The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
The people of Indian-Administered Kashmir continue to be deprived of numerous basic freedoms, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday, before urging the Indian authorities “to unlock the situation”.
The appeal over the territory – which both India and Pakistan claim as sovereign - follows months of escalating tensions linked to earlier suicide attacks and the Indian Government’s decision in August to revoke Kashmir’s special status allowing it partial autonomy.
At the time of the Indian Government decision, five UN-appointed independent rights experts warned that it had led to tighter central Government control, restrictions on peaceful protests and a communications blackout.
In Geneva on Tuesday, spokesperson for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville acknowledged that an “undeclared curfew” had been lifted from much of Jammu and Ladakh regions within a few days.
But he noted that it was reportedly still in place “in large parts of the Kashmir Valley, preventing the free movement of people, as well as hampering their ability to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and restricting their rights to health, education and freedom of religion and belief.”
Highlighting “several allegations of excessive use of force” against protesters that involved the use of “pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas and rubber bullets”, Mr. Colville said that there had also been unconfirmed reports of “at least six civilian killings and scores of serious injuries” in separate incidents since the Indian Government declaration on 5 August.
The Office of the High Commissioner had also received reports that armed groups in Indian-administered Kashmir have threatened residents trying to work or go to school, the OHCHR spokesperson said.
In addition, “at least another six people have been killed and over a dozen injured in alleged attacks by armed group members since 5 August”.
And although restrictions on landline telephones were eventually lifted, and a state-run telecom company allowed to resume partial mobile phone services, all internet services remain blocked in the Kashmir Valley, Mr. Colville insisted.
In line with the Indian Government’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s partial self-rule, two separate federally-administered Union Territories are to be created this Thursday, the OHCHR spokesperson explained, adding that “hundreds of political and civil society leaders” had been detained “on a preventative basis”.
While some political workers have reportedly been released, most senior leaders – especially those from the Kashmir Valley – remain in detention, he said.
- Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Geneva, flag alley.
- Medium shot, journalists and podium with Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Rhéal Leblanc, Chief, Press and External Relations, United Nations Information Service Geneva.
- Close-up, journalist looking down.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “The undeclared curfew imposed by the authorities in the region was lifted from much of Jammu and Ladakh regions within a few days, but is reportedly still in place in large parts of the Kashmir Valley, preventing the free movement of people, as well as hampering their ability to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and restricting their rights to health, education and freedom of religion and belief.”
- Medium shot, journalists typing on laptops, profile.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “There have been several allegations of excessive use of force including the use of pellet-firing shotguns, tear gas and rubber bullets by security forces during sporadic protests, with unconfirmed reports of at least six civilian killings and scores of serious injuries in separate incidents since 5 August.”
- Medium shot, two journalists writing on laptops, both wearing mini headphones, one looking up.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “At least another six people have been killed and over a dozen injured in alleged attacks by armed group members since 5 August.”
- Close-up, journalists’ hands typing on laptops, profile.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “While restrictions on landline telephones were eventually lifted, and a state-run telecom company allowed to resume partial mobile phone services, all internet services remain blocked in the Kashmir Valley.”
- Medium shot, podium, Room III.
- Medium shot, journalist listening with hands clasped, Room III.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF , UNWOMEN
In the almost three years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country’s people have endured “psychological terror…displacement and hardship”, top UN aid coordinator Matthias Schmale said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing the UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani made the following comments: “The situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is deteriorating sharply, resulting in serious human rights violations and abuses, such as summary executions, including of children, and conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. There have also been attacks on hospitals and humanitarian warehouses, as well as threats against the judiciary.”
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , OHCHR
DR Congo: Children executed in Bukavu, UN Human Rights office says
The UN Human Rights office, OHCHR, confirmed cases of summary execution of children by the Rwanda-backed M23 militia after they captured the provincial capital of Bukavu at the week-end.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNHCR
DR Congo displacement, health crisis worsens amid dwindling aid access – UN humanitarians
In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a dire displacement crisis is escalating as M23 rebels make headway while aid routes are cut off, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At a press conference in Geneva, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, presented a report on the human rights violations and abuses related to the protests that took place in Bangladesh between 1 July and 15 August last year. The report is based on a comprehensive investigation undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of investigators from the UN Human Rights Office, including a forensic specialist and weapons expert.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Office today released a comprehensive, in-depth report on the human rights violations and abuses related to the protests that took place in Bangladesh last year, drawing on over 250 interviews with victims, witnesses, medics and senior officials, as well as individual pieces of digital information. The team also received thousands of submissions from individuals in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNOG
Gaza: a return to war must be avoided at all costs, insists UN chief
A return to war in Gaza must be avoided at all costs, UN Secretary-General António Guterres insisted on Tuesday, amid fears that the three-week old ceasefire agreement between Hamas fighters and Israel is about to end.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday warned of the risk of the violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo escalating throughout the Great Lakes sub-region, following the recent takeover of Goma city by the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group.
1
1
1
Edited News | HRC
UN human rights chief Volker Türk expressed profound concerns at the ongoing violent escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) caused by the ongoing Rwanda-backed M23 offensive. “If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country’s borders,” he told a Special Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNAIDS
US aid funding cuts create confusion, put HIV prevention at risk, says UNAIDS
The US pause in foreign assistance funding has created “a lot of confusion” in community HIV prevention work, despite the waiver issued for HIV/AIDS programmes, the UN agency to combat AIDS (UNAIDS) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNFPA , OCHA , UNOG
UN agencies offered a dire assessment on Tuesday about the global impact of deep cuts to grassroots humanitarian funding by the incoming US administration and reiterated calls for Washington to retain its position as a global aid leader.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
While West Bank camp is destroyed, UNRWA delivers bulk of aid in Gaza
Large swathes of Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank have been completely destroyed following a series of controlled detonations by the Israeli security forces (ISF), the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.