State of human rights in India - AI report 2012

Ongoing clashes between armed Maoists and state security forces escalated in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. More than 350 people were killed in bomb attacks in those states and in ethnically motivated attacks in Assam and other states. Protests by Adivasis (Indigenous communities) and other marginalized communities against moves to acquire their lands and natural resources without proper consultation or consent resulted in the suspension of key corporate-led projects. Human rights defenders in these cases were attacked by state or private agents, with politically motivated charges, including sedition, being brought against some. More than 100 people, mostly youth protesters, were killed in the Kashmir valley during protests between June and September. Torture and other ill-treatment, extrajudicial executions, deaths in custody and administrative detentions remained rife. Institutional mechanisms meant to protect human rights and human rights defenders remained weak and judicial processes failed to ensure justice for many victims of past violations and abuses. At least 105 people were sentenced to death but, for the sixth successive year, no executions took place.

Background

India's rapid economic growth was limited to key urban and suburban areas; large parts of rural India continued to experience grinding poverty, aggravated by an agricultural crisis and declining food availability for those living in poverty. According to official estimates, about 30 to 50 per cent of the population were living in poverty. Of these, people living in rural areas were guaranteed at least 100 days of work per year, but the authorities continued to pay them below the national minimum wage.

US President Barack Obama's November visit to India underscored the country's growing international and regional status. However, India routinely put economic and strategic interests above human rights considerations. The Indian authorities did not speak out against gross human rights violations committed by the authorities in neighbouring Myanmar, and remained silent on demands for the Sri Lankan government to be held accountable for human rights violations committed at the end of that country's war in 2009.

Relations between India and Pakistan remained fragile following Pakistan's ongoing failure to adequately address the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Relations were also undermined by a rise in pro-independence protests in Indian-administered Kashmir.

 

Violence between security forces, militia and Maoists

In Chhattisgarh, clashes escalated between armed Maoists and state forces supported by the Salwa Judum militia, widely believed to be state-sponsored. In November, during a hearing at the Supreme Court on petitions filed against impunity, the state authorities claimed that this militia was no longer active. However, human rights organizations said it had been reconstituted as a local "peace force".

Similar clashes and bomb attacks took place in Adivasi areas of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Both sides routinely targeted civilians, mainly Adivasis, who reported killings and abductions. Around 30,000 Adivasis continued to be internally displaced in Chhattisgarh alone, of whom 10,000 lived in camps and 20,000 were dispersed in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

• In May, at least 144 passengers were killed and 200 others injured when an express train derailed reportedly after an explosion on the track in West Medhinipur district. The area routinely saw violence between armed Maoists on the one hand and on the other, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and the central paramilitary forces. In August, one of the people accused in the explosion case, Umakanta Mahato, an Adivasi leader of the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), was extrajudicially executed after a round of political violence in which three CPI-M supporters were killed by the PCPA.
• In September, security forces engaged in anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh illegally detained 40 Adivasis, stripped and tortured them. They detained 17 other people, two of whom were 16 years old, and sexually assaulted two of the women. The authorities failed to pursue the findings of an initial inquiry which held security force personnel responsible for the violations.
• Peace activists belonging to Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), a Gandhian NGO, were forced to stop working in the conflict areas of Chhattisgarh. VCA founder Himanshu Kumar could not return to Dantewada town which he had fled in 2009 following persistent harassment and intimidation by Salwa Judum, the state police and paramilitary forces.
• In September, the Chhattisgarh police accused Adivasi leader and prisoner of conscience Kartam Joga, whose petition against impunity was being heard by the Supreme Court, of collaborating with armed Maoists.
• In December, a local court in Chhattisgarh convicted human rights defender, medical practitioner and prisoner of conscience Binayak Sen of collaborating with Maoists and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Corporate accountability

Both the authorities and companies failed to ensure adequate consultation with and protection of the rights of local marginalized communities affected by mining, irrigation and other corporate projects. In several states, Adivasi and other marginalized local communities staged protests – some of them successful – against the authorities' failure to respect their claims, guaranteed by the Constitution and recent legislation, over lands which were threatened by corporate ventures.

