APPEAL TO URGE THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AND GOVERNMENT OF MANIPUR TO PROTECT THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS OF MANIPUR

Nature of incident: Continued pattern of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders of Manipur, NE India
Identification of Victim: Mr. Jiten Yumnam, an environmentalist and free lance journalist
Date of Incident: 3 October 2013
Identification of Perpetrator: Manipur Police Commandoes, Imphal West, Government of Manipur
Place of Incident: Imphal, Manipur
Source of Appeal: Citizens Concern for Dams and Development, Committee on the Protection of Natural Resources in Manipur, North East Dialogue Forum, Centre for Research and Advocacy.

Detailed Description of Incident: The targetting of human rights defenders and their organizations for their efforts to promote the right to life, justice remedy, to promote just and participatory forms of development etc in Manpur continues to be a serious form of human rights violations.

YFIN and IPRAN submit comments on Draft Youth Charter of SAARC

7 Oct 2013

In response to call for comments from Nepal’s Ministry of Youth and Sports, Youth Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (YFIN) Nepal and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Activists Network (IPRAN) have today submitted comments on the draft of SAARC Youth Charter.

YFIN and IPRAN drew particular attention of the Ministry to the following issues with regards to the Charter :

1. The Draft Charter largely ignores the diversity of peoples, and hence the youth, in SAARC region. We are particularly concerned about non-recognition of disadvantaged and marginalized groups in the region, including indigenous and tribal peoples, Dalits, sexual minorities, persons with disability, linguistic and religious minorities, among others, in the Draft. Youth from these groups have distinct identity than other youth and have specific needs arising from long-standing marginalization, discrimination, exclusion and oppression against those groups. Thus, we highly suggest, as reflected in our comments, that the Draft obliges State Parties to recognize such diversity, distinct identities of groups and their specific needs and take targeted actions to address those needs.
2. Further, the Draft Charter proposes for a national mechanism for the implementation of the Charter and a Youth Plan of Action to operationalize the provisions of the Charter. We strongly emphasize that such mechanism and plan of action should ensure full, effective, meaningful and inclusive representation and participation of youth from the country, including those from indigenous and tribal peoples and other disadvantaged and marginalized groups.

[PETITION] INDIA: Priyanka Chopra WITHDRAW from VEDANTA’s ‘Our Girls, Our Pride’ Campaign

“We, ask you to withdraw as Ambassador from ‘Our Girls, Our Pride’, a discredited and damaging campaign and not lend your name to it , when its partner , Vedanta has a terrible record on human rights and the environment,they are destroying the lives of thousands of girl children in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and other states of India and its crimes have been exposed across India and internationally. Vedanta’s interests are directly opposed to those of India, its people and particularly the girl children from poor communities it claims to be helping. Countless children’s life chances have been affected by the deaths and serious injuries sustained by their parents who are workers in Vedanta’s mines, factories and other processing operations.Let them not use you and your name for cause that’s a sham and a PR exercise, for a brand like vedanta which has soaked their hands in blood of tribals of Niymagiri, including girl child.”

 

SIGN THE PETITION HERE AT AVAAZ.ORG.

Why this is important

India: Urgent call to halt Odisha mega-steel project amid serious human rights concerns

GENEVA (1^st October 2013) –Construction of a mega-steel plant in Odisha in Eastern India should be halted immediately, United Nations independent human rights experts* have urged, citing serious human rights concerns. The project reportedly threatens to displace over 22,000 people in the Jagatsinghpur District, and disrupt the livelihoods of many thousands more in the surrounding area.

“The construction of a massive steel plant and port in Odisha by multinational steel corporation POSCO must not proceed as planned without ensuring adequate safeguards and guaranteeing that the rights of the thousands of people are respected,” the group of eight experts stressed.

While India has the primary duty to protect the rights of those whose homes and livelihoods are threatened by the project, the experts underlined that “POSCO also has a responsibility to respect human rights, and the Republic of Korea, where POSCO is based, should also take measures to ensure that businesses based in its territory do not adversely impact human rights when operating abroad.”

INDIA: A public hearing in Tamnar against the public

SUVOJIT BAGCHI

• 
  The HinduWomen rallying at Tapranga village in Tamnar block in Raigarh against a public hearing to acquire a coal block by the JSPL. Photo: Suvojit Bagchi

It is an exercise by State government to hand over 350 hectare of land to JSPL

Standing on the edge of a monstrous, black gorge, 72-year-old Kaniram, a Birhor tribal, stretched his left hand to point at the mud thatched house that he had in the hill slope. However, one could only see waves of unending charcoal coloured hills in the backdrop. The area — definitely not less than a few hundred square kilometres — looks grey but Kaniram found the whole thing funny. “We never thought there is so much coal under our house, but it was,” he smiled and added, “…wished there was less coal in the hills.”

