Amnesty says US, India should address human rights concerns during Modi’s visit

Amnesty International has demanded that the United States and Indian governments must address the human rights issues in both countries during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Joe Biden. Amnesty’s statement has come ahead of Modi’s state visit this week in Washington DC.

“Prime Minister Modi has presided over a period of rapid deterioration of human rights protections in India, including increasing violence against religious minorities, shrinking civil society space, and the criminalisation of dissent. Meanwhile, President Biden’s time in office has been concurrent to a devastating period of backsliding on reproductive rights and increases in vitriolic anti-LGBTQI+ attacks at the state level, all in a political climate informed by structural racism and socio-economic injustice,” said Amanda Klasing, national director of government relations and advocacy at Amnesty International USA.

“These human rights concerns are not fringe issues. They are fundamental in determining how a government operates, who it serves, and who it leaves out. A crucial test of the India-US alliance is whether these two leaders can engage in meaningful discussions about these and other concerning human rights failures of their governments,” Amanda said.     

“As leaders of countries seeking to advance or retain global leadership, Biden and Modi must hold each other to account for their human rights commitments, rather than sweep human rights issues in their respective countries under the rug,” said Aakar Patel. He added, “[Modi] should also voice concern about the BJP’s abuse of laws and policies to systematically discriminate against religious minorities.”

Amnesty International has documented the Indian government’s criminalisation of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The organisation has also documented how human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, political opponents, peaceful protesters, academics and students all face arbitrary arrests and detention, prosecutions and other forms of harassment and intimidation.

Amnesty’s statement said that financial and investigative agencies of the government have been weaponised to harass, silence, and criminalise independent critical voices, including media organisations such as the BBC and prominent non-governmental organisations including Greenpeace India, Oxfam India, Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation (IPSMF), Centre for Policy Research, Amnesty International India, and several others. “Driven by discriminatory nationalist Hindutva ideology, many state governments in India have passed laws to criminalise consensual inter-faith marriages and undertaken punitive demolitions targeting Muslim-owned properties. Victims of such demolitions continue to struggle for compensation and other remedies,” it further said.

The US State Department 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom reported ‘violence by government authorities against members of religious minorities’ in India. “President Biden cannot ignore the evidence provided by his own State Department,” said Amanda Klasing.  

“Modi and Biden have the opportunity to take a principled approach to supporting each other in advancing more rights-respecting policies at home,” said Aakar Patel, adding, “With the world watching, their silence will be felt by the people in India and the US whose rights are most at risk of abuse.”