The Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organisation, has released its annual reports on human rights violations for the year 2024. It has observed India’s declining status as a protector of human rights within the country. The report which was released on January 11 has based its claims on various incidents related to arresting dissidents, journalists and activists to base its claim on. The report, titled World Report 2024 has chronicled various instances of human right violations in countries across the world, including India, France, Taiwan and China and covers about 100 countries. . The report pans over 740 pages and has painted a stark picture of the condition of human rights across the world.
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch stated that, “The BJP government’s discriminatory and divisive policies have led to increased violence against minorities, creating a pervasive environment of fear and a chilling effect on government critics. Instead of holding those responsible for abuses to account, the authorities chose to punish the victims, and persecuted anyone who questioned these actions.”
The report further details that in the year 2023 India’s aspirations for a rights-respecting democracy crumbled under the weight of its persistently discriminatory policies. It argues that the BJP-led government has a Hindu nationalist agenda and has ended up marginalising religious and other minorities and details how the government has also resorted to arresting activists, journalists, and political opponents on dubious charges, including terrorism.
The report details how in India, authorities have targeted journalists, activists, and critics through raids, accusations of financial irregularities, and exploitation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act governing foreign funding of NGOs. The report highlights the BBC raid by authorities. In February 2023, tax officials raided BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, many have argued that this raid was done in retaliation for a documentary criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s failure to ensure to keep Muslims safe in India. The government had previously blocked the documentary in India in January of the same year.
The report notes the communal violence which erupted in Haryana state in July during a Shobha Yatra. The response of the government to the violence, including violence against Muslims, was unlawfully demolishing hundreds of Muslim properties and detaining numerous Muslims. The report details how these events prompted the Punjab and Haryana High Court to question whether the state government was engaged in ‘ethnic cleansing.’
The violence ethnic conflict which has displaces over 60,000 people in Manipur was detailed in the report. The violent clashes between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki Zo communities in May resulted in over 200 deaths and hundreds of homes and churches destroyed. The report argues that the Chief Minister N. Biren Singh of the BJP worsened existing tensions by accusing the Kuki-Zo community of drug trafficking, and offering refuge to Myanmar refugees. By September, over a dozen United Nations experts expressed concerns about the government’s sluggish and inadequate response to the ongoing violence in Manipur.
The report has also shed light on the allegations against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh, who faces accusations of sexual abuse from at least six women wrestlers. He is accused for allegedly abusing these women for over a decade, especially during his tenure as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India.
The report has criticised US-President Joe Biden for having ‘little appetite’ for holding countries that have strategic interests with the US to account for human rights violations. The report also further details how India’ PM Modi, who the report criticises for increasing freedom violations, has been received without criticism by his European and other Western counterparts. Under PM Modi, it argues, India’s democracy has slid to autocracy and that authorities have actively targeted minorities, intensified repression, and systematically dismantled independent institutions, including central investigative agencies. Throughout the year, the report has argued that Indian authorities have curtailed freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and other fundamental rights, and thus has displayed disregard for democracy and human rights.
Related:
2023 Navaratri Women Human Rights Defenders Campaign: Hindus for Human Rights
India: Human Rights Defender Babloo Loitongbam’s house vandalised in Manipur
NIA raids on Allahabad human rights activists ‘part of larger political repression’ in UP