NGOs release report on India’s human rights record

On a day when the University of Hyderabad was wracked with protests on the first death anniversary or research scholar Rohith Vemula, a clutch of NGOs released a report highlighting India’s human rights record.

Ashalatha of Rythu Swarajya Vedika and Sajaya of Caring Citizen Collective released the report which had some startling facts like India topping world hunger list with 194.6 million undernourished; having the world’s largest number of homeless and landless persons; the world’s highest number of malnourished and hungry children; 56 percent landless rural households; 30 per cent of world’s poorest people and 10.2 million working children between 5-14 years.

A new law sought

The Joint Stakeholder’s Report will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council during the upcoming third Universal Periodic Review of India due to take place at Geneva in May 2017. The activists demanded a law for protection of human rights defenders.

According to activists, more than a thousand NGOs, lawyers and activists from almost all States in the country have endorsed the report. The report dealt with issues such as harassment of civil rights activists, shrinking democratic space, discrimination against minorities, and condition of women, children, Dalits and tribal people in the country.