October 3 :
Recommendation from USCIRF: India should be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" As per the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has pleaded with the United States Department of State to label India as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) due to the country's persistent and severe abuses of religious liberty.
Urging the United States government to prioritize religious freedom in bilateral and multilateral interactions like the Quad ministerial, the study suggests sanctions on specific persons guilty for these abuses. It stresses the importance of the U.S. Embassy meeting with human rights activists and increasing its involvement with religious groups.
The USCIRF has called for visa and financial sanctions as well as an examination by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to make sure that religious minorities in India aren't being persecuted because of the country's anti-terrorism measures.
Violent assaults, the destruction of houses of worship, and arbitrary arrests are only a few examples of the serious crimes committed against religious minorities in India throughout 2024. Systemic abuses of religious freedom are constituted, according to the USCIRF in its 2024 Annual Report, by these instances and the government officials' use of misinformation and hate speech.
The research further emphasizes how particular sections of India's legal system, such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and anti-conversion and cow slaughter statutes at the state level, have been used to persecute religious minorities.
The study primarily focuses on the bloodshed in the northeastern state of Manipur, where Hindu Meitei and tribal Kuki populations clashed and caused extensive destruction. More than 400 churches, including Meiteis and Kukis, were leveled, and thousands of houses were leveled as well. There were several accounts of sexual assault, including gang rapes of women from the Kuki tribe, and the violence forced over 70,000 people to flee their homes.
According to accounts, Hindu nationalist officials pushed Christian leaders in Meitei to denounce their faith; the USCIRF emphasized that hate speech and misinformation were major factors in sparking the dispute. "The central government and local authorities failed to protect places of worship or prevent the communal violence from spiraling," according to the report.
The consequences of thirteen states in India that upheld anti-conversion legislation in 2023 are laid forth in the paper. According to the USCIRF, conversion from Hinduism to other faiths is hindered by these rules, which disproportionately affect religious minorities. An amendment that was passed in Himachal Pradesh in 2023 rewrote the definition of "mass conversion," which in turn tightened regulations regarding minority faiths.
Thirteen Christian pastors from Chhattisgarh and more than 855 people from Uttar Pradesh were among the many people apprehended under these statutes, according to the USCIRF. So-called "love jihad" accusations, which claim that Muslim males convert Hindu women through marriage, overlap with anti-conversion laws as well. A national campaign against interfaith weddings was initiated in 2023 by the right-wing group Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), further inflaming religious tensions.
The USCIRF report acknowledges that religious freedom is still an issue in India, despite the fact that the two countries have robust bilateral relations, including substantial economic and defense cooperation. Private talks between President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were place during the G20 conference in September 2023, when human rights were raised. However, despite mounting pressure, the State Department chose not to designate India as a CPC. We must continue to closely monitor India's human rights record, especially its treatment of religious minorities, through diplomatic and economic channels, as highlighted by the USCIRF's recommendations.marginalized groups.