• In a landmark victory for Adivasi rights, the Indian government rejected plans to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa, and to expand an alumina refinery in nearby Lanjigarh. The plans were proposed by a subsidiary of UK-based Vedanta Resources and the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation. The authorities found that both projects violated forest and environmental laws and would perpetrate abuses against the Dongria Kondh and other Adivasi communities.
• In June, a Bhopal court sentenced eight Indian executives at Union Carbide to two years' imprisonment for their role in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. The gas leak killed between 7,000 and 10,000 people in its immediate aftermath, and a further 15,000 over the next 20 years. The case was reopened by the Supreme Court in August, following public anger at what were widely viewed as excessively lenient sentences.

Excessive use of force

The police used excessive force to quell protests by local communities against forced evictions and the acquisition of their lands for corporate projects. The police failed to protect protesters when private militias, reportedly allied with ruling political parties, violently suppressed protests. The authorities did not carry out impartial and timely inquiries into most of these incidents.

• In May, Adivasi leader Laxman Jamuda was killed when police fired at people protesting against the acquisition of Adivasi lands for a proposed Tata Steel project in Kalinganagar, Orissa. Nineteen people were injured, 10 sustaining bullet wounds. One thousand police officers cordoned off the villages while 200 private militia members forced their way in and demolished some houses.
• In May, at least 20 protesters were injured when police used tear gas and batons to disperse about 1,000 farmers demonstrating against the takeover of their farmlands and village common land for South Korean Pohong Steel Company's (POSCO) proposed steel project in Jagatsinghpur district, Orissa.
• In July, two fishermen were killed when police fired at a protest against the government's takeover of land for a thermal power project promoted by Nagarjuna Construction Company in Sompeta town, Andhra Pradesh. Five people sustained bullet wounds, and 350 people, including 60 police officers, were injured as police, assisted by a private militia, dispersed protesters from 10 villages. The next day, the authorities cancelled the environmental clearance given for the project.

Continuing protests forced the authorities to reconsider existing land acquisition laws. In September, the Federal authorities proposed new legislation for the extractive sector with benefit-sharing arrangements for local communities along with new frameworks for free, prior and informed consent for Adivasis and consultation for other marginalized communities. New legislation containing improvements in land acquisition procedures and rehabilitation and resettlement policies was pending before parliament.

Human rights defenders

People defending the land rights of Adivasis and other marginalized communities, in some cases by using recent legislation to obtain information to protect their rights, continued to face serious threats and violent attacks from private militias.

• In January, Sadhu Singh Takhtupura was killed in Amritsar district, Punjab, after he led local farmers to resist land grabs allegedly by an alliance of local political leaders, contractors and corrupt officials. In October, another peasant leader, Pirthipal Singh Alishar, was shot dead by assailants after he led a campaign against usury by money lenders. In both cases, local communities alleged that the police failed to investigate and bring those responsible to justice.
• In January, Satish Shetty was murdered after refusing to stop exposing land grabs in Pune city using new Right to Information legislation.
• In July, Amit Jethwa, who had campaigned against illegal mining in the Gir forest of Gujarat, was shot dead outside the high court complex in Ahmedabad.

Campaigners against human rights violations faced harassment, intimidation and arrests on false and politically motivated charges.

• Between March and June, the Gujarat police detained 13 activists, including Adivasi labour activist Avinash Kulkarni. They faced trial on charges of collaborating with armed Maoists.

Impunity

Impunity for abuses and violations remained widespread; despite ongoing protests in the north-east, the authorities remained unwilling to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958, which facilitates impunity. Perpetrators of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and other human rights violations in Punjab between 1984 and 1994, and Assam between 1998 and 2001, continued to evade justice. Members of Dalit communities in several states faced attacks and discrimination. The authorities failed to use existing special laws enacted to prosecute perpetrators of such violence.

1984 massacre

In September, the Supreme Court directed the trial of Congress Party leader Sajjan Kumar to proceed. The case against another former Congress Party leader, Jagdish Tytler, was closed in April by a Delhi court. Both men were accused of inciting their supporters to commit the Delhi massacre, in which thousands of Sikhs were killed, following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.

Communal violence

Cases against some of those responsible for the 2002 attacks against Muslim minorities in Gujarat, in which about 2,000 people were killed, made little progress. Proceedings were marred by the authorities' openly hostile attitude towards witnesses, the investigating agencies' refusal to examine crucial evidence including official telephone records, and the destruction of evidence linking key political leaders to the violence.

