Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2023 - The Hindu - 13/01/23

Context:
Recently, the Human Rights Watch in its World Report 2023 (33rd edition) said that Indian authorities had “intensified and broadened” their crackdown on activist groups and the media throughout year 2022.
Relevance:
GS2
About:
-Human Rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. The National Human Right Commission (NHRC) of India defines Human Rights as rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India.

->Human Rights Watch :
-Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organisation founded in 1978 as “Helsinki Watch,” initially aimed at investigating rights abuses in countries that signed the Helsinki Accords.
-Helsinki Accords (1975) was a major diplomatic agreement signed in Helsinki, Finland, at the conclusion of the first Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe).

->World Report 2023’s Findings about India:
i. Violation of Human Rights by Government:
The report found the Central govt. promoting Hindu majoritarian ideology, provoking authorities and supporters to engage in discriminatory and at times violent actions against religious minorities. It highlighted the government’s discriminatory stance toward minority communities in cases of violence against women (release of Bilkis Bano rape convicts).
ii. Welcoming of Various SC Rulings:
HRW appreciated the increasingly liberal steps taken by the Supreme Court of India such as the ruling to halt all use of the colonial-era Sedition law. It also referred to the SC’s ruling on extending abortion rights to all women regardless of marital status and widening the definition of a family to include same-sex couples, single parents, and other households.

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