US Report | SabrangIndia News Related to Human Rights Tue, 25 Jul 2017 06:06:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://sabrangindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Favicon_0.png US Report | SabrangIndia 32 32 Indian Law Enforcement Ineffective in curbing terror funding: US State Dept Report https://sabrangindia.in/indian-law-enforcement-ineffective-curbing-terror-funding-us-state-dept-report/ Tue, 25 Jul 2017 06:06:44 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2017/07/25/indian-law-enforcement-ineffective-curbing-terror-funding-us-state-dept-report/ A recently released US State Department report has suggested that despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to de-monetize Rs 500 and 1,000 notes in November last year, the Indian authorities have failed to achieve one of its state objectives, to curb suspicious sources of funding terrorist activities. In fact, the report, titled “Country Reports on Terrorism […]

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A recently released US State Department report has suggested that despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to de-monetize Rs 500 and 1,000 notes in November last year, the Indian authorities have failed to achieve one of its state objectives, to curb suspicious sources of funding terrorist activities.

Terror Funding

In fact, the report, titled “Country Reports on Terrorism 2016”, complains, of late, US investigators have had “limited success in coordinating the seizure of illicit proceeds with Indian counterparts”, which was not the case in the past.
It emphasises ,“While, in the past, intelligence and investigative information supplied by US law enforcement authorities led to numerous seizures of terrorism-related funds, a lack of follow-through on investigative leads has prevented a more comprehensive approach.”
 
This state of affairs happened despite the fact that, says the report, “The US Department of the Treasury and India’s Ministry of Finance continued to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.”
The report regrets, “Although the Government of India aligned its domestic anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws with international standards by enacting amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2012, and in 2016 initiated a National Risk Assessment for AML/CFT to assess the country’s terrorist financing risk, it has yet to implement the legislation effectively, especially with regard to criminal convictions.”

“Law enforcement agencies typically open criminal investigations reactively and seldom initiate proactive analysis and long‑term investigations”, the report underscores, adding, “While the Indian government has taken action against certain hawala financing activities, prosecutions have generally focused on non-financial businesses that conduct hawala transactions as a secondary activity.”
 

India’s prosecutions have “generally focused on non-financial businesses that conduct hawala transactions as a secondary activity”:US report

“Additionally”, the report underlines, “The government has not taken adequate steps to ensure all relevant industries are complying with AML/CFT regulations. The reporting of terrorism-related STRs has shown an increasing trend in recent years, with FIU-IND receiving 112,527 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) between July 2015 and May 2016.”
“The government regulates the money services business (MSB) sector, requiring the collection of data for wire transfers and the filing of STRs by non-profit organizations”, the report says, though noting, “While the Indian government supervised, regulated, and monitored these entities to prevent misuse and terrorist financing, a large unregulated and unlicensed MSB sector remained vulnerable to exploitation by illicit actors.”
“The degree of training and expertise in financial investigations involving transnational crime or terrorism-affiliated groups varied widely among the federal, state, and local levels and depended on the financial resources and individual policies of various jurisdictions”, the report says. 
According to the report, “India made no major changes to its counterterrorism laws in 2016 and continued to address terrorism-related activities through existing statutes, including the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) (1967), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Convention on Suppression of Terrorism Act (1993), and various state-level laws.”
 

Pointing towards where the UAPA could be misused, the report says, “The UAPA presumes the accused to be guilty if the prosecution can produce incriminating evidence indicating the possession of arms or explosives or the presence of fingerprints at a crime scene, regardless of whether criminal intent is demonstrated.” 
It underlines, “State governments held persons without bail for extended periods before filing formal charges under the UAPA. Other state-level counterterrorism laws reduce evidentiary standards for certain charges and increase police powers to detain an accused and his or her associates without charges and without bail for extended periods, sometimes lasting several years.”

