India among 42 nations where people persecuted for raising HR concerns: Report

ISLAMABAD, Oct 01 (NNI): India is among the 42 countries where victims of rights violations, human rights defenders and journalists have suffered reprisals and intimidation by State and non-State actors, including being detained, targeted by restrictive legislation and surveilled both online and offline.
This has been revealed in a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on September 29, 2022.
The report, titled ‘Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights’, said that for a third of these countries, individuals and groups either refrained from cooperation with the UN, or only agreed to report on an anonymous basis for fear of reprisals, which is a disturbing trend.
“People are pursued and persecuted for raising human rights concerns,” said Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris, adding, “Shocking though this number is, many cases of reprisals are not even reported.”
The report highlighted cases which happened between May 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022. People who sought redressal for human rights violations and abuses and who tried to cooperate with the UN or were perceived as doing so, were affected by reprisal and intimidation.
The report said that the surveillance of individuals and groups who cooperate with the UN to defend human rights continued to be reported in all regions, with growing evidence. NNI