INDIA

In the context of the UPR, Amnesty International has made the following recommendations to India

Follow up to the previous review:

Expedite the passing of domestic legislation to give full effect to obligations arising under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

Grant sanctions needed to prosecute police or security personnel accused of enforced disappearance; to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 and to enact legislation to criminalize enforced disappearance in national law, in line with its obligations under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance;

Consider signature and ratification of ILO Conventions 138 and 182 and to withdraw its reservation to Article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in line with its commitment to protect children from exploitation;

Effectively implement existing legislation on child labour, including addressing conflicting domestic legislation, and strengthen the judicial powers of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights;

Produce an action plan for human rights, in line with the recommendation supported during the previous UPR;

Ensure the availability of disaggregated data on the systemic discrimination against Dalits and Adivasis and to effectively record and analyze abuses and violations suffered by them, ensuring that such abuses and violations are specifically defined as criminal offences in law;

Sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;

Continue co-operation with the UN Special Procedures, and accept without delay outstanding mission requests from the Special Procedures, in particular the Special Rapporteur on torture, the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, arbitrary or summary executions and the Working Group on arbitrary detention.

International human rights standards and domestic legislation:

Ratify the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

Sign and ratify the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families;

Withdraw the reservation to Article 5(a) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and amend the Special Marriage Act in line with Article 16 of the Convention to give equal rights to property accumulated during marriage, as recommended by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and as recommended to India during its previous UPR;

Sign and ratify ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries 1989;

Amend existing domestic legislation to guarantee the right to free, prior and informed consent for Adivasis in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples before proceeding with corporate-led projects which threaten their human rights, and ensure that proposals in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2011 explicitly prohibit forced evictions.

Implementation of legislation to protect marginalized communities:

Ensure that federal legislation to protect marginalized communities, such as the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, is effectively implemented at state level.

Obstacles in access to justice:

Prosecute those responsible for human rights violations and abuses against religious minorities in Gujarat and violations and abuses against Adivasis in Chhattisgarh, and to provide victims with access to justice and full reparations;

Address concerns over the political independence of mechanisms for the investigation of human rights violations, and ensure such mechanisms are politically independent;

Ensure the prompt, independent and impartial investigation of past and current allegations of human rights abuses and violations and to prosecute those suspected of responsibility in proceedings which meet international fair trial standards.

Statutory bodies for human rights protection:

Amend existing legislation to provide national and state-level human rights commissions with full independence, broader mandates, stronger authority and adequate resources to effectively protect human rights, in line with the Paris Principles.

Corporate accountability:

Investigate ongoing abuses suffered by local communities due to corporate-led projects and to take concrete measures to prevent such abuses;

Ensure that ongoing and proposed corporate-led projects do not undermine the human rights of marginalized communities to health, water and a healthy environment;

Respect the right of Adivasi communities affected by corporate-led development projects to free, prior and informed consent.

Jammu and Kashmir:

wnsure that the Jammu and Kashmir authorities repeal the Public Safety Act, 1978, to end the practice of administrative detention and to free all detainees unless they are charged with a recognizable offence under the state's ordinary criminal law;

Ensure that the Jammu and Kashmir authorities raise the age limit of detainees under the Public Safety Act to 18, in line with national and international law, and to reduce the maximum detention period permitted under the Act;

Ensure that the Jammu and Kashmir authorities act on the recommendation of the state human rights commission to identify bodies discovered in unmarked graves in north Kashmir using DNA profiling and other forensic techniques.

Human rights defenders:

Ensure that human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate and peaceful activities without fear of harassment and intimidation.

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