Human Rights Defenders at serious risk in India and across the globe (PRESS RELEASE Amnesty International):
People who promote and defend human rights across the globe continue to face an onslaught of harassment, intimidation, unjust prosecution and unlawful detention, Amnesty International said today in its report, Deadly but Preventable Attacks: Killings and Enforced Disappearances of Those who Defend Human Rights.

India: Stop Treating Critics As Criminals (PRESS RELEASE Human Rights Watch):
The Indian authorities routinely use vaguely worded, overly broad laws as political tools to silence and harass critics, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The government should repeal or amend laws that are used to criminalize peaceful expression.

Over 3200 held in administrative detention, ‘lawless laws’ must be scrapped in India (PRESS RELEASE Amnesty International India):
The continuing use of administrative detention laws in India to lock up persons without charge or trial violates the rights of both suspects and victims of human rights abuses. An interactive online map published by Amnesty International India today shows how several states continue to retain these laws to detain people on executive orders without charge or trial.

Dalit rights activists enraged at the failure of Indian delegations to address questions raised at the UN (PRESS RELEASE NCDHR):
Dalit rights activists gathered in Geneva are disappointed at the Indian delegation's immediate response to the real challenges that Dalits face, when India was reviewed at the UN Universal Periodic Review of India on 24 May.

"India: UN Members Should Act to End Caste Discrimination says Human Rights Watch and IDSN" (PRESS RELEASE HRW/IDSN):
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, Human Rights Watch and the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) said today. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of India at the Human Rights Council is scheduled for May 24.

India failing to address its farmer suicide crisis (PRESS RELEASE CHR&GJ):
The Indian government must uphold its human rights obligations by responding immediately to its farmer suicide crisis, said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) in a new report released today. The report, Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides, Human Rights, and the Agrarian Crisis in India, looks critically at India’s farmer suicide epidemic—which has been claimed the lives of an estimated 250,000 farmers since 1995—and proposes steps that the government should take toward upholding the human rights of this vulnerable population.

Bhubaneswar (PRESS RELEASE CDU/CSU-Fraktion im Deutschen Bundestag):
Ute Granold from the Christian Democratic Union and Pascal Kober from the Free Democratic Party, members of the German Federal Parliament (Deutscher Bundes-tag) visited India from 6th to 13th April 2010. They belong to the Human Rights Committee in the Federal Parliament. The Members of Parliament were informed about the situation of minorities in both the states of Gujarat and Orissa. Both sta-tes have been experienced incidents of communal violence.

Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Concludes Visit to India (PRESS RELEASE UN):
Asma Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief of the United Nations Human Rights Council, made the following statement on 20 March 2008 in Delhi at the end of her visit to India: .....

Nepal: State of emergency deepens human rights crisis (PRESS RELEASE Amnesty/Human Rights Watch/International Commission of Jurists):
King Gyanendra of Nepal today dismissed the Government, assumed direct power, and declared a nation-wide state of emergency. This action plunges the country deeper into crisis and puts the Nepalese people at even greater risk of gross human rights abuses, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists said today. Widespread human rights abuses have taken place during the nine-year conflict in Nepal between government forces and the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (Maoist) rebels.

EU-India Summit: Human Rights must be on the agenda! (PRESS RELEASE FIDH/OMCT/IDSN):
The EU-India Summit to be held on November 8 in The Hague is supposed to be the starting point of an unprecedented strategic partnership between the EU and India. They will cooperate on trade, research, development, counter-terrorism, shipping, regional concerns, conflict resolution, the environment and space exploration. But will they mention human rights, or will that prove too sensitive a topic for these new best-of-friends?

India: Gujarat Massacre Cases Sabotaged (PRESS STATEMENT Human Rights Watch):
The ringleaders of massacres committed in 2002 are still roaming free in Gujarat, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today.
The 70-page report, Compounding Injustice: The Government's Failure to Redress Massacres in Gujarat, examines the record of state authorities in holding perpetrators accountable and providing humanitarian relief to victims of state-supported massacres of Muslims in February and March 2002.

