CERD flags AFSPA as obstacle to accountability
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 26 2026: The United Nations Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has expressed concern that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act remains an obstacle to accountability for human rights violations.

The Committee reviewed the Government of India's periodic report under the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in Geneva on August 11 and 12 .

Its Concluding Observations were released on August 25 .

In its observations reproduced by Human Rights Alert in public interest, the Committee said it remains concerned that AFSPA requires prior sanction of the Central Government to prosecute law enforcement officials acting under the Act.

It also grants wide powers for arbitrary search, arrest and detention without warrant and use of force.

It regretted the lack of measures to review the Act.

Reiterating its 2007 recommendation citing the Jeevan Reddy Committee to repeal AFSPA and replace it with a more humane law, CERD urged India to align the Act with international human rights law and prevent impunity.

When Committee members raised the Manipur violence, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, heading the Indian delegation, said ethnic violence broke out in May 2023, victims were from both communities and rel ief was extended without distinction.

He said total outlay till 2024-25 was Rs 8.2 billion, 7,000 houses constructed and about 16,500 persons from 3,700 families resettled by March 2026 .

He said investigation of sexual violence cases is by SITs headed by officers from outside Manipur, 42 SITs for general violence cases, trials transferred outside State, and a three-member committee of former women Judges appointed by Supreme Court is overseeing relief and rehabilitation.

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