European Parliament to debate on anti-CAA resolution

[WebGuru]

LONDON: The European Parliament is set to debate and vote on a resolution tabled by some of its members against India's Citizenship Amendment Act, which it says marks a “dangerous shift” in the country's citizenship regime.

The resolution, tabled by the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Group in the Parliament earlier this week, is set to be debated next Wednesday and voted on the day after.

It makes a reference to the Charter of the United Nations, Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as well as the India-EU Strategic Partnership Joint Action Plan signed in November 2005, and to the EU-India Thematic Dialogue on Human Rights as it urges the Indian authorities to "engage constructively" with those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and consider their demands to repeal the "discriminatory CAA".

"The CAA marks a dangerous shift in the way citizenship will be determined in India and is set to create the largest statelessness crisis in the world and cause immense human suffering," it notes.

"Instead of addressing the concerns, offering corrective action, calling for security forces to act with restraint and ensuring accountability, many government leaders have been engaging in efforts to discredit, rebuke and threaten the protesters," the resolution states.

The CAA came into force in India last December amid protests in India and around the world.

The Indian government has stressed that the new Act does not deny any citizenship rights but has been brought in to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries and provide them citizenship.
As background, the resolution sets out that since the May 2019 election, the government of India has “reinforced its nationalistic orientation” as it also makes a reference to the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, which removed the special constitutional status of the region.

The draft resolution, which falls under the category of “Resolutions on topical subjects”, expresses deep concern that India has “created the legal grounds to strip millions of Muslims of the fundamental right of equal access to citizenship” and that the CAA could be used, along with the National Register of Citizens, to “render many Muslim citizens stateless”.

It seeks to remind the Indian government of its obligations under the 1992 UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or

Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which establishes the obligation of countries to protect the existence and identity of religious minorities within their territories and to adopt appropriate measures to ensure that this is achieved.

Such a resolution, which has been characterised under the “Relations with Asian countries” section by the economic bloc, are used as a basis for engagement of EU member countries with specific nations.

If it is passed next week, it will be formally sent to the Indian government and Parliament as well as to the European Commission chiefs.



Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...-anti-caa-resolution/articleshow/73639200.cms

 

[Bewal Express]

After the Economist took Modi and his fascists apart, this will be interesting. These protests have been going on for Months and still very little in the news here. What the hell are our lobbyists doing to put the pressure on the likes of the BBC and CNN?

 

[cricketjoshila]

After the Economist took Modi and his fascists apart, this will be interesting. These protests have been going on for Months and still very little in the news here. What the hell are our lobbyists doing to put the pressure on the likes of the BBC and CNN?

The economist or bbc or cnn or anyone else doesnt decide what will happen in India. Put pressure. Lolfer.

I tell you what, the last thing to happen India will be repeal of a law under western pressure.

 

[Abdullah719]

What 6 resolutions in European Parliament on CAA mean for India-EU relations

A lot of attention in diplomatic circles has been focussed on six resolutions on India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) tabled by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), including the four largest blocs within the 751-member House. What exactly do these resolutions say and what do they mean?

What do the resolutions state?

The six resolutions have been tabled as part of the European Parliament’s debate on the CAA and will be taken up for discussion on January 29. This will be followed by a vote on the matter on January 30.

Most of the resolutions are scathingly critical of the CAA, while some also criticise the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and the security lockdown and detentions in Jammu and Kashmir. The most critical is the resolution moved by the S&D Group, the second largest group with 154 MEPs, which states the CAA has the potential to “create the largest statelessness crisis in the world”. The resolution by the EPP Group, the largest group with 182 MEPs, says the law could have negative consequences for “India’s international image and internal stability”.

The possible impact of the resolutions

The different groups that have tabled the resolutions are working behind the scenes to agree on a compromise text that can be taken up on January 29. Even if the resolutions are debated and passed, they are not binding on the European Commission. However, they can increase pressure on the Indian government at a time when it is grappling with strong criticism from Western powers, including key European Union (EU) members such as Germany, of its handling of the situation in Kashmir, the citizenship law and the NRC implementation in Assam. Experts believe the MEPs could also lobby politicians in their home countries to raise these issues.

Impact on India-EU relations

The matter is coming up in the European Parliament at a crucial time, as the Indian prime minister is expected to visit Brussels for the India-EU Summit on March 13. One of the groups of MEPs has suggested in its resolution that the CAA should be raised during the visit. The EU has already expressed concern about the situation in Kashmir and a visit to the region by envoys of EU countries is currently being discussed by the EU mission in New Delhi and the external affairs ministry.

Though the two sides have struggled to negotiate a trade agreement, the EU is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for 92 billion euros worth of trade in goods in 2018 or 12.9% of total Indian trade, and also a key source of inward FDI, which was worth 5 billion euros in 2014. The EU is also the leading destination for Indian exports – almost 18% of the total value.