• In December, Teesta Setalvad of the Centre for Justice and Peace and a team of lawyers defending victims' rights were harassed by Gujarat police who charged them with concocting evidence.

Jammu and Kashmir

Impunity for past violations in Kashmir, including the disappearance of thousands of people since 1989 during the armed conflict in Kashmir, continued. Official inquiries into some of the violations made slow or little progress.

• Between June and September, the police and security forces fired at protesters during pro-Independence protests demanding accountability for past violations in the Kashmir valley. More than 100 people, mostly youths, were killed and 800 others, including media workers, were injured. An inquiry, instituted by the state authorities, covered 17 of the 100 deaths, despite demands by Amnesty International and other organizations for an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into all the deaths. The inquiry made little progress.

The authorities made widespread use of administrative detentions, detaining 322 people between January and September. Following the protests, on the basis of recommendations by a government-appointed team of interlocutors who visited the valley, the authorities released two separatist leaders, Shabir Shah and Mohammad Nayeem Khan.

• Fourteen-year-old Mushtaq Ahmad Sheikh was charged with taking part in violent protests and detained in Srinigar in April. He was later transferred to jails in Udhampur and Jammu where he remained.

Extrajudicial executions

Recent data disclosed by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on people killed in clashes with the police between 1993 and 2008, showed that of the 2,560 deaths reported, 1,224 occurred in "faked encounters" implying they were extrajudicial executions. By the end of the year, the NHRC had awarded compensation to the relatives of 16 victims. Convictions of those responsible for extrajudicial executions were exceptionally rare and proceedings in such cases remained slow.

• In January, the Supreme Court ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the 2005 killings, allegedly by the Gujarat police, of Sohrabuddin, his wife Kausar Bi and accomplice Tulsiram Prajapati, after finding the state police investigation shoddy.
• In November, the Gujarat government constituted a new special police team to investigate the killings of Ishrat Jahan and three others at the hands of the Gujarat police in 2004.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions

More than 100 people were detained without charge, for periods ranging from one week to a month in connection with bomb attacks in several states, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment of suspects led to protests by both Muslim and Hindu organizations. Security legislation, tightened after the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, was used to detain suspects. Despite ongoing protests, the authorities refused to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958, which grants security forces in specified areas or states the power to shoot to kill in circumstances where they are not necessarily at imminent risk.

Death penalty

In December, India voted against a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions. At least 105 people, including Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving Pakistani man accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, were sentenced to death. However, for the sixth successive year, no executions took place and the death sentences of 13 people were commuted to life imprisonment. Amendments to the law extended the death penalty to hijackers. Under new legislation, 16 states published death row figures, but at least five others refused to do so.

STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORLD: AI REPORT -2012

Strong Arms Trade Treaty needed as UN Security Council looks unfit for purpose 

The courage shown by protesters in the past 12 months has been matched by a failure of leadership that makes the UN Security Council seem tired, out of step and increasingly unfit for purpose, Amnesty International said as it launched its 50th global human rights report with a call for a strong global Arms Trade Treaty later this year.

"Failed leadership has gone global in the last year, with politicians responding to protests with brutality or indifference. Governments must show legitimate leadership and reject injustice by protecting the powerless and restraining the powerful. It is time to put people before corporations and rights before profits," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International Secretary General.

The vocal and enthusiastic support for the protest movements shown by many global and regional powers in the early months of 2011, has not translated into action. As Egyptians go to the polls to vote for a new president, it looks increasingly as if the opportunities for change created by the protesters are being squandered.

"In the last year it has all too often become clear that opportunistic alliances and financial interests have trumped human rights as global powers jockey for influence in the Middle East and North Africa," said Salil Shetty. 

"The language of human rights is adopted when it serves political or corporate agendas, and shelved
when inconvenient or standing in the way of profit."

A failure to intervene in Sri Lanka and inaction over crimes against humanity in Syria – one of Russia's main customers for arms – left the UN Security Council looking redundant as a guardian of global peace. The emerging powerhouses of India, Brazil and South Africa have too often been complicit through their silence.

