will be to make the UN human rights system more effective and address issues through a constructive approach. The Council set up the process of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) under which the human rights record of each of the 193 UN member countries is peer-reviewed every four or five years. Under the UPR process, the recommendations made by the Council members during the review of each country’s record are given to a “troika” of countries drawn through a lot. India has been a member of the Troika in the past.

In September 2017, India’s human rights records were examined under the UPR process. Among the issues raised during the UPR were continued discrimination, stigmatization and violence against Dalits; restrictions on free speech and on the work of human rights defenders; attacks on religious minorities; reports of excessive use of force by security officers, including in Jammu and Kashmir; combatting impunity and ensuring accountability and delays in judicial proceedings. Out of the 250 recommendations that were made, India accepted 152 and took note of the rest. Also, India undertook to fulfill its twenty year old promise that it would ratify the UN Convention Against Torture. India, having been an active member of the UN Human Rights Council, having submitted to the UPR process on three occasions, and as a member of the Troika made recommendations to other countries for improving its human rights situation, it is strange that the government now asserts that the OHCHR report on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is a violation of Indian sovereignty and integrity.

President Bush had taken the USA out of the Human Rights Council. President Obama had reintegrated the USA into the Council. President Trump is said to be contemplating pulling the USA out again. I wonder, if India under Prime Minister Modi’s stewardship will be following the path of President Trump.

The OHCHR report is based on information that largely is available in the public domain including what was obtained by Indian citizens through the Right to Information Act. The report has also made use of government documents and statements, questions in the parliament and the government’s response, court orders and police reports. It has relied largely on the Press Trust of India (PTI) for official statements of the government. Additionally, the report writers have also relied on the research and monitoring carried out by local, national and international non – governmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights defenders. OHCHR team also conducted a small number of interviews to corroborate information.

While the OHCHR has elaborated on the sources of its data, explained the limitations and detailed the methodology it was obliged to adopt in the face of denial of access to Jammu and Kashmir by the government, the Indian government in turn, has given no reasoned or rational explanation for calling the report fallacious and based on unverified information.

Regarding India’s objection to the OHCHR reference to the “Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir” and “Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltisatan” as separate entities, it is pertinent to point out that multiple reports of the United Nations as well as the official correspondence of the UN Secretary General have used nomenclature such as “Kashmir”, “Jammu and Kashmir”, “State of Jammu and Kashmir”, “Indian administered side of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir”, and “Pakistan Administered Kashmir” – while referring to the territory of the former princely state before 1947. Even as recently as August 2016, the UN Secretary General in a statement condemning the terrorist attack on the Uri military post used the term Indian- Administered Jammu and Kashmir. Indeed, I would argue that I have yet to come across a statement from government of India, objecting to any UN agency’s use of the term, “Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir”.

Government of India’s response to the OHCHR report has evoked mainly two kinds of responses. Supporters human rights within India and in other countries have called on India to act on the recommendations of the first-ever report by the United Nations on the human rights situation in Kashmir. Others, including supporters of the ruling BJP and the rightwing Hindu nationalist organisations have vociferously endorsed the Indian government’s rejection of the report.

One interesting comment has come from a well-known former editor, Mr. Sekhar Gupta. Mincing no words, he called the report “idiotic”. It is “idiotic not because of the quality of its research, but for its expectation that it will help the people of Kashmir,” he asserted. According to Mr. Gupta the report was “fatally flawed” and “dead on arrival. Debating its accuracy, fairness, methodology or motives is a waste of time.” An interesting position, that allows you to avoid any discussion on the content of the report. This is exactly what India’s official response has done when it condemned the entire report as “fallacious”. Mr. Gupta has also accused the OHCHR of allowing NGO-type activists take over the world’s premier human rights body and not allow “political oversight”. Clearly, Mr. Gupta believes that the global concern for human rights should be toned down by the political interest of states. Mr. Gupta claims that the report will not only fail to help the Kashmiris, “on the contrary, it will harden India’s approach. It will also encourage Pakistan to shove more Kashmiris and its own expendable youth into a jihad (holy war).”

The OHCHR has no political or military arm. The only way it can enforce its recommendations is through repeated requests and by naming and shaming. In a civilized world, it is expected that a sovereign and an honourable nation state would fulfill the promises that it makes to the comity of nations. India has not fulfilled its promise to ratify the UN convention Against Torture for more than two decades.

Mr. Gupta has argued that the report will not embarrass India as the country will be able to garner enough political support at the Council to block any discussion on the report and the recommendation for an independent investigation. India had been able to do exactly that in 1994 in the UN General Assembly (Third Committee) when confronted with Islamabad’s allegations of human rights violations in Kashmir. India was able to rally sufficient support from the members states including from “human rights rogues like China and Iran”. However, Mr. Gupta forgot to mention that the BJP’s Atal Behari Vajpayee, who was a member of India’s multi-party delegation sent to the UN by the then Prime Minister Narasinha Rao, at that time had said, “For a great nation like us, there was a certain humiliation involved in having to go around begging for votes on a human rights issue. Let us now use this reprieve to clean up our act in Kashmir or there will be a Geneva every few months.”

