United Nations 'dismayed' at India arrests, NGO restrictions

Bachelet regretted what she called the application of vaguely worded laws that constrain NGOs' activities and restrict foreign funding

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Tuesday expressed concern over use of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) to constrain the activities of the non-government organisations in India.

The statement from the top UN human rights official came days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government froze the bank accounts of the Amnesty International and the organisation had to shut down its operations in India. New Delhi, however, dismissed the statement, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stating that violation of law by the NGOs could not be condoned under the pretext of human rights.

Bachelet called upon the Modi government “to safeguard the rights of human rights defenders and NGOs, and their ability to carry out their crucial work on behalf of the many groups they represent”. She issued a statement, expressing regret at the tightening of space for human rights NGOs in particular, including by the application of vaguely worded laws that constrain NGOs’ activities and restrict foreign funding.

“India has long had a strong civil society, which has been at the forefront of groundbreaking human rights advocacy within the country and globally,” the High Commissioner said. “But I am concerned that vaguely defined laws are increasingly being used to stifle these voices.”

She stated that the human rights organisations had expressed concerns in the past over the FCRA, which they found to be “vaguely worded and overbroad in its objective”. The law prohibited the receipt of foreign funds “for any activities prejudicial to the public interest”, she noted in her statement.

The Amnesty International India recently alleged that freezing of its bank accounts by the government had brought all works done by it to a grinding halt. It said that the action against it was “the latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organisations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations”.

“India is a democratic polity based on the rule of law and an independent judiciary. The framing of laws is obviously a sovereign prerogative,” Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said in New Delhi, reacting to the statement issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights.