US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar introduces a resolution in the House of Representatives against India for violation of human rights and religious freedom
o US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar condemns India for violation of human rights and religious freedom, introduces a resolution in the House of Representatives
o She has called upon Secretary of State, Antony Blinken to designate India as a “country of particular concern”
Ilhan Omar’s resolution
Ilhan Omar, Democratic Congresswoman from Minnesota, has introduced a resolution in the United States House of Representatives condemning India’s human rights record and ‘violations’ of religious freedom, including those particularly targeting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis and other religious and cultural minorities.
The resolution has been co-sponsored by lawmakers Rashida Talib and Juan Vargas, in support of declaring India as a country of particular concern. This assertion is based on the conclusions and findings of a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The resolution highlighted that the USCIRF had called for designating India as a country of particular concern for 3 consecutive years.
Based on the USCIRF’s 2022 annual report, the resolution states that in 2021, the Indian government escalated its development and enforcement of policies, especially those promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda, that adversely affected Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and other religious minorities.
Highlights of the resolution
According to the resolution, the Indian government continues to systemise its ideological concept of a Hindu state at both national and state levels through the use of existing power, new laws and structural changes hostile to the country’s religious minorities. Moreover, the report describes the use of Indian laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Sedition Law as a means to create a climate of intimidation and fear in an effort to silence anyone speaking out against the government.
The report also mentions instances of the Indian government’s repression of religious minority leaders and voices for religious pluralism in India, listing multiple examples of the Indian government criminalising, harassing, and repressing interfaith couples and converts from Hinduism to Christianity or Islam. In this regard, the report also highlighted the risks of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registry of Citizens for Indian Muslims, including the possibility of rendering millions stateless or subject to indefinite detention.
According to the resolution, the report said in 2021, several attacks were made on religious minorities, more specifically Muslims and Christians, and their residences, residential areas, businesses and places of worship. Many of these incidents have been deemed violent, unprovoked, and even encouraged or incited by government officials, the report claims.
The USCIRF report further states that in 2021, mass protests were carried out against farm laws in September 2020 and despite the widespread nature of the protests, efforts, including those by government officials, were still made to discredit the protesters, especially Sikh protesters, calling them terrorists and religiously motivated separatists. The resolution said that the report further cited a 2021 Oxfam India study which found that a third of Indian Muslims reported discriminatory treatment at hospitals during the surge of Covid in India.
The resolution referred to a 2022 ‘Report on International Religious Freedom’, that outlined examples of violence and threats of violence against religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians, in India throughout 2021. During a press conference at the launch of the report, Blinken remarked that India, the world’s largest democracy and home to a plethora of faiths, is seeing rising attacks on people and places of worship.
And at the same press conference, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain highlighted concerns regarding the targeting of certain religious communities in India, including Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindu Dalits, and indigenous communities as well. The resolution adds that the House expresses concern about the worsening treatment of religious minorities in India, calling on Antony Blinken to designate India as a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act of, 1998. The resolution has been passed onto the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
