New Delhi – Amnesty International, a global human rights organization, stopped operations in India, accusing the government of “relentless witch hunt” and “constant harassment” for its reports criticizing the government of Minister Narendra Modi.
The Indian government froze Amnesty’s bank accounts earlier this month for allegedly receiving a foreign budget illegally, a fee that the human rights organization denies. The organization said she had been forced to fire and suspend her paintings in India because she may simply not have access to her budget.
“India’s stature as a liberal democracy with Lax institutions, media and civil society organizations has represented much of its comfortable force in the world. Actions like this undermine our reputation for democracy and undermine our comfortable strength,” shashi Thraoor, a member of the Opposition Indian National Congress Party, said on Twitter about the government’s action against Amnesty.
Amnesty’s bank accounts were frozen a few days before the Indian government restricted foreign investment from non-governmental organizations.
The Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act (FCRA) 2020, passed through the Indian Parliament last week, gave the government new powers to revoke the FCRA certificate issued to non-profit groups, banned the movement of foreign budgets to any organization, has put a cap on administrative fees at 20%, and requires organizations to have a bank account in Delhi , among the restrictions.
Major nonprofit teams and social staff in India see the new law as a government crackdown and warn that it can paralyze them as the Asian country faces major economic, social and fitness challenges, adding the coronavirus pandemic.
The Population Foundation of India (PFI), a non-profit organization that has been selling circles of family planning, women’s empowerment and literacy in India for 50 years, warned that the new legislation “will end collaboration and cooperation between NGOs. “The organization said the government gave the impression of “examining all foreign contributions with suspicion,” which it said could damage India’s global reputation as a flexible democracy.
“These amendments also assume that NGOs that get external budgets are guilty, unless there is evidence to the contrary,” said Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the PFI. “We are here because of the failure of the executive and the government, because they are doing their homework and we are intervening to fill the gaps. “
“This is the worst time imaginable to obstruct the Civil Society Array . . . just as this country wants all civil society to work with the personal sector and the government to resolve the multiple disorders we face,” said India Voluntary Action Netpaintings (VANI), an alliance of more than 550 nonprofit teams in the country, said at a press convention last week
Knowledge from the Indian government shows that more than 20,000 non-profit teams are registered to obtain foreign grants from the fcRA. Many of these organizations have been operating for years with small NGOs, in rural areas, in all areas, from fitness and nutrition care to schooling and women’s rights coverage.
The Charities Aid Foundation India (CAFI), a non-profit organization that has worked in India for two decades, said the law that prevents giant organizations like this from transferring the budget to smaller partners, who are not registered under FCRA, will “cut off their wings and save them from continuing their smart work. “
“Basic organizations are already running out of resources and are locating the necessary help through the sub-grant process,” CAFI said. “Restricting redistribution and drastically reducing administrative prices can lead to many facilities essential for the poor, as well as millions of jobs in the NGO sector. “
The government says the new regulations aim to expand transparency and accountability. During a debate in Parliament on the new law, some support members said that the foreign budget was misappropriated for illegal and anti-india activities, which added conversions.
Earlier this month, the Indian government suspended FCRA licenses from six organizations, they can no longer obtain foreign funding. Four of the six are evangelical Christian groups.
At least two Christian organizations in the United States are also being tested through the Indian government, according to reports from the Indian media.
“Concerns have been raised about the effect that US-based evangelical donors have, adding the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Baptist Church regarding indigenous associations; an investigation is under way,” he said. a government official recently. government official.
Amnesty International considers the government’s freezing of its bank accounts to be retaliation for reports by Modi’s administration.
The constant harassment of government agencies, adding the Law Enforcement Directorate, is the result of our unequivocal calls for transparency within the government, most recently for the responsibility of Delhi police and the Indian government for serious human rights violations in Delhi and riots in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Avinash Kumar , Executive Director of Amnesty International India, in a press release on Tuesday.
Two recent Amnesty reports, one on February’s sectarian riots in New Delhi that left dozens dead and thousands displaced, and the reporting rights violations in Kashmir since August last year, when the Indian government stripped the Himalayan region of its limited autonomy, were highly critical of Modi’s government.
Last month, the rights control body accused Delhi police, working under the federal government, of committing human rights violations during the February riots, adding violence with rioters; torture in police custody; use of superior force opposed to protesters; to dismantle protest sites used through nonviolent protesters and silent passers-by as troublemakers wreaked havoc. “
The police downplayed those as malicious.
The Indian government has responded to Allegations of Harassment by Amnesty and the UK-based organization insists that all of its fundraising operations and activities are fully compliant with Indian and foreign law.