Hindus for Human Rights in Geneva for UN Advocacy Ahead of the Universal Periodic Review

Day 1

What is UPR and why is HfHR there?

UPR is the “Universal Periodic Review.” Every member state of the UN Human Rights Council(OHCHR) is reviewed every five years. This review process is in its fourth cycle, and is intended to give member states a chance to peer review. Through this peer review process, member states raise their concerns about the human rights of their peer states. Due to the  political nature of human rights, Western countries primarily provide feedback. This November, India will be up for review. In the last UPR cycle India received 250 recommendations and supported 152 of them during the peer review. These recommendations addressed a variety of sustainable development goals(SDG) such as decent work and economic growth, reduced inequalities, and good health. Nearly 42% of the SDG recommendations were for peace justice and strong institutions, as well as gender equality.  However, as we note, and as many other human rights reports note, human rights violations have deteriorated over the past years. Indeed, the Indian government has played an active role in violating people’s human rights through the CAA, abrogation of Article 370, the liberal use of UAPA, and other issues.

Member states of the OHCHR deeply value input from civil society organizations. In India, and indeed in many autocratizing countries, people who come to advocate for human rights in Geneva face serious danger when they return to their home countries. Diaspora groups, like Hindus for Human Rights, therefore, have a responsibility to fill the void and amplify the calls of human rights defenders in India. We are able to meet with foreign governments in Geneva with few repercussions from the Indian government for our advocacy.

Additionally, HfHR’s voice is especially valuable, because very few Hindu groups speak out in support of minorities – in India or the diaspora. Our presence validates the work of other groups, we use our strong influences with Western governments to help us increase leverage on behalf of the on ground activists. Hindus for Human Rights advocacy proves that the concerns of other groups are substantial, and must be heard. 

Day 2

Quick note on shortcomings

None of the delegations in Geneva are talking about the marital rape loophole in India. However, last cycle, many countries (perhaps dozens of them) raised the issue of criminalizing marital rape with the Indian government. The Indian government in the last 10 years has accepted recommendations to protect women from violence but has failed to accept those regarding martial rape. India is one among 30 countries that has not yet criminalized marital rape and  one in every three  women in India have suffered some kind of spousal violence. It is imperative that recommendations to criminalize martial rape are accepted and highlighted throughout the UPR cycle to act as a catalyst for stronger women’s rights in India and across the world.

Day 3

Building Networks for HfHR

I was able to connect with the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalists (ABRAJI). We aren’t just at the UN to advocate for our cause, Geneva is a powerful place to connect with other civil society actors. For example, meeting with journalists from other countries can help us enhance our own advocacy for press freedom in India. We can connect Indian journalists with other foreign journalists, such as those in Brazil, who are enduring similar challenges. This enhances global advocacy to protect Indian journalists in a country that is one of the five deadliest countries for reporters. We’ve heard in the past that Indian journalists aren’t plugged into global networks, unless they are part of big outlets, and therefore may not receive the advocacy they deserve. When small-town journalists reporting on Dalit rights are jailed for their work, their stories aren’t reported in the international press and they don’t have access to international networks of support. I met with the Executive Director of ABRAJI, who has worked with journalists in other countries to  create journalist associations that can provide support to independent journalists and help them access international networks of journalists. India’s independent journalists badly need support networks to facilitate navigating an increasingly hostile environment. I hope that by making these connections, we may help  journalists build the kinds of associations that provide India’s journalists a degree of protection, against a state that is actively whipping up violence towards those who dare to report the truth.

Day 4

What does effective advocacy at the UPR  look like?

Hundreds of activists are flooding Geneva for months on end to ensure that their causes are highlighted in the 1 minute of remarks, 3-4 recommendations, and 4-5 advance questions that countries raise when a Member State at the UN Human Rights Council is up for review. Governments have to take hours of information and distill it into about a half page of salient points that they can squeeze into various, small sections of the Universal Periodic Review procedure.

So, it means that if you’re all advocating for one country, you have to have a wide reach with complementary recommendations. Of the many groups advocating for India’s human rights, we’ve possibly landed in a good place to say that we are all making the same 2-3 recommendations to the many missions we’ve met: repeal the UAPA and other anti-terror laws, repeal the CAA, and undo anti-conversion laws. We’ve encouraged missions to highlight the fact that the Indian government continues to actively undermine people’s human rights and that over the past five years, human rights have gotten worse in India. 

Our goal is to be in lockstep with Indian activists. Our  diaspora and international  groups are advocating  for the same policy recommendations that Indian human rights defenders have proposed, even as we all speak to a wide variety of human rights issues in India.

Finally, as we speak to various missions, we have multiple opportunities to follow up with our engagements. For every meeting, there’s a thank you note we need to send and another opportunity to continue meeting with people. Even with missions we were unable to set meetings with, I was able to contact staff at those missions and share our work with them. Through this, we were able to establish relationships with offices that we were otherwise not able to meet. 

Day 5

Some reflections of UPR

Indian activists face more challenges than we can even begin to imagine. For every action they take, the government will instigate serious reprisals. It’s one thing to know this in theory, it’s another to see the hoops people jump through just to stay safe.  This week has reinforced the importance of diaspora groups’ ability to absorb those risks and amplify the work that Indian activists risk their lives to accomplish. As I reflected on the ways in which human rights defenders protect themselves against reprisals, I realized that free citizens in a functioning democracy don’t have to navigate all of these obstacles. What human rights defenders in India face is harsher than in  some autocracies. India’s democracy seems to be at death’s door. I also heard from activists that they weren’t as worried about the fate of India’s democracy. They were far more worried about the endemic hatred in Indian society. Modi, the BJP, etc. are all pawns of the Hindu nationalist movement in their eyes. Instead, the movement itself threatens to tear the fabric of Indian society. Every person I spoke to feared what would happen to a society that has fragmented so irreparably. 

HfHR engagement doesn’t begin and end at the UPR Cycle. This is just one tool for our engagements with the UN, and the UN is just one forum for us to speak with non-American governments to create international pressure and hold the Indian government accountable. Staff of the various UN mandates and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights gave us concrete avenues to continue to engage with the UN and continue to elevate human rights in South Asia. Government staff of the various missions we met  encouraged us to continue raising issues with their governments. European missions  also encouraged us to find paths to engage with the European Union. In Geneva, we’ve seized an opportunity to deepen and broaden our reach into Europe.

Ria Chakrabarty

Policy Director, Hindus for Human Rights