"There is a clear and compelling case for the situation in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court for investigation of crimes against humanity. The determination of some UN Security Council members to shield Syria at any cost leaves accountability for these crimes elusive and is a betrayal of the Syrian people," said Salil Shetty.

Amnesty International Report 2012 documents specific restrictions on free speech in at least 91 countries as well as cases of people tortured or otherwise ill-treated in at least 101 countries – in many cases for taking part in demonstrations.

"Ousting individual leaders – however tyrannical – is not enough to deliver long-term change. Governments must uphold freedom of expression at home and abroad, take international responsibilities seriously, and invest in systems and structures that ensure justice, freedom and equality before the law." 

The UN meeting to agree an Arms Trade Treaty in July will be an acid test for politicians to place rights over self-interest and profit. Without a strong treaty, the UN Security Council's guardianship of global peace and security seems doomed to failure; its permanent members wielding an absolute veto on any resolution despite being the world's largest arms suppliers.

"Protesters have shown that change is possible. They have thrown down a gauntlet demanding that governments stand up for justice, equality and dignity. They have shown that leaders who don't meet these expectations will no longer be accepted. After an inauspicious start 2012 must become the year of action," said Salil Shetty.

Other global developments highlighted in Amnesty International Report 2012:

• Highly repressive states including China threw the full weight of their security apparatus into the suffocation of protest. There was no improvement in North Korea's horrific human rights situation.
• In sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa uprisings resonated strongly with people – but excessive force was used against protesters in countries from Angola to Senegal to Uganda.
• Social protest gathered strength in the Americas, frequently bringing people into confrontation with powerful economic and political interests. Activists were threatened and killed, including in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
• In Russia, civic activism grew and the country saw its largest demonstrations since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but opposition voices were abused and systematically undermined.
• There was no sign of significant change in countries such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This year's Eurovision Song Contest host, Azerbaijan, suppressed freedom of expression and 16 prisoners of conscience are still behind bars for raising their voices in 2011.
• Violence followed South Sudan's vote for independence but the UN Security Council – along with the African Union's Peace and Security Council – again failed to condemn abuses including indiscriminate bombardments by the Sudanese Armed Forces, or the Sudanese government's closure of affected states to humanitarian organizations.
• In the Middle East and North Africa, as the uprisings occupied world attention, other deep-seated problems festered. Iran's government was increasingly isolated, tolerated no dissent, and used the death penalty with an enthusiasm only outstripped by China, while Saudi Arabia cracked down on protesters.
• Israel maintained its blockade of Gaza, prolonging the humanitarian crisis and continued to expand illegal settlements in the West Bank. Palestinian political organizations Fatah and Hamas targeted each other's supporters; Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups mounted tit-for-tat attacks in Gaza.
• Myanmar's government took a pivotal decision to free more than 300 political prisoners and allow Aung San Suu Kyi to contest elections. An escalation of conflict-related human rights violations in ethnic minority areas, as well as continuing harassment and detention of activists, however, suggested limits to the reform.
• Trends included abuses against Indigenous communities in the Americas as drives to exploit resources intensified; worsening discrimination in Africa over people's sexual orientation or gender identity; increased xenophobic rhetoric from some European politicians; and increased vulnerability to terrorist acts in Africa by Islamist armed groups.
• Progress including the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty; the erosion of impunity for past abuses in the Americas; and landmark steps towards justice in Europe with the arrests of General Ratko Mladić and Croatian Serb Goran Hadžić, to face trial for crimes committed in the 1990s wars in former Yugoslavia.

'END CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION- NOW!'

(Geneva) May 14, 2012 – United Nations member states should make ending caste-based discrimination a priority when they review India's human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council in late May 2012. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of India at the Human Rights Council is scheduled for May 24.

"United Nations member states should call for effective implementation of laws and policies to address caste-related human rights violations in India," said Julie de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Numerous UN human rights bodies and civil society groups are demanding that the Indian government move from promises to action to improve the lives of people who have long endured horrific discrimination."

Over 260 million people worldwide face extreme forms of discrimination, exploitation, and violence based on caste. According to government statistics, nearly 167 million Indians, or 16 percent of the population, belonged to so-called Scheduled Castes, who call themselves Dalits.

