The Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights in Manipur and the United Nations (CSCHR) has warmly welcomed the Government of India (Gol)'s support of the recommendation by the United States of America to "Prosecute those responsible for human rights violations".
The CSCHR stated that the support was stated in paragraph No 151.14 of the final report of the 4th cycle of Universal Periodic Review of India (UN document no. A-HRC-52-11-add1-AV-India-E) adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on 27 March 2023 in Geneva.
CSCHR on the statement sincerely hopes that, in compliance with this commitment, the Union Home Ministry will soon grant prosecution sanction to all the personnel of the armed forces of Union where the CBI/SIT has already submitted triable evidence of committing extra-judicial executions as per the investigation conducted under the direction of the Supreme Court of India in EEVFAM v/s Uol, Writ Petition (Criminal) 129 of 2012.
Through the press statement, CSHCR also heartily thanked the government of Belgium, Norway, and Pakistan for recommending to repeal/review/withdraw the draconian AFSPA. This is a long standing demand of the people of Manipur and many key Governments including Canada, Germany, Serbia, Switzerland, UK etc. have made similar recommendations in the previous three cycles of UPR. But unfortunately, as done in the previous cycles, India simply took note and did not support the recommendation.
The much hyped-up propaganda that the law-and-order situation in the NorthEast region has improved considerably and that AFSPA will eventually be removed from the region have no resonance in the UN.
It is also regrettable that despite of the body of protecting the indigenous people of the region, the government did not support the recommendation of Paraguay to ratify the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (ILO Convention 169), stated the statement of CSCHR adding that India also simply noted the recommendation to ratify the conventions and protocols relating to the status of refugee and statelessness by several countries.
CSCHR, nevertheless, fully endorses the recommendation of Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Thomas H Andrew that "India give UNHCR unfettered access to refugees and asylum seekers throughout the country, including in Mizoram and Manipur state." (para 99 of UN Document no. A/HRC/52/66)
CSCHR has submitted stakeholder reports to the 4th cycle of UPR in March 2022, as done in the previous cycles. Two representatives of our constituent organizations were present in the UPR Working Group session in November 2022 and one during the adoption session in March 2023 in Geneva.
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