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]]> India at par with Afghanistan, Iraq, and Egypt in violation of religious freedom, reports US body on human rights https://sabrangindia.in/india-par-afghanistan-iraq-and-egypt-violation-religious-freedom-reports-us-body-human/ Fri, 28 Apr 2017 07:35:36 +0000 http://localhost/sabrangv4/2017/04/28/india-par-afghanistan-iraq-and-egypt-violation-religious-freedom-reports-us-body-human/ The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has alleged that 10 of the 29 Indian states are suffering from severe religious rights violation, and blamed Hindu nationalist groups for the situation. In its 2017 Annual Report released yesterday on the state of religious freedom in selected countries, USCIRF has put India with countries […]

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]]> The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has alleged that 10 of the 29 Indian states are suffering from severe religious rights violation, and blamed Hindu nationalist groups for the situation.

Hindutva

In its 2017 Annual Report released yesterday on the state of religious freedom in selected countries, USCIRF has put India with countries like Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Turkey and several other countries.

India is put in Tier 2 where religious freedom violation is severe but does not fully meet the CPC, Country of Particular Concern standard. Bahrain too shares the same tier with India for cracking down on its Shi’a Muslim majority.

USCIRF has shown concern not only for minority communities but also for Dalits.

“Hindu nationalist groups—such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Sangh Parivar, and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP)—and their sympathizers perpetrated numerous incidents of intimidation, harassment, and violence against religious minority communities and Hindu Dalits,” said USCIRF in the report.

The annual report broadly mentions the fund-cutting cases of various NGOs and puts it with several other factors like the religious conversion, cow slaughter which are eventually helping these conditions in getting severe.

USCIRF further said, “National and state laws that restrict religious conversion, cow slaughter, and the foreign funding of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and a constitutional provision deeming Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains to be Hindus helped create the conditions enabling these violations.”

The 10 states which are of concern for USCIRF are Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan. USCIRF has warned that religious freedom violations in some of these states are ‘systematic’ and ‘egregious’ which may put them under CPC standards.

The report talks about members from Muslim community and Dalit community who have been facing tough times due to Article 48, which prohibits cow slaughter in 25 out of 29 states of India.

“The application of these legal provisions also economically marginalizes Muslims and Dalits (who adhere to various religious faiths), many of whom work in the beef or leather industries. During the reporting period, there were a number of incidents of Muslims and Dalits being charged under these laws or subject to violence based on such accusations,” the report said.

The report also talks about the Anti-conversion laws – which are being practiced in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha – which makes choice of religion a crime. The report finds flaws in the anti-conversion and says, “While the laws purportedly protect religious minorities from forced conversions, they are one-sided, only concerned about conversions away from Hinduism but not toward Hinduism.”

It adds, “Observers note that these laws create a hostile and, on occasion, violent environment for religious minority communities because they do not require any evidence to support accusations of wrongdoing.”

USCIRF acknowledged the role of BJP president Amit Shah who dared opposition and made a call for enacting anti-conversion law across the country six months after the BJP came to power in 2014.

The report also mentions how cracking down of NGOs citing FCRA regulation has made the matter worse for the country and is “detrimental to the national interest”.

USCIRF separately talks about violence against Muslims, Christians and Schedule castes and tribes that happened in the year 2016. It also talks about how so-called cow protection has served as a fuel for religious violence and how it has provided impunity to the accused personnel.

“Based on these concerns, in 2017 USCIRF again places India on its Tier 2, where it has been since 2009”, the report said.

When USCIRF team tried to visit India during March 2016, the Indian government failed to issue visas to the team members even though they had full support from the US State Department and US Embassy New Delhi. The failure came out as a denial, which State Department spokesperson John Kirby termed as a disappointment. The Indian government had previously denied visa to USCIRF in 2001 and 2009.

USCIRF has recommended to US Government that it should press Indian government for providing enough training and education on human rights violation; to sack and rebuke government officials and religious leaders who pass derogatory remarks; to repeal and amend anti-conversion law which are not according to international human rights standards and to allow USCIRF officials to visit the country.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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