Dalits face widespread discrimination, which imposes enormous obstacles to the full attainment of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. They are segregated in housing, schools, and access to public services. They are denied access to land, forced to work in degrading conditions, and routinely abused by the police and upper-caste community members who enjoy the state's protection. This entrenched discrimination that the government fails to address violates Dalit rights to education, health, housing, property, freedom of religion, free choice of employment, and equal treatment before the law.

Dalits also suffer routine violations of their right to life and security of person through state-sponsored or sanctioned acts of violence, including torture. Caste-motivated killings, rapes, and other abuses are a daily occurrence in India.

Human Rights Watch and IDSN urged UN member states to press the Indian government to take effective measures to protect the rights of Dalits, address widespread impunity for crimes committed against them, and ensure access to justice and basic services.

"It would be a great injustice to over 160 million Dalits in India if the UN review of India's human rights record does not directly and comprehensively address serious concerns for the ongoing human rights violations against them," de Rivero said.

Human Rights Watch and IDSN, whose members and associates include key Dalit organizations, have made a number of recommendations that should be raised at the review, including:

- Appropriate reforms to eliminate police abuses against Dalits and other marginalized communities;
- Vigorous implementation of laws and government policies to protect Dalits, and Dalit women in particular, from physical and sexual violence;
- Eradication of caste-based segregation in residential areas and schools, and in access to public services; and
- Effective eradication of exploitative labor arrangements and effective implementation of rehabilitation schemes for Dalit-bonded and child laborers, manual scavengers, and Dalit women forced into sex work.

"India all too often sweeps caste discrimination under the rug," said Rikke Nöhrlind, coordinator of IDSN. "The upcoming UN review provides an opportunity for the Indian government to demonstrate a genuine commitment to address the full extent of this problem. UN member states have an obligation to demand that the rights of those discriminated against on the basis of caste not be ignored."

Human Rights Watch Press release

Law and practice of child labour abolition laws in India

The Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge has informed the Rajya Sabha that as per 2001 census, the total number of working children between the age group 5-14 years in the country was 1.26 crore. However, as per NSSO survey 2009-10, the working children are estimated at 49.84 lakh which shows declining trend. Under Section 3 of the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in 18 Occupations and 65 Processes. Any person who employs a child in any occupation or process where employment of children is prohibited under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, is liable for punishment with imprisonment for term which shall not be less than 3 months but which may extend to one year or with fine ranging from Rs.10,000/- to Rs.20,000/-. States/UT Governments are appropriate Government for implementation of the Child Labour(Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 in the areas comes under their jurisdiction . As per the available information State-wise prosecution launched during 2010 & 2011 is as per Annexure-I.

 

            The Minister was replying to a written question whether it is a fact that some State Governments could not prevent the increasing number of child labour and whether Government has instructed the State Governments to take stringent action against those who violates Child Labour Act; and the State-wise details thereof and the total number of casesbooked under this act last year?

 

ANNEXURE-I

State-wise data  on Prosecution

State	No. of Prosecution
	2010	2011
Andmn&Nico I. U.T.	NA	NA
Andhra Pradesh	74	NA
Arunachal Pradesh	NA	NA
Assam	6	NA
Bihar	632	576
Chandigarh    U.T.	33	Nil
Chhattisgarh	62	NA
Dadra & Nagar H. U.T.	NA	NA
Daman & Diu U.T.	Nil	Nil
Delhi U.T.	313	2
Goa	Nil	Nil
Gujarat	112	71
Haryana	210	82
Himachal Pradesh	22	44
Jammu & Kashmir	22	42
Jharkhand	14	NA
Karnataka	479	232
Kerala	NA	NA
Lakshadweep UT	Nil	Nil
Madhya Pradesh	5772	170*
Maharashtra	25	11
Manipur	4
Meghalaya	NA	2
Mizoram	Nil	Nil
Nagaland	Nil	Nil
Orissa	21	397
Pondicherry   U.T.	Nil	10
Punjab	654	251
Rajasthan	18	38
Sikkim	NA	NA
Tamil Nadu	38	26
Tripura	1(1997-2011)
Uttar Pradesh	356	NA
Uttaranchal	2	5
West Bengal	Nil	8