CB Bureau After completing her first fact-finding mission in the
country, Margaret Sekaggya, rapporteur on human rights defenders appointed by
the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, warned that the space for civil society
has contracted in India. She said that the country’s human rights defenders are
more vulnerable.
‘I am deeply concerned about the branding and stigmatization
of human rights defenders, labelled as naxalites (Maoists), terrorists, militants,
insurgents, or anti-nationalists,’ she said. She expressed concern about the
human rights defenders working with marginalized people including dalits, adavasis
(tribals), religious minorities and sexual minorities.
Sekaggya will submit her findings to United Nations Human
Rights Council in 2012.
She noted that existing national and state human rights
commissions needed to be more proactive in protecting human rights activists
and journalists.
Expressing ‘disappointment and mistrust’ with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and
state commissions, Sekaggya recommended that the Indian government strengthen the NHRC and also that India enact a
law for the protection of human rights groups.
Sekaggya also hinted ‘the arbitrary application of security
laws’ like the Public Safety Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the
Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Photo: Vangelis Paterakis