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MRG joins 124 NGOs condemning mass-disenfranchisement in Assam

9 September 2019

On 31 August 2019, the Indian state of Assam published the final version of the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC).

An act of mass deprivation of nationality, the NRC excludes 1,906,657 residents – approximately 6% of the population of Assam – thereby pushing them to the brink of statelessness.

On 5 September, 125 Civil Society Organisations issued a joint statement, condemning this discriminatory and arbitrary process.

Download the Joint Statement in full here.

The biggest mass-disenfranchisement of the 21st Century

Joint Statement: 125 Civil Society Organisations condemn the exclusion of 1.9 million people from the Assam NRC and call for urgent action to protect everyone’s right to a nationality

On 31 August 2019, after a long-drawn out process, the final version of the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published. 31,121,004 residents of Assam were included in the NRC and therefore recognised as citizens, whereas 1,906,657 residents – approximately 6% of the population of Assam – were excluded, pushing them to the brink of statelessness.

Further to a 2014 Supreme Court Order, in 2015, the Assam state government announced it would initiate a process of updating the NRC, requiring every person in Assam who claimed Indian citizenship, to submit proof of their ancestry (or birth) in the country pre-dating 1971, the year that Bangladesh was formed. This process arose out of a history of xenophobia and discrimination against both Indian and non-Indian migrants of Bengali ethnicity, with Muslim Bengalis being the most disproportionately impacted. Women who are less likely to be literate or have documentation due to societal prejudices and norms and their children have also been excluded. The immense pressure that this process has placed on individuals and their families, including the cost of applying and appealing, the loss of work, the strain on family life, the emotional and psychological impact, the loss of liberty through detention and the rise in hate-crimes and hate-speech, is extremely worrying. Local NGOs have reported that the NRC process has already claimed the lives of a number of people who have died by suicide.

The failure to implement adequate procedural safeguards and the consequent arbitrariness of the NRC process has also been a significant concern. Further, while India claims that those excluded from the NRC are not yet stateless, they are undeniably at extreme risk of imminent statelessness, as they have effectively been stripped of their citizenship, with a 120-day window to appeal. International law prohibits the arbitrary deprivation of nationality and obligates states to avoid statelessness, while guaranteeing the right of every child to acquire and preserve their nationality and to be protected from statelessness.

Despite mounting evidence that this process would result in a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe and repeated calls to action by UN human rights mechanisms, including a number of special procedures mandate holders, the failure of the international community over the last two years, to exert sustained pressure on India to reverse the process, shows that little has been learnt from the Rohingya crisis or the many crises before.

The finalisation of the NRC coincided with the halfway mark of UNHCR’s iBelong Campaign to end statelessness by 2024. It came just 37 days before state representatives are to congregate at the High-Level Segment on Statelessness in Geneva, to make further pledges towards ending statelessness. We call on all states and institutions of the international community to use the platform provided by the High-Level Segment to call out India’s arbitrary and discriminatory actions and to recapture the spirit in which the right to nationality was first included in the canon of human rights – as a safeguard against inhuman horrors.

Although the lives and years lost can never be reclaimed, it is still not too late to reverse what now seems an inevitable outcome of mass-disenfranchisement. But it will require extraordinary political leadership within Assam, India and globally, particularly in a context in which the politics of demonization are taking centre stage. It is for the people of the world to provide moral direction to their representatives and demand better of them. And so, as members of the global community, we join our voices to demand better off states and of the UN. The international human rights standards that bind us together by protecting us all, demand that governments and multilateral institutions take bold action.

The exercise of collective responsibility in defence of human rights is critical to averting a crisis manufactured by one country, which has global significance and resonance.

In particular, we urge the international community to exert pressure on India to:

  1. bring this process to a closure in a non-discriminatory and non-arbitrary manner, with full regard to due process rights and a commitment to protect the right to a nationality and to avoid statelessness of all long-term residents and their children;
  2. prevent detention, deportation, degrading treatment, incitement to violence, collective punishment, and other forms of human rights abuses;
  3. ensure justice for those victimised by the arbitrary and discriminatory procedure;
  4. facilitate a process of dialogue and community building; and
  5. assist individuals affected by the NRC process through support to legal aid providers, humanitarian assistance, and other measures.