ABSENCE OF INDIGENOUS AND TRIBAL PEOPLES’ RIGHTS IN THE DRAFT OF THE ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARATION IS AN ABJECT FAILURE TO FULFIL COMMITMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS AND DEMOCRACY – Joint statement of Centre for Organisation Research and Education, Forum for Indigenous Perspectives & Action & Indigenous Peoples Forum (India)

ABSENCE OF INDIGENOUS AND TRIBAL PEOPLES’S RIGHTS IN THE DRAFT OF

THE ASEAN HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARATION IS AN ABJECT FAILURE TO FULFIL COMMITMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS AND DEMOCRACY

 

9 August, 2012 

JOINT STATEMENT

Centre for Organisation Research and Education, Forum for Indigenous Perspectives & Action & Indigenous Peoples Forum (India)

On the occasion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 2012, the Centre for Organisation Research & Education (CORE), Forum for Indigenous Perspectives and Action (FIPA) and Indigenous Peoples’ Forum (IPF) of Manipur in the North Eastern Territories of India express profound disappointment on the reported denial of meaningful participation and lack of reference to the collective rights of indigenous peoples as enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in the drafting of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) as reliably learnt during the national consultation held at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations in Kuala Lumpur on June 12, 2012.

INDIA: Naga bodies press for releasing Anthony Ningkhan Shimray

Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network

Imphal, March 26 2012: Naga frontal organisations in Manipur have demanded that NSCN-IM leader Anthony Ningkhan Shimray and all the “politcal prisoners” are released unconditionally by the government.

On Monday, Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), Naga Women’s Union (NWU) and All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM) said in a communique, “The government of India has initiated peace negotiations and peace talks with many insurgent groups in the northeast and currently has formal ceasefire and suspension of operations with as many as 31 groups in the region but we are very concerned about the outcome of these processes as we have every reason to doubt the sincerity of the government of India to resolve the issue of political unrest with the groups they are engaged with” .

INDIA: Land ownership boosts climate resilience in India

11 Mar 2012 21:26

Source: Alertnet // Manipadma Jena

Despite water shortages, Chilipoi village women with their own small homestead plots are able to grow enough vegetables to feed their families. ALERTNET/Manipadma Jena

By Manipadma Jena

GANJAM, India (AlertNet) – Efforts to secure land ownership for tribal people in one of India’s poorest states are bolstering their economic security in the face of climate-induced hardships, and helping conserve farmland and forest.

In the hamlet of Kharibandh in Ganjam, a coastal district in the eastern state of Orissa (now officially called Odisha), 13 households of the Sabar tribal community each received title to 400 square metres (0.1 acres) of government land two years ago. The families had lived in Kharibandh for three generations, but had no legal right to the land.

Today, Rabibari Sabar, a 51-year-old widow, pedals vigorously on a foot pump to pipe pond water into her plot of seasonal vegetables interspersed with coconut and papaya trees. As well as feeding her family, she earned 1,500 rupees ($30) last year selling tubers and spinach from her homestead farm to neighbouring villagers.

INDIA, Andaman And Nicobar Islands – VIP ‘Human Safari’ Organized By Top Cop Tasked With Ending Scandal

8 March

Jarawa woman from the Andamans. Her tribe is at risk from ‘human safaris’. © Survival

The second most senior policeman on the Andamans has been caught organizing a VIP ‘human safari’ despite being tasked with the job of protecting the Jarawa tribe.

Sanjay Baniwal, the Andaman’s Inspector General of Police, used his seniority to guarantee an exclusive trip into the Jarawa Reserve with his relatives and a Hindu priest.

He was able to meet the tribe at a pre-arranged location after the Jarawa Protection Police made 18 members of the tribe wait for over an hour until he arrived.

The Jarawa had been on their way to Temple Myo creek to catch fish when they were interrupted and made to participate in the ‘human safari’ for the senior officer.

Ironically, Baniwal was given the specific role of monitoring all activity on the Andaman Trunk Road shortly after the ‘human safari’ scandal broke out.

INDIA: Vedanta’s PR campaign backfires as Bollywood celebs pull out

5 March

The Dongria Kondh reasserted their pledge never to leave the Niyamgiri Hills, at a festival in February. © Bikash Khemka/Survival

A bid by British mining giant Vedanta Resources to repair its tarnished international reputation has backfired after two major Bollywood celebrities withdrew from a film competition supposed to show the ‘happiness’ the company creates.

Renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal and Bollywood actress Gul Panag were both part of a judging panel, which had until the end of this month to pick a winning film out of the 38 submitted.

The films were all shot by ‘budding film-makers’, who were escorted by Vedanta around villages where it has a presence.

The objective of the competition was to show the ‘happiness’ Vedanta brings to local communities where it works.

Vedanta’s reputation was irreversibly damaged when it ignored the rights of the Dongria Kondh tribe, whose sacred mountain it sought to mine for aluminum ore.

Due to the mounting tribal protests and international criticism of their actions in Orissa, India, Vedanta initiated a PR offensive extolling their virtues. But this short film reveals how easily their lies and manipulations can be debunked.

Gul Panag, who was crowned Miss India in 1999, was only made aware of Vedanta’s involvement when it was brought to her attention via social media.

She tweeted, ‘My bad. Just got full details. I wasn’t aware that the competition was part of Vedanta glorification/PR. Have pulled out.’