human rights violations – Artifex.News

U.N. committee calls for addressing ‘hate speech’ and ‘hate crimes’ in India

admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:08:00 +0000

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) said there had been an increase in incidents targeting Bengali-speaking Muslims.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The official Indian delegation at the 11th periodic review of the State of India by the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) had “rejected” the findings of the Committee, said official sources on Tuesday (August 26, 2026).

The remarks shared with The Hindu came hours after the UNCERD said that it was “gravely concerned” about the reports of violations of human rights of a vast segment of the people of India, including the scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, Dalits and Rohingya refugees.

In a press note that called for addressing “hate speech” and “hate crimes” in India, the Committee said that there has been an increase in incidents against the Bengali-speaking Muslims and called on the Government of India to “ensure accountability” for these violations.

“During the review, India highlighted constitutional safeguards, a robust legal framework, pluralism and sustained efforts to protect disadvantaged communities. The inter-Ministerial delegation, led by the Solicitor General of India, had already rejected the sweeping generalisations, unsubstantiated allegations, or tendency to exceed the Convention’s mandate during the review meeting,” said an official source in response to a question from The Hindu.

Earlier, the UNCERD had issued a press note and said, “The Committee was gravely concerned about reports of large-scale violations perpetrated by law enforcement officials against ethnic and ethno-religious groups, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, including Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, particularly Dalits, and non-citizens.”

The Committee, in its remarks, also mentioned that these communities have been subjected to “racially motivated violence, excessive use of force, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary and prolonged detention without due process, torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence”. The Government of India had sent Solicitor General Tushar Mehta as the Head of the Indian Delegation for the review.

“The Committee called on India to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into all such allegations and ensure accountability for those responsible,” said a press note issued by the Committee that coincided with the ninth anniversary of the Rohingya refugee crisis.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination further noted that there has been an increase in law enforcement operations targeting “Rohingya, Bengali-speaking Muslims, migrants and asylum-seekers, particularly following the 2017 Home Affairs order and the April 2025 Pahalgam attack in Kashmir”. It found that police check posts resorted to racial profiling that led to “arbitrary arrest and detention without due process”.

“The Committee called on India to urgently address discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes against Rohingya, Bengali-speaking Muslims, migrants and asylum-seekers, protect their rights, refrain from collective expulsions and ensure access to international protection in line with the principle of non-refoulement,” the news release from the Committee said.

Published – August 25, 2026 05:32 pm IST

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Bangladesh revokes Sheikh Hasina’s diplomatic passport

admin — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 15:25:36 +0000

Students chant slogans near a vandalised mural of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a protest near Dhaka University in the Bangladesh capital on August 12, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Bangladesh’s interim government revoked the diplomatic passport of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Thursday (August 22, 2024), after she fled a student-led uprising earlier this month.

The interior ministry said in a statement that Ms. Hasina’s passport, as well as those belonging to former government ministers and ex-lawmakers no longer in their posts, “have to be revoked”.

More than 450 people were killed — many by police fire — during the weeks leading up to Ms. Hasina’s ouster, as crowds stormed her official residence in Dhaka.

A United Nations team arrived in Bangladesh on Thursday (August 22, 2024) to assess whether to investigate alleged human rights violations committed during protests that ended Hasina’s iron-fisted 15-year rule.

“The former Prime Minister, her advisers, the former cabinet and all members of the dissolved national assembly were eligible for diplomatic passports by virtue of the positions they held,” the ministry said in a statement.

“If they have been removed or retired from their posts, their and their spouses’ diplomatic passports have to be revoked.”

Hasina’s government was accused of widespread abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political opponents.

Dhaka’s new authorities said that Ms. Hasina, and other former top officials during her tenure, could apply for a standard passport, but that those documents were contingent on approval.

“When the aforementioned people apply afresh for ordinary passports, two security agencies have to clear their application for their passports to be issued,” the ministry added.

Hasina, who fled to India, was a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government preferred her over her rivals from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which it saw as closer to conservative Islamist groups.

While India is hosting Hasina, Modi has also offered his support to the new Bangladeshi leader Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heading the caretaker administration.

Yunus has said his administration would “provide whatever support” UN investigators need.

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22-Year-Old Killed In North Korea For Watching K-Pop: Report

admin — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 12:22:37 +0000

Despite these harsh measures, South Korea culture continues to influence North Korea.

South Korea has said that in 2022, a 22-year-old man was publicly executed by North Korea for sharing and listening to K-pop music and South Korean films. The information is taken from testimonials of North Korean defectors that were published in a human rights report by the South Korean ministry of unification.

According to the report, the man from South Hwanghae province was accused of listening to 70 K-pop songs, watching 3 South Korean films, and distributing this prohibited media.

North Korea has strict control over the information its citizens consume, includes strict rules regarding entertainment consumption, and has very harsh punishments for those who violate them.

The report further reveals that North Korea tightened its grip on outside culture in 2020 with a law banning “reactionary ideology and culture.” This law is seen as a tool to shield citizens from Western influences, which the North Korean government considers detrimental.

North Korea has consistently denied accusations of human rights violations, calling them attempts to undermine its leadership.

The ban on K-pop is part of an effort to protect North Koreans from the negative influence of Western culture. This campaign began under the former leader, Kim Jong-il, and has become more intense under his son, Kim Jong-un.

In 2022, Radio Free Asia, funded by the US government, reported that the regime was cracking down on “capitalist” fashion and hairstyles. This included targeting skinny jeans, T-shirts with foreign words, and dyed or long hair.

Experts believe that allowing South Korean popular culture to enter North Korean society could threaten the ideology that demands complete loyalty to the “infallible” Kim dynasty, which has ruled the country since its founding in 1948.

Despite these strict measures, the influence of South Korean culture, including recent television shows, seems unstoppable, according to a recent North Korean defector.

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