India was included by the United Nations in its list of 38 “shameful” countries for carrying out reprisals or intimidation against rights activists for cooperating with it.
“The world owes it to those brave people standing up for human rights, who have responded to requests to provide information to and engage with the United Nations, to ensure their right to participate is respected. Punishing individuals for cooperating with the United Nations is a shameful practice that everyone must do more to stamp out,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in the UN annual report.
The 38 countries included 29 countries with new cases including, Bahrain, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, India, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Myanmar, Philippines, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
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The other 19 countries are the ones with ongoing or continuing cases.
“(There is a) disturbing trend in the use of national security arguments and counter-terrorism strategies by states as justification for blocking access by communities and civil society organisations to the United Nations,” the report said.
The report also mentioned how women cooperating with the UN receive rape threats and are subjected to online smear campaigns.
“We are also increasingly seeing legal, political and administrative hurdles used to intimidate – and silence – civil society,” Guterres said.