The attempt to avoid discussions on the content is an attempt to cover up the gross misuse of the coercive state apparatus against protesting civilians during the period 2016-2018. The discussions on the content will bring out issues highlighted by the OHCHR report such as the killings of about 145 persons and a very high number of injuries. The excessive use of pellet-firing guns that have blinded or injured the eyes of civilians, largely the youth. The awarding of Major Litul for using a Kashmiri civilian as a human shield even before the court of enquiry had completed its investigation. And the hard fact that in these last 28 years the India government has not allowed any civilian court to hear complaints of human rights abuse committed by the members of its security forces. Understandably, Indian government would want to avoid any discussion on the content of the report.

Will India be able to block a discussion on the report by the members of the Human Rights Council? Certainly, it will have to make a very serious effort to gather enough support to prevent the council from discussing the High Commissioner’s recommendation for an independent investigation. In this effort India will be joining the ranks of Myanmar which has been accused of committing genocide against the Rohingya. India could also point out that the Council’s guidelines do not require setting up such investigation in countries where avenues exist for recourse to judiciary for settling complaints of misuse of power by the state’s security agencies. India will then face a conundrum of its own making. Under AFSPA, it has granted complete impunity to its security forces.

Even if India is able to stymie an inquiry by the Council with the support of Saudi Arabia, UAE and possibly China, Russia and the USA, its actions will be carefully watched by Geneva. Under these circumstances, it is possible that the Modi government may be forced to change its purely iron fisted approach. And that will be the achievement of this OHCHR report, with all its “flaws”.

Tapan Bose is an independent documentary filmmaker, human rights and peace activist, author and regular contributor leading journals and news magazines in India, Nepal and Pakistan. His award winning documentaries on human rights and democratic issues include An Indian Story (1982) on the blinding of under trial prisoners in Bhagalpur and the nexus between landlord, police and politicians and Beyond Genocide: Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1986). His film ‘Behind the Barricades; Punjab’ (1993) on the state repression in Punjab, as with the earlier cited films, was banned and after a long legal struggle was shown. His latest film is The Expendable People’, (2016) a passionate appeal for justice for the tribal peoples of India, cheated, dispossessed, pauperised and criminalized in their forest homes, made to pay the price for extractive development.

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org/
 

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'Hundreds of Rohingyas' killed in Myanmar crackdown: Army has carried out mass killings of Muslim minority in Rakhine province, UN rights office says, in possible ethnic cleansing.

In a report released just three days ago, on February 3, 2017 the United Nations human rights arm said that the widespread human rights violations against the Rohingya population by Myanmar's security forces in the country's northern Rakhine state indicate the very likely commission of crimes against humanity. The 43-page Flash report may be read here.

The flash report – released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) based on its interviews with people who fled Myanmar after attacks on a border post in early October, the ensuing counter military operations and a lockdown in north Maungdaw – documents mass gang-rape, killings, including of babies and young children, brutal beatings, disappearances and other serious human rights violations by the country's security forces.

“The devastating cruelty to which these Rohingya children have been subjected is unbearable – what kind of hatred could make a man stab a baby crying out for his mother's milk. And for the mother to witness this murder while she is being gang-raped by the very security forces who should be protecting her,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.
“What kind of 'clearance operation' is this? What national security goals could possibly be served by this?”

The gravity and scale of these allegations begs the robust reaction of the international communityHigh Commissioner Zeid

Houses deliberately set on fire, people pushed inside burning houses – report

The report also cites consistent testimony indicating that hundreds of Rohingya houses, schools, markets, shops, madrasas and mosques were burned by the army, police and sometimes civilian mobs. Witnesses also described the destruction of food and food sources, including paddy fields, and the confiscation of livestock.
It also noted that several people were killed in indiscriminate and random shooting – many while fleeing for safety.

Army or Rakhine villagers locked an entire family, including elderly and disabled people, inside a house and set it on fire, killing them all-Report

Numerous testimonies collected from people from different village tracts…confirmed that the army deliberately set fire to houses with families inside, and in other cases pushed Rohingyas into already burning houses,” the report states.

“Testimonies were collected of several cases where the army or Rakhine villagers locked an entire family, including elderly and disabled people, inside a house and set it on fire, killing them all.”

Many witnesses and victims also described being taunted while they were being beaten, raped or rounded up, such as being told “you are Bangladeshis and you should go back” or “What can your Allah do for you? See what we can do?”

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