Members European Parliament suggest: 'suspend aid to Gujarat' - Netherlands government criticises human rights situation Gujarat (PRESS RELEASE ICN):
Four members of the European Parliament from different political parties have asked the European Commission to suspend official development aid to Gujarat till it is clear that those guilty of the massacre on 2000 Muslims are being punished, the victims rehabilitated and an end is put to the marginalisation of Christians and Muslims (Questions European Parliament on Gujarat: www.indianet.nl/v030408e.html). The parliamentarians express their concern that Hindu fundamentalism is leading to increasing violence against religious minorities.
The members of Parliament also want to know if and how the Commission has followed up on the serious concerns expressed last year about the situation in Gujarat. They asked the Commission as well what recommendations they can give to European companies that are active in Gujarat 'in order to avoid that they contribute to the discrimination of religious and other minorities'.
The four parliamentarians are from the four biggest political groups: the Liberal Democrats, the Socialists, the Christian Democrats and the Greens. The initiative has been taken by Mr. Bob van de Bos from the Liberal Democrats.

European Union and Netherlands should suspend official aid to Gujarat (PRESS RELEASE ICN):
Both the European Union (EU) and The Netherlands have thus far continued their official development co-operation with the state government of Gujarat (India), also after Chief Minister Modi of the ruling BJP won the elections in December 2002 after a hate campaign against the Muslim minority. Since June 2002 the EU and The Netherlands have not publicly raised their voice again about the massacre supported by the Modi-government on more than 2000 Muslims in Gujarat, even though it is becoming clear that surviving victims have no access to justice and are hardly being rehabilitated and compensated.
The position of The Netherlands and the EU calls for an explanation in the light of 'good governance' criteria, including respect for human rights, that especially The Netherlands considers to be thé cornerstone for government to government development co-operation.

India: Crimes against women in Gujarat - denied and unpunished (PRESS RELEASE Amnesty International):
On International Women's Day Amnesty International stands in solidarity with the women of Gujarat who were victims of gender violence during the massacres which started in the state on 27 February 2002.
"More than one year after the beginning of the massacres which targeted the Muslim community, there is still no official acknowledgement on the part of the government of Gujarat and the criminal justice system in the state of the magnitude and scale with which women were made a specific target of that violence," Amnesty International said.

India: Carnage in Gujarat Unpunished - Communal Violence Continues (PRESS STATEMENT Human Rights Watch):
One year after the beginning of communal violence in Gujarat that claimed over 2,000 lives, there have been no convictions of those responsible and little in the way of promised relief for victims, Human Rights Watch said today.
Although the Indian government initially boasted of thousands of arrests following the attacks, most of those arrested have since been released on bail, acquitted or simply let go. According to local activists, those who remain in jail largely belong to Dalit (so-called untouchable), Muslim or tribal communities. Due to manipulations in the filing of charge sheets, the instigators and ringleaders of the attacks may escape prosecution altogether.

India: Gujarat one year on - The credibility of the criminal justice system is at stake (PRESS RELEASE Amnesty International):
Amnesty International today (27 February 2003) expressed its solidarity with all the Hindu and Muslim victims of the Godhra and the post Godhra massacres in the state which began a year ago.
"The anniversary of the massacres, where more than 2000 people were killed, is a stark reminder to the governments of India and of Gujarat that justice must be promptly delivered to the victims and their families, if the credibility of the criminal justice system in the country is to be upheld," the organization said.

Protest against arrests of human rights activists (PRESS RELEASE ICN):
An international campaign has been started by the India Committee of the Netherlands to protest against the arrests of human rights activists under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in India and particularly in the state of Andhra Pradesh; and to demand the immediate release of Dr. K. Balagopal, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC) and several other human rights activists.

India-related groups and all main political parties in the Netherlands critisize human rights situation in India (PRESS REPORT ICN):
Recently a Declaration on the human rights situation in India has been published in the Netherlands (see Appendix), signed by about 20 Dutch Committees and Groups concerned with India, as well as by the 7 main political parties in the Netherlands (having 144 seats out of a total 150 seats in parliament). These parties are: Christian Democratic Party (CDA), Liberal Party (VVD), Social Democratic Party (PvdA), Democrats (D66), Radical Liberals (PPR), Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP) and Communist Party (CPN).