Statement of Kshetrimayum Onil on AFSPA at UN in Geneva

Geneva, September 24, 2015:

Kshetrimayum Onil speaking on AFSPA at UN in Geneva

30th Regular Session of Human Rights Council at UN in Geneva has series of intervention against AFSPA on grounds of human rights violation, militarisation and discriminatory

Statement of Kshetrimayum Onil (REACHOUT)

Mr. President

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (hereinafter AFSPA) is a cruel manifestation of racial discrimination in India. After a part or whole of a State is declared a “disturbed area” by the Governor of a State or by the Central Government under AFSPA, the armed forces are deployed “in aid of civil power” to counter insurgents operating in the area. Then, an ordinary soldier, on his mere suspicion, can use force to arrest anybody without warrant before committing a cognizable offence, can fire upon any person even to the causing of death, can use force to enter any premises or destroy any structure or recover any property – all in the course of so-called counter-insurgency operations.

AFSPA requires any arrested person to be brought to the nearest police station with the least possible delay. Not before a magistrate and not within 24 hours, as required in normal criminal procedure. Enjoying immunity from prosecution under AFSPA for any of their actions, the armed forces make indiscriminate arrests. The arrested persons are routinely tortured during detention to extract confessions and brought to the police station at their pleasure, to be later produced before a magistrate by the police.

There is no time limit under AFSPA for exercise of special powers by the armed forces. As such, AFSPA has been terrorizing peoples of the north-eastern region with massive militarization for over half a century. The victims or their families are practically helpless even when the armed forces personnel, intoxicated with their special powers, resort to fake encounters, rapes and sexual molestation of women and children.

But what is unique about AFSPA is not the special powers granted to forfeit anybody’s Right to Life so casually with impunity and render meaningless all human rights provisions of the Constitution; it is that this law is applicable only to the seven States in the north-eastern region, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. [A similar law was enacted for Jammu & Kashmir in 1990.]

This simple fact illustrates the culpability of India’s ruling class to the crime of racial discrimination. They are wilfully violating the spirit of their constitutional obligations as well as India’s international obligations to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, while considering India’s periodic report in February 2007, noted that AFSPA violated several provisions of the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1965 regarding elimination of racial discrimination. The Committee recommended repeal of AFSPA. Several other UN treaty bodies had also recommended its repeal for violating various international human rights standards.