UN Adopts Initial Report on India’s Human Rights Record
India Defers its Response to September 2012

New Delhi, May 31, 2012

The UN Human Rights Council's UPR Working Group adopted yesterday the draft report on India's Universal Periodic Review (UPR). India's UPR – a peer review process of the human rights record of all UN member states – took place on 24 May 2012 in Geneva, where India's entire human rights record was examined thoroughly by other UN member states.

The Government of India (GoI) oral response during the UPR session was marked by a general lack of acceptance of human rights challenges in the country and a mere reiteration of domestic laws, policies and Constitutional provisions by the Government of India (GoI). For more details, see Annex 1.

Eighty countries participated in India's UPR and made a total of 169 recommendations on a whole range of critical human rights issues (see draft report here).

Recommendations made to India include:

• ratify promptly the UN Convention against Torture and the UN Convention on Enforced Disappearances;
• repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA);
• adopt the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill;
• enact comprehensive reforms to address sexual violence and all acts of violence against women;
• improve human rights training of police officers;
• consider abolishing the death penalty or establish a moratium;
• ban all forms of child labour;
• strengthen efforts towards addressing maternal and child mortality;
• strengthen efforts to combat trafficking;
• and address the inequities based on rural-urban divide.