This brief provides critical updates regarding the human rights situation in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK) in order to facilitate States’ review of India during the fourth cycle of its Universal Periodic Review in a manner consistent with the purpose of the UPR – to improve the human rights situation in the subject state and globally.  The human rights situation in IAK has not improved since the third cycle of India’s UPR.  It has deteriorated in many respects.  India’s longstanding failure to improve the human rights situation in IAK has resulted in widespread, grave human rights violations and atrocity crimes in IAK, contributed to the deteriorating human rights situation in India and exacerbated grave risks to international peace and security.

This brief consists of four parts.  The first part enumerates key recommendations from the previous cycle of India’s UPR that have not been implemented in IAK.  The second part explains why it is critical for States to candidly address the human rights situation in IAK during the fourth cycle of India’s UPR.  The third part summarizes certain human rights violations in IAK that have escalated since the third cycle of India’s UPR.  The fourth part offers recommendations for States seeking to utilize the fourth cycle of India’s UPR to improve the human rights situation in IAK.

Between September 29, 2022 and October 31, 2022, Indian authorities continued to commit grave human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir (IAK). At least one civilian was killed by Indian forces, and at least two Kashmiris died in police custody. Indian authorities continued their systematic suppression of the freedom of expression and violations of the social, economic, cultural, and political rights of Kashmiris. A journalist and a scholar were charged under counter-terror laws for an opinion piece published in 2011 while another journalist was barred from international travel without explanation. Another private school was forcibly closed. Kashmir’s 2022 apple crop was prevented from being transported to Indian markets, resulting in significant losses in a critical industry in IAK. Authorities escalated their violations of cultural and Muslim religious rights, including through newly-announced plans to interfere with sacred and cultural spaces. In a case emblematic of the repression against Kashmiri journalists, Aasif Sultan, arbitrarily detained on August 27, 2018, remains illegally imprisoned. In a case emblematic of the repression against Kashmiri human rights defenders and civil society, Khurram Parvez, arbitrarily detained on November 22, 2021, remains illegally imprisoned in a maximum-security facility in New Delhi. Due to ongoing repression by Indian authorities, key developments in the human rights situation in IAK have likely gone unreported.

These remarks delivered by Ahmed Adam at the 51st regular session of the UN Human Rights Council address the detention of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez and the harassment of members of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society.

Topics: reprisals against those who cooperate with the UN, Khurram Parvez, legitimacy of UN Human Rights Council

Terms: detention of Khurram Parvez, harassment of Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), failure of international accountability

These remarks delivered by Ahmed Adam at the 51st regular session of the UN Human Rights Council addressthe deteriorating human rights situation in India and the assault on fundamental freedoms in IAJK.

Topics: rise of authoritarianism, systemic erosion of rule of law, abuse of counter-terrorism laws, assault on fundamental freedoms, promotion of hate and violence against minorities (especially Muslims)

Terms: Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), violation of freedom of expression, violation of right to media, violation of right to peaceful assembly, association and movement, detention of human rights defender Khurram Parvez, detention of journalist Fahad Shah

This is communication from the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the UN Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the situation of human rights defenders, the independence of judges and lawyers, minority issues, freedom of religion or belief, the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism and the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, among other things, concerns the continued lack of identification and preservation of unmarked single and mass burial sites in
IAJK, including the failure to adequately protect such sites and to conduct forensic investigations, in accordance with international standards, to identify the remains of individuals buried in these graves and to establish the cause, manner and circumstances of their deaths, as required for the search processes of the forcibly disappeared.

Topics: unmarked graves, mass burial sites, failure to protect, failure to investigate, enforced and involuntary disappearances

Terms: 2019 closure of State Human Rights Commission, Indian impunity, Indian failure to reply, failure to conduct independent forensic investigations, grave sites in Bramulla, Bandipora, Kupwara, Rajouri and Poonch, Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), discrimination against Kashmiri Muslims, denial fothe right to mourn, denial of the right to seek redress, intimidation of human rights defenders, harrassment of human rights defenders, systemic restrictions of fundamental rights of Kashmiri Muslims

A team of eleven human rights activists from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Delhi toured the Kashmir Valley from 6th to 10th May 2007. The team spoke to the victims of and witnesses to twelve incidents of violent death at the hands of the police or the armed forces, or in the course of the action of the armed forces against militants. The team also spoke to a cross-section of activists and spokespersons of the Kashmir movement, and its friends. And to lawyers who have been dealing with cases of human rights violations.

Topics: introduction, what has changed, reduction in militancy, the ‘Ganderbal fake encounters’, the Pampore revolt, impunity of the police and armed forces

Terms: fake encounters, custodial killings, human shields, vengeance killing, detention of a juvenile, killing by “mistake”, self-determination, Ganderbal fake encounters, Pampore revolt, Papa Kishtwari, Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), Masooda Parveen vs. Union of India, Abdul Ganie Lone interview