Uprising of people at Shahbag, Dhaka, Bangladesh demanding death penalty of Kader Molla and all other war criminals who are now being tried before the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh for the serious crimes they have committed during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 (Photo Credit: Mehdi Hasan Khan).

Since February 5, there have been a series of large protests across Bangladesh coupled with violent counter-demonstrations. The protests were in response to the sentences given to Abdul Quader Mollah, a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. He received life in prison for his role in ”beheading a poet, raping an 11-year old girl and shooting 344 people” during the 1971 Liberation War. The protesters are demanding that Mollah be executed for his role in the 1971 massacres. We are calling for the government to resist such pressure. Meanwhile the Jamaat-e-Islami has been implicated in acts of violence against minority religious shrines in the southern part of the country.

In 1971, Bangladeshis rose up to overthrow the Pakistani military rulers after one of the most brutal crackdowns since World War II. Upwards of 3 million people died in an orgy of violence and ethnic cleansing between March and December 1971. Eight million people fled to squalid refugee camps in India. The killings ended after India quickly invaded and defeated the Pakistani Army. In the chaos that followed Bangladesh’s independence, little was done to ensure that those who were culpable in the massacres were brought to justice. Survivors of the 1971 horrors have seethed ever since, arguing that until those convicted of war crimes are prosecuted, there can never be justice.

It was only in the past few years that Bangladesh created the International Crimes Tribunal which sought to try those accused of war crimes who were still alive. Unfortunately, this court was riddled with problems and it’s clear that those convicted have a credible claim that they did not receive a fair trial. The guilty verdicts against Abu Kalam Azad, Mollah, and Delwar Hossain Sayedi however does provide a modicum of closure to some who view these trials as better than nothing.

But many, especially those in Shahbag feel that these trials are not enough. That’s why these protests are of a very different character than the ones we have seen during the Arab Spring and it would be a mistake to compare the two. In Cairo’s Tahrir Square, protesters demanded an end to the authoritarianism of former President Hosni Mubarak. However, in Bangladesh, the protesters are arguing that the Bangladeshi government (democratically elected) is being too soft on the “war criminals.” Furthermore the protesters in Shahbag are overwhelmingly students, poets, actors and members of civil society.

In a way it puts human rights organizations in a quandary. We cannot accept their calls for the death penalty for convicted war criminals. Nor can we say that the trials live up to international standards for fair trials. However, human rights organizations share the broader goals of justice for the victims of the 1971 massacres. The pent-up frustration over the impunity with which crimes were committed in 1971 is part of the larger frustration about impunity in South Asia writ large.

Former prisoner of conscience and Adivasi rights activist Kartam Joga has been released in India.© Private

This week brought a rare bit of good news for human rights in the poor, rural, tribal districts of eastern India. After spending over two years in jail on false charges, human rights activist Kartam Joga was finally acquitted of all charges. Like Binayak Sen, TG Ajay, Kopa Kunjam, Ramesh Agrawal, and Harihar Patel before him, the government of Chhattisgarh tried to silence Kartam Joga for daring to demand that human rights and democratic principles be respected in Chhattisgarh. And once again, the courts found that the state had no case.

But that hasn’t stopped Chhattisgarh from continuing to imprison peaceful critics. Journalist Lingaram Kodopi and activist Soni Sori – both tortured by police – remain in custody after over a year in jail (Act here to demand their release).

Like Chhattisgarh, nearby states Orissa and Jharkhand frequently turn to brutal intimidation and the unlawful jailing of those who challenge their authority by standing up for human rights. The most recent and appalling case is that of community journalist and anti-mining organizer Aparna Marandi and her 4-year old son who have been in jail in Jharkhand since December 8. AI believes that she has been ill-treated in custody, and is at risk of torture. Friends and family have been unable to visit her, and authorities have said nothing about her condition or the charges against her (Sign AIUSA’s letter to the Jharkhand authorities here). And in Orissa, those protesting against Vedanta’s bauxite mine and aluminum factory and the enormous POSCO steel plant have been jailed, threatened, and beaten by police.

States waging war are notoriously bad at respecting human rights. So are massive corporations, especially in the extractives industry. Both must be held accountable. And we must support the people on the front lines. Please act today!

Indian soldiers patrol through about five feet snow in Churunda village on January 12, 2013. The village has been bearing the brunt of cross-fire between India and Pakistan. People living along the Line of Control have continually been at risk due to hostility between the armies of the two rival nations. (Photo by Yawar Nazir/Getty Images)

In recent weeks tensions have flared up between between India and Pakistan over recent killings of soldiers on the Line of Control dividing Kashmir. Historically, the neighboring countries have fought three wars over Kashmir (although recent years have seen a peace process).

Whenever there is a clash between the countries’ armed forces, Kashmiris themselves tend to be ignored while sabers rattle. So it’s a good time to tout some of the activists and ordinary people on the ground who are living their lives and seeking justice for the decades of brutal war in their homeland. In particular, what of Kashmiris economic, social and cultural rights?

For one perspective, I had a chance to talk with two Indian activists who are helping to bring the lives of Kashmiris to the foreground. For the filmmakers Madhuri Mohindar and Vaishali Sinha,

“having grown up in India, with Vaishali having spent a few years of her childhood in Jammu and Kashmir, we were tired of hearing of violence and abuse in Kashmir. We wanted to hear from the resilient young people in Kashmir whose voices had been marginalized from the mainstream. It was with this in mind that our journey began three years ago at the campus of the University of Kashmir where we met our young protagonists Javaid and Iqbal who came from a generation born into conflict. While dealing with the scars of the past, they are also grappling with the heavy militarization today. By bringing to light the human stories of these young Kashmiris, it is our hope that our film will open up possibilities of communication, understanding and justice.”

