UN, US ask India to uphold rights, protect minorities

The United Nations has tacitly nudged India to uphold the basic principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights even as the international organization said that it was studying the implications of the new legislation New Delhi enacted to amend the Citizenship Act 1955.

The United States too said that it was monitoring the situation in India in the wake of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

“We are aware that the lower and upper houses of Parliament of India have passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, and we are also aware of the concerns that have been publicly expressed,” Farhan Haq, the Deputy Spokesperson of the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said. “The United Nations is closely analysing the possible consequences of the law.”

The Government led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this week got the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill passed Partliament, despite strong protest by the Congress and other opposition parties in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. It turned into a law after President of India Ramnath Kovind gave his ascent to it late at night on Thursday.

It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955, to give protected status to Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian migrants who fled from Muslim-majority Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

It also provided the non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh an expedited route of citizenship giving them the opportunity to be eligible for citizenship by naturalization, if they have lived or worked in India for six years, instead of requirement 12 years for others.

“And, as I mentioned a few days earlier, of course, we have our basic principles, including those enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and expect those to be upheld,” said Haq.

The International Commission of Jurists too earlier this week said that the Citizenship Amendment Act would run contrary to India's obligations under international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The United States too called upon India to protect the rights of minorities in the country. “We are closely following developments regarding the Citizenship Amendment Bill,” Press Trust of India quoted a spokesperson of the US State Department saying in Washington D.C. “Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law are fundamental principles of our two democracies.”

The US Commission of International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) earlier said that the proposed legislation enshrined “a pathway to citizenship for immigrants” specifically excluding Muslims and setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion. It expressed apprehension that the Government of India was creating “a religious test” for citizenship that would “strip citizenship from millions of Muslims”.

The USCIRF too suggested that President Donald Trump’s administration should consider imposing sanctions on Home Minister Amit Shah and other leaders of India.

The US House Foreign Affairs Committee too expressed concern over the move by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government in New Delhi to get the Citizenship Amendment Act passed by Parliament, noting that “any religious test for citizenship” would undermine the “most basic democratic tenet”