28 December, 2003
The Politics Of Land And The Besieged Lot
By Goldy M. George
land reforms is an unfinished task and land struggle is an ongoing phenomena. A lot of serious effort needs to be put into this
10 December, 2003
Satyendra Dubey-Death Of A Whistleblower
By Sucheta Dalal
The anger against the murder of IIT engineer Satyendra Dubey is growing. But the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which is guilty of leaking Dubey’s name to the very crooked contractors that he had complained against seems unaware about the groundswell of public anger
29 November, 2003
Extra Judicial Killing Of Women Naxalites in Uduppi
People's Democratic Forum Fact Finding Report
People's Democratic Forum, a human rights group from Karnatak reports that the so called encounter death of two women Naxalites on the 17th November at Bollottu in Karkala taluk of Udupi district was actually a cold blooded extra judicial killing by the police
Presumed Guilty
By Pratap Bhanu Mehta
Although the Malimath committee report on reform of the criminal justice system contains some useful suggestions, the overall thrust of the report is dangerous for the health of the criminal justice system in India
19 November, 2003
Elitism In Higher Education
By P L Vishweshwer Rao
The proposed Private Universities Bill will put ‘emerging areas of study’ beyond the reach of poorer sections of society
29 October, 2003
Human Rights Defenders:Fighting An Uphill Battle
Human rights defenders form the backbone of what might be an energetic and vibrant democratic polity. But the Indian State however does not look upon such activists as partners in the democratic process
25 October, 2003
Trafficking Human Misery
By Richard Tyler
Each year, some 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide. 200,000 individuals are trafficked annually from eastern Europe, a significant proportion being children
22 October, 2003
And Then They Carved His Eyes Out
By Priya Ganapati
Story of Dhanvir Yadav, 14 , who had his eyes gouged out with a sickle by a group of boys on the reported orders of a sarpanch of a nearby village
08 October, 2003
Right To Education: China Fails
To Make The Grade
UN Special Rapporteur Katarina Tomasevski's two week visit of china destroyed every myth about China's upholding of the right to education. It was failing to provide education to children of migrant workers, barred children from receiving religious education, and covered only 53 percent of school funding
29 September, 2003
Village Of Endless Night
By J Dey
In the tiny village of Mahej in Maharashtra state of India, little girls are trapped into prostitution by their families where they end up doing the job the whole life
21 September, 2003
The Global Hierarchy Of Race
By Martin Jacques
As the only racial group that never suffers systemic racism, whites are in denial about its impact
10 September, 2003
Moments Of Privacy
By V. Gangadhar
At frequent intervals, members of the "moral police" swoop down on lovers relaxing at public parks and gardens in Indian cities.This violation of human rights should be considered as a crime
24 August, 2003
A New Emergency
By Githa Hariharan
How does this obsessive harking back to the two-child norm impinge on human rights? Large numbers of women, Dalits, adivasis, and the poor cannot contest elections to panchayati raj institutions
22 August, 2003
The Right To Strike
By Rajeev Dhavan
Strikes and demonstrations are a democracy's hard-fought weapons against oppression. They cannot be wished away by a Supreme Court
Judiciary -Messiah In Residence
By Ashok Mitra
The much discussed judgment of Indian Supreme Court is
comprehensively asinine: it is awfully lacking in symmetry
09 August, 2003
Supreme Court In Liberalised Times
By Prakash Karat
The Supreme Court of India judgement regarding the dismissal of 170,000 state government employees in Tamilnadu constitutes a severe assault on the rights of the working class
Judiciary Least Honest And Least Accountable
By Udit Raj
There is no law to govern judiciary in this country. In the appointment of judges, no objective procedure can be followed in the present situation to judge the character, capacity and ability of a judge and sycophancy, nepotism and favoritism are the order of the day
07 August, 2003
Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki
By David Krieger
"I suggest that every community throughout the globe commemorate the period August 6th through August 9th as Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days. By looking back we can also look forward and remain cognizant of the risks that are before us"
03 August, 2003
Repression In Afghanistan
By James Conachy
The report on Afghanistan issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW) catalogs the systematic violation of human rights by the militias of the Northern Alliance who were placed in power following the US invasion
03 July, 2003
11 Million Forgotten Children
By Peggy Peck
While the world's daily news headlines track the troubles in the Middle East and the latest emerging diseases -- SARS, monkey pox and West Nile virus -- nearly 11 million children are dying quietly, victims of the ancient villains: diarrhea, malaria and measles.
01 July, 2003
The Internet Under Surveilance
By Vinton G. Cerf
Publication of second annual report on cyberspace : "The Internet under Surveillance - Obstacles to the free flow of information online" This report is about attitudes to the Internet by the powerful in 60 countries, between spring 2001 and spring 2003. The preface is by Vinton G. Cerf, who is often called the "father" of the Internet.
29 June, 2003
Human Wrongs
By Ram Narayan Kumar And Tanu Thomas K
The Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP) released a report, titled " Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab." The report analyses alleged cases of torture and extra-judicial killings in Punjab in the 1980s and early 1990s. An interview with one of its authors
29 May, 2003
Unsafe World
By Gideon Long
Amnesty International Anual report says that US 'War on Terror' Has Made World An Unsafe Place
26 May, 2003
Death Of Criminal Justice System?
