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06-11-2023
PARIS/ NEW DELHI: Global human rights organizations have urged the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to call on India to stop prosecuting and intimidating human rights activists, defenders and non-profit organizations in the country under the garb of countering terrorist financing.
Amnesty International, Charity & Security Network, and Human Rights Watch in a joint statement said the global terrorism financing and money laundering is set to carry out fourth periodic review of India’s record on tackling illicit funding on November 6 (Monday).
The human rights watchdogs said Indian authorities have exploited FATF’s recommendations which aim to prevent terrorist financing as part of a coordinated campaign to restrict civic space and stifle the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
“Draconian laws introduced or adapted to this end include the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Their actions have flouted both FATF’s standards and international human rights law,” the groups said.
“The Indian authorities have weaponized laws to crack down on the human rights work by HRDs, activists and non-profit organizations in the country,” said Aakar Patel, chair of board at Amnesty International India.
“Authorities are using bogus foreign funding and terrorism charges to target, intimidate, harass and silence critics, in clear violation of FATF standards.”
During its third FATF review, in 2010, the Indian government itself recognized the risk posed by the non-profit sector as “low.”
However, since the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, the authorities have used overbroad provisions in domestic law to silence critics and shut down their operations, including by cancelling their foreign funding licenses and prosecuting them using counterterrorism law and financial regulations, as per the statement.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, first enacted in 1976, was aimed at preventing and regulating foreign interference in Indian politics. However, in 2010, the government repurposed the legislation with a greater focus on non-profit organizations, while relaxing foreign funding oversight for political parties, the rights groups said.
“In the last 10 years, the authorities have used this law to cancel the licenses of over 20,600 non-profit organizations, including 6,000 in 2022, blocking their access to foreign funding.”
In July 2022, the groups said India’s Home Affairs Ministry deleted the list of non-profit organizations whose FCRA licenses had been cancelled without any explanation and stopped publishing this data. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