How has India reacted

There has been no official reaction so far from the external affairs ministry to the resolutions though Indian officials have reiterated the CAA is an “entirely internal” matter and that the law was adopted by due process and through democratic means in Parliament. However, the officials also called on the sponsors and supporters of the resolutions to engage with the Indian government to get a “full and accurate assessment of the facts before they proceed further”.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...u-relations/story-yrhQtSgkD5QDy7eZVquCIM.html

 

[Firebat]

UN human rights experts urge India to release anti-CAA protesters

Experts say the arrests were made to send a 'chilling message' to India's civil society for exercising right to protest.

A group of United Nations human rights experts has asked India to "immediately" release people who were arrested for protesting against the country's controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed last year.

"These defenders, many of them students, appear to have been arrested simply because they exercised their right to denounce and protest against the CAA," a press statement released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday.

"[Their] arrest seems clearly designed to send a chilling message to India's vibrant civil society that criticism of government policies will not be tolerated," it said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government introduced CAA late last year, laying out a path to citizenship for people from six religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who arrived in India before 2015. The law excluded Muslims from the list.

The determination of rights to Indian citizenship based on religion triggered mass protests across India - some led by Muslim women - and resulted in a fierce police crackdown.

Critics say the law discriminates against Muslims and undermines India's secular constitution.

'Alarming cases'

During the nationwide protests against the CAA, deadly violence had erupted in February in capital New Delhi in which 53 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

Several anti-CAA activists were arrested in connection with the New Delhi violence and later charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a stringent anti-terror law.

The UN human rights experts said the police also failed to act against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and supporters accused of "incitement to hatred and violence".

A federal minister had raised "shoot the traitors" slogans at a pro-CAA rally, while a BJP legislator from northeast Delhi - the site of February violence - had threatened to remove the protesters from the streets.

In their statement, the UN experts named 11 of those arrested, saying their cases included "serious allegations of human rights violations" and "torture and ill-treatment" in custody.

They said one of the "most alarming cases" of India's action against the CAA protesters involved pregnant student Safoora Zargar, who was jailed for more than two months.

Zargar, 27, was allegedly kept in solitary confinement, denied regular contact with family and not provided adequate medical care or diet, they said.

She was granted bail earlier this week in her sixth month of pregnancy on humanitarian grounds.

The other 10 jailed protesters named by them were Meeran Haider, Gulfisha Fatima, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, Khalid Saifi, Shifa Ur Rehman, Kafeel Khan, Sharjeel Imam and Akhil Gogoi.

The UN experts said these arrests appeared to be "discriminatory". Indian activists have also accused the BJP government of using limited access to legal resources during the coronavirus lockdown for its to target political dissenters and Muslims.

"Authorities should immediately release all human rights defenders who are currently being held in pre-trial detention without sufficient evidence, often simply on the basis of speeches they made criticising the discriminatory nature of the CAA," the UN experts said.

In March, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHRC) Michelle Bachelet informed India that her office had filed an application urging the country's Supreme Court to make the UN body a third party in one of the many petitions filed by Muslim groups, opposition parties and activists challenging the CAA's constitutional validity.

In response, India said the CAA was its "internal matter" and that "no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India's sovereignty". Meanwhile, the top court is still hearing those petitions.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ease-anti-caa-protesters-200626105916987.html

 

[MenInG]

An 82-year-old Muslim woman who became the face of a female-led protest against a controversial citizenship law in India’s capital New Delhi has been named to the list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2020 by US-based TIME magazine.

The prestigious publication named Bilkis, who participated in protests against the anti-Muslim law, as one of their “Icons”.

“Bilkis gave hope and strength to activists and student leaders who were being thrown behind bars for standing up for the unpopular truth in a democracy that was sliding into authoritarianism, and inspired peaceful copycat protests across the country,” Indian writer Rana Ayyub wrote for Time’s profile of the elderly protester from the Shaheen Bagh suburb of New Delhi, a Muslim working-class neighbourhood.

I will sit here till blood stops flowing in my veins so the children of this country and the world breathe the air of justice and equality.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which eases the path for non-Muslims from three neighbouring countries to gain citizenship, sparked nationwide protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government after it was passed in December.

Legal experts say the CAA, which makes faith the basis for acquiring Indian citizenship, goes against the country’s secular constitution. The law is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court.

“I will sit here till blood stops flowing in my veins so the children of this country and the world breathe the air of justice and equality,” Bilkis told Ayyub during the protests earlier this year.

Ayyub added that Bilkis deserved recognition “so the world acknowledges the power of resistance against tyranny”.

Peaceful protests

Bilkis told Al Jazeera in January the CAA was meant to “target Muslims and send their children to detention camps”. Her fears stemmed from the Hindu nationalist government’s plan to roll out a national register of citizens, which rights groups say will lead to the disenfranchisement of Muslims.

Shaheen Bagh inspired peaceful protests across the country and became a thorn in the government’s side.

Many members of the governing party were accused of hate speech as they called for the violent removal of protest sites. An attempt by supporters of the government in February triggered deadly violence in northwest Delhi that left 53 people dead.

In March, Delhi police broke up the Shaheen Bagh protest, the longest-running anti-CAA protest, citing a ban on public gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/23/indias-anti-caa-protestor-honored-by-us-magazine