UN Committee Raises Concerns Over Women's Rights in India

Human Rights Committee review of India in Palais Wilson, Geneva.

The Committee expressed significant concerns regarding women's rights in India, focusing on political representation, gender-based violence, and maternal health.

Despite legislative advancements, the Committee highlighted the need for more effective implementation and enforcement of existing laws.

The 128th Amendment Act of 2023, reserving 33% of seats for women in Parliament and legislative assemblies, is a positive step. However, the Committee stressed that true empowerment requires effective implementation to ensure women's voices in policymaking. The authorities claimed that this amendment will only apply from the 2029 general elections, due to the requirement to carry out a census prior to the said elections. The Committee urged the delegation to deploy interim measures to enhance women's political participation.

Gender-based violence remains pervasive, including domestic violence, rape, acid attacks, and dowry-related violence. While laws like the Dowry Prohibition Act and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act exist, their enforcement is often inadequate. The Committee also urged improvements in maternal healthcare and access to safe abortions.

Unanswered Concerns: The Impact of UAPA and AFSPA on Minority Rights in India

Concerns persist regarding the impact of India's Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) on minority rights. While the Indian delegation emphasized judicial oversight and accountability mechanisms, many Committee questions remained unanswered. The broad definitions within these laws, such as "public order" and "national security," raise concerns about arbitrary detention and prosecution, particularly against religious minorities, journalists, and peaceful protesters. Despite assurances of judicial processes and legal aid availability, the delegation failed to provide specific measures to prevent misuse of these laws or detailed data on detentions and human rights violations.

The Committee expressed deep concern about prolonged detentions of up to 180 days without charges under these acts. They also highlighted ongoing human rights violations, including custodial torture, deaths, and sexual abuse, particularly affecting minority communities in regions like Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, and Manipur. While the delegation mentioned over 100 armed forces personnel punished for human rights violations, they provided no specific details on these cases or accountability measures.

The Committee Highlights Concerns on Freedom of Expression and Assembly in India

The Committee expressed significant concerns about freedom of expression and assembly in India, noting various legislative and administrative actions undermining these rights. Despite constitutional guarantees, laws like UAPA and the Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir often result in arbitrary detentions and suppression of dissent. Cases like the prolonged detention of activist Khurram Parvez and arrests following protests in Jammu and Kashmir were highlighted. The Committee urged the Indian delegation to provide data on detentions under these laws and explain measures to prevent misuse.

Attacks on NGOs and human rights defenders were also alarming. Over the past decade, financial licenses of more than 20,693 NGOs have been canceled, significantly impacting civil society. High-profile cases like the freezing of Amnesty International India's accounts and cancellation of other NGO licenses under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) exemplify undue restrictions on civil society. The Committee also noted excessive force during protests, such as the use of pellet guns in Jammu and Kashmir, causing severe injuries. They called for detailed information on investigations and outcomes of these incidents, emphasizing the need for accountability and judicial oversight to protect assembly and expression rights.

Watch the dialogue again here (part 1) and here (part 2).

Disclaimer: Transcripts of the dialogue available here powered by WIPO Speech-to-Text served as the main source of the presented article, which was generated with AI support. While all the information was carefully checked, please refer to the audio or UN WebTV for an official version of the dialogue. 

Recommendations of the Human Rights Committee

The concluding observations on India’s fourth periodic report were released on July 25, 2024. The State party is requested to provide, by July 25, 2027, information on the following recommendations:

Anti-corruption measures

The State party should increase its efforts to prevent and eradicate corruption at all levels. In particular, it should:

(a) Increase its efforts to investigate all allegations of corruption in all levels (...) -as well as attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and activists working on the fight against corruption (...);

(b) Effectively implement the Right to Information Act, 2005; and amend the Prevention Corruption Act, 2018 in order to strengthen its capacity to effectively combat corruption (...).

Non-discrimination

The State party should ensure that everyone can enjoy the human rights enshrined in the Covenant without discrimination, in particular, it should:

(a) Strengthen the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of its legal and policy framework to prevent and address discrimination and violence against “scheduled castes” and “scheduled tribes”(...);

(b) Ensure that all allegations of discrimination or violence against “scheduled castes” and “scheduled tribes” (...) are promptly, impartially and effectively investigated (...);

(c) Consider amending legislation to ensure that Dalit, Muslims and Christians enjoy adequate protection against discrimination and violence;

(e) Effectively implement and enforce existing legal and policy frameworks on addressing manual scavenging (...).

Counter-terrorism and security measures and accountability for serious human rights violations

The State party should review existing counter-terrorism legislation (...) that does not comply with the Covenant and ensure it fully complies with (...) principles of legal certainty, predictability, necessity and proportionality. The State party should also:

(a) Ensure that counter-terrorism legislation is not invoked or applied to unjustifiably limit any right enshrined in the Covenant (...);

(b) Ensure that persons suspected of or charged with terrorist acts or related offences are provided, in law and in practice, with all appropriate legal and procedural safeguards (...);

(c) Ensure that counter-terrorism and other security/counter insurgency related measures in disturbed areas are temporary, proportionate, strictly necessary and subject to judicial review;

(d) Establish a mechanism (...) to initiate a process to acknowledge responsibility, ascertain the truth and foster and preserve memory regarding human rights violations in disturbed areas.

Here you can find all the recommendations given by the Committee in the Concluding Observations.

The follow-up report of India on the implementation of recommendations is due in 2027. The next list of issues will be adopted in 2030, and the next periodic report is due in 2031.