Asian Human Rights Commission
Reforms Committee recommendations will throw the Indian criminal justice system back into the dark ages
18 May,2003
Surviving The Streets
By Harsh Mander
For the homeless on the streets of Delhi who battle against poverty, police highhandedness and perverse intrusions, the kinships they forge among themselves and the helping hand some organisations extend offer solace
09 May,2003
The Nowhere People
By Ranabir Samaddar
On the historical pattern of migration,South Asia have added another factor: that of communal politics predicating the movements of populations
08 May,2003
The Beacon Of Hypocrisy
By Ra Ravishankar
Anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant hysteria has skyrocketed in America since September 11
Thailand Human Rights Commission-
A Promise Not Kept
Two years into its existence, theThe National Human Rights Commission of Thailand has yet to develop the capacity to address the human rights situation in Thailand
28 April, 2003
Honoring Peace And Justice
By Susan Sontag
To Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero. To Rachel Corrie. And to Ishai Menuchin and his comrades.
25 April, 2003
Judgement Day
By Anand Patwardhan
The judgement on the WAR AND PEACE (JANG AUR AMAN) Vs Censorship case is a shot in the arm for the fight for freedom of expression
POTA: Handy Weapon to Settle Political Scores in TN
The draconian law POTA is being used in Tamil Nadu to settle political scores. Even juveniles are arrested under POTA
Children's rights infringed at Muthanga
By Roy Mathew
Police hit children on the head with lathis during the operation to evict the tribals from the Muthanga forests.
Muthanga Police Firing:
The Unthinkable Is Happening In Kerala
By V. Muhammad Sharif
"Police surrounded the camp and started to fire at the unsupecting Adivasis without warning." Eye witness account of the police firing in the Muthanga forest on striking adivasis.
Road To Muthanga - Sabotaging The Tribal Act
By G. Prabhakaran
What happened in Muthanga on February 19, 2003 was the culmination of the continuous sabotaging of The Kerala Scheduled Tribes (Restriction on Transfer of Land and Restoration of Alienated Lands) Act, 1975 by the successive governments and political parties.
The Tribal Blood - Muthanga: A Struggle for Survival
By Mukundan C. Menon
Mukundan C. Menon gives a historical perspective of the adivasi land struggle in Kerala which led to the Muthanga police atrocity
You have blood on your hands, sir.
You need to make amends
Arundhati Roy's letter to the Chief Minister of Kerala, after visiting Muthanga where police opened fire on hundreds of adivasis in which one adivasi died, and the death of many more feared and the brutal reprisal of the whole adivasi community is still going on.
Child Slaves In India’s Silk Industry
Human Rights Watch report reveals that the Indian government is failing to protect the rights of hundreds of thousands of children who toil as virtual slaves in the country’s silk industry
Plastic Identity: Dividing line between
Chosen People and Illegal Aliens
By John Dayal
The NDA governments move to give dual citizenship to non resident Indians of selected countries raises questions of public morality and human rights. While the rich NRIs of the western countries are given a redcarpeted welcome, millions of Bangladeshis who are living in India for years are given deportation orders
Kerala High Courts Order to the Criminal Courts to Treat The Accused/Witness/Complainant Humanely
Human Rights Week 2002
By Noam Chomsky
Prof. Noam Chomsky reviews Human Rights Week 2002 in the light of the war on Iraq
U.S. Cluster Bombs Killed Civilians in Afghanistan
Human Rights Watch Report
United States used cluster bombs in or near populated areas. U.S. cluster bombs also left an estimated 12,400 explosive duds—de facto antipersonnel landmines—that continue to take civilian lives to this day.
Afghanistan: Women Still Not “Liberated”
Human Rights Watch Report - Police Abuse, Forced Chastity Tests, and Taliban-Era Restrictions in Herat
Celebrating Human Rights Day, West Bengal Way
The West Bengal left front government celebrates human rights day and its silver jubilee by evicting more than 25000 bustee dwellers, lathicharging them and burning down their shanties. Association of Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) leaders and others arrested for organising protests.
The T.N. anti-conversion ordinance and Article 25
By Valson Thampu
With the anti-conversion ordinance the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, is doing her best to espouse the Hindutva cause.
Tamil Nadu Ordinance on Religious Conversions
is a Hindu Fatwa
By Rajeev Dhavan
The Tamil Nadu Ordinance is not a simple statute for "truth, justice and the Hindu way of life". It is a kind of Hindu fatwa exhorting Hindus not to convert to any faith on pain of imprisonment.
Curb on personal freedom
By Anita Joshua.
The Catholic Church is itself against forced conversion. But the fear is that the Tamil Nadu Ordinance could lend itself to abuse in an environment that is hostile to minorities
When their gods failed them
By Neena Vyas.
Social justice has provided the strongest impulse for religious conversion among the most oppressed, the Dalits
Stifling dissent
By Radha Venkatesan
Tamil Nadu has a history of conversion as form of protest.
Epidemic of Abuse:Police Harassment of HIV/AIDS Outreach Workers in India
Human Rights Watch Report