SIGNATORIES

  1. Advocates for Non-Discrimination and Access to Knowledge (ANAK) (Malaysia)
  2. African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS)
  3. Agora Society (Malaysia)
  4. All India Union of Forest Working People
  5. Alliance for Social Dialogue – Social Science Baha (Nepal)
  6. Amnesty International
  7. Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial
  8. Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN)
  9. ASKV Refugee Support (Netherlands)
  10. Association des jeunes formateurs (AJFACE)
  11. Baghdad Women’s Association
  12. Benet Lobby Group (Uganda)
  13. Beyond Borders (Malaysia)
  14. Borneo Komrad (Malaysia)
  15. Boston University International Human Rights Clinic
  16. Botswana Labour Migrants Association
  17. Canadian Centre on Statelessness
  18. Caribbean Institute for Human Rights (ICADH)
  19. CEDESO (Republica Dominicana)
  20. Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
  21. Centre de Développement Soutenable (CEDESOU) (Haiti)
  22. Centre for Advancement of Development Rights (CEADER)
  23. Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University (Bangladesh)
  24. CF “Right to Protection” (Ukraine)
  25. Clínica Jurídica de Migrantes y Refugiados, Universidad Diego Portales
  26. Coalition de la Société Civile Ivoirienne contre l’Apatridie (CICA)
  27. Conscience International Sierra Leone
  28. Conseil National des Femmes de Madagascar (CNFM)
  29. Consonant (UK)
  30. Council of Minorities (Bangladesh)
  31. Cross Cultural Foundation (Uganda)
  32. Defence of Human Rights and Public Services Trust (Pakistan)
  33. Development and Justice Initiative (India)
  34. Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas (DHRRA) (Malaysia)
  35. East Forum Foundation
  36. Elom Empowerment
  37. European Network on Statelessness
  38. FACES Pakistan
  39. Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND)
  40. FAWE (Madagascar)
  41. Focus Development Association (Madagascar)
  42. Foreign Spouses Support Group (FSSG) (Malaysia)
  43. Forum for Women In Development (FWID)
  44. Foundation for Access to Rights (FAR) (Bulgaria)
  45. FTMF Fikambanan’ny Tanora Mandala fahamarinana mba ho fampandrosoana ny Firenena
  46. Fundación Cepaim Acción Integral con Migrantes
  47. Geneva Council for Rights and Liberties
  48. Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights
  49. Greek Forum of Refugees
  50. Haki Centre Organization (Kenya)
  51. Halina Nieć Legal Aid Center (Poland)
  52. Hazards Centre (India)
  53. Human Rights Defenders Association (India)
  54. Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa (Canada)
  55. INHURED International
  56. Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa
  57. Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI)
  58. International Commission of Jurists
  59. International Detention Coalition
  60. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
  61. International Human Rights Clinic, Inter-American University of Puerto Rico
  62. International Justice Mission
  63. International Observatory of Human Rights
  64. International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI)
  65. Kenya Human Rights Commission
  66. KMF/CNOE- Fanabeazana Olompirenena – Comité National d’Observation des Elections- Educations des Citoyens
  67. Law Center of Advocates (Republic of Moldova)
  68. Lawyers for Human Rights (South Africa)
  69. Lawyers for Liberty (Malaysia)
  70. Liberty 32 (Madagascar)
  71. Maastricht Center for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE)
  72. Malaysian Association of Integrated Traditional Indian Medicine (PEPTIIM)
  73. Maragoli Community Association (Uganda)
  74. Minority Rights Group International
  75. Minority Rights Organization (Cambodia)
  76. Mother Association for Rights and Development (MARD)
  77. Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains (MIDH)
  78. Movimiento Reconoci.do (Dominican Republic)
  79. Namati
  80. Naripokkho (Bangladesh)
  81. Observatory Caribbean Migrants (OBMICA)
  82. Odhikar (Bangladesh)
  83. ONG Ravintsara
  84. Open Society Justice Initiative
  85. Our Journey (Malaysia)
  86. Parivartan (Golaghat Assam, India)
  87. Peace Centre (South Africa)
  88. People’s Legal Aid Centre (Sudan)
  89. Persatuan Penasihat Pengguna (Malaysia)
  90. Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
  91. Popular Education and Action Centre (India)
  92. Pusat Komas (Malaysia)
  93. Red Comun N
  94. Rencontre Africaine des Droits de l’Homme (RADDHO)
  95. Restless Beings
  96. Rights Now Pakistan
  97. Rights Realization Centre
  98. Rohingya Human Rights Network (Canada)
  99. Rural Consumer Organization (RCO)
  100. Ruwad alHoukouk FR
  101. Sabah Human Rights Centre (Malaysia)
  102. Salam for Democracy and Human Rights
  103. Save the Children South Africa
  104. Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town
  105. SMILE Myanmar
  106. Society for Human Rights & Prisoners Aid (SHARP) (Pakistan)
  107. South Asia Collective
  108. Southern Africa Litigation Centre
  109. Southern African Nationality Network
  110. Statelessness Network Asia Pacific (SNAP)
  111. The 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone
  112. The Brunei Project
  113. Tirana Legal Aid Society (TLAS) (Albania)
  114. Together 4 Good
  115. Transparency International – Initiative Madagascar
  116. Union of Stateless Malaysians (USTMY)
  117. United Stateless (USA)
  118. University of Liverpool Law Clinic Staff
  119. West African Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons Network
  120. Woman Welfare & Consumer Association Malaysia
  121. Women’s Refugee Commission
  122. World Council of Churches, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
  123. Yayasan Chow Kit (Malaysia)
  124. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
  125. Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children