Kashmir is a place celebrated for its legendary beauty and culture. This is also the place where tens of thousands have died in the midst of years of conflict and deadlock between India, Pakistan and separatist Kashmiris as each lays claim to the region. By bringing to light the human stories of these young Kashmiris who are invested in peace, the film explores the voices of a generation that has grown up in one of South Asia’s oldest and deadliest conflicts, presenting a unique perspective and raising crucial dialogue about the future of Kashmir, the cost of militarization, human rights violations, and the desire for justice.

Learn more about the film and the filmmakers.

Indian students of various organisations hold placards as they shout slogans during a demonstration in Hyderabad on January 3, 2013. (Photo credit: NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images)

Every 21 minutes, a woman is raped in India. Most rapes go unreported and even those rapes that are reported often goes unpunished. However, one horrific rape in particular has galvanized activists and has the potential to change India’s attitude towards rape.

By now, many have heard of the horrific rape and murder of a young college student in the heart of India’s capital– New Delhi. She was attacked in a speeding private minibus with iron rods which punctured her intestines. She and her friend were then tossed from the minibus. And despite being dumped on a crowded street, it took 40 minutes for a passerby to contact the police. The lack of intervention by passers-by was likely due to the poor police treatment of Good Samaritans. The victim later died after being airlifted to Singapore for further treatment. The alleged attackers have been charged with murder.

Weeks of protests have followed the rape. The government, in a rather common combination of incompetence and heavy-handedness imposed emergency regulations in the area around the protest and began to crack down on protesters. This only further enraged Indians across the political spectrum. Those calling for equal rights and gender justice chant:

“Raat Main Bhee Aazadi ”(“Freedom at Night”)
“Din Main Bhee Aazadi” (“Freedom in Day”)
“Chunne Ki Bhee Azadi” (“Freedom to Choose”)
“Pehanne Ki Bhee Aazadi” (“Freedom to Wear”)

Equally astonishing is the lack of concern for the victim of rape in Delhi and elsewhere around India. In response to the rape, Delhi Police Chief Neeraj Kumar said simply: “Women should not go out late at night.” Political leaders issued tepid responses. But even those tepid responses were at least better than those of Member of Parliament Abhijit Mukherjee who declared the protesters demanding justice as “highly dented and painted women.”

However, the sheer brutality of the crime meant that the usual regressive attitudes of India’s leadership was roundly condemned and the protests demanding action have grown even louder. The government has started to panic, promising various symbolic measures that presumably will dampen down the protests. For example, a junior minister in the government said that the new law against rape should carry the name of the rape victim. Never mind that there are already plenty of unenforced laws against rape on the books in India. It’s not to say that there shouldn’t be fundamental reform of rape laws. For example, there must be an end to the shockingly archaic ways in which rape investigations are conducted in India.

In the end, the problem is fundamentally lack of justice and impunity not the lack of laws. Over and over again, the fix for an injustice is another law. It is no different now. What’s needed is a commitment by the government to ensure that the police are properly trained in treating rape survivors with the respect they deserve. It means that the police and courts must prosecute rapists. Most of all, it means changing the culture of India from one that blames women to treating rape as a crime and punishing rapists.

Indians are fighting back against the culture of rape in Delhi and the rest of India. But don’t take it from me. Listen to the words of Kavita Krishnan, from the All India Progressive Women’s Association. Or, read a transcript of the video in English. 

Sri Lankan human rights activists demanding the release of all alleged political prisoners stage a protest in Colombo on July 10, 2012. (Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/GettyImages)

Sri Lanka’s human rights record doesn’t get much international attention these days. But that’s going to change on November 1 in Geneva, when the U.N. Human Rights Council examines Sri Lanka’s record as part of the Council’s “Universal Periodic Review” (UPR) procedure.

Sri Lanka has a lot to account for, especially its continuing use of security laws against peaceful, outspoken critics, including journalists. Hundreds are being detained with no charge or trial. Many detainees have been tortured while in custody, and some have even been killed. No one has been held accountable for these crimes; impunity reigns.

We have a chance on Nov. 1 to expose Sri Lanka’s shameful practices of arbitrary detention, but we need your help.

Please send an online letter to your Members of Congress. Ask them to urge the Administration to highlight Sri Lanka’s practices of unlawful detention during the Human Rights Council’s UPR session on Sri Lanka. The U.S. should make the following recommendations to the Sri Lankan government during this session:

• Repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act and abolish the system of administrative detention.
• Release all individuals arrested under emergency or anti-terrorism laws, unless they are charged with recognizably criminal offenses and remanded by an independent, regularly constituted court. Any trials must be held promptly and in regularly constituted courts with all internationally recognized safeguards provided.
• Ensure that any arrest and/or detention is in strict compliance with Sri Lanka’s obligations under international human rights law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which Sri Lanka is a party), and adheres to the 2006 decree of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa by registering detainees and informing their families and the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission of the place of arrest.

Also, please send an online letter to the Sri Lankan government asking that they end their practice of unlawful detention without delay.

With your help, we can end arbitrary detention in Sri Lanka.  Please act today!

Aseem Trivedi

Aseem Trivedi, a cartoonist for prominent anti-internet censorship and anti-corruption groups, was arrested on charges of “sedition” for his caricatures of various government institutions in India. The arrest comes on top of a ham-handed but chilling crackdown on social media and freedom of expression in India in the weeks following violence between tribals and Muslims in the northeastern Indian state of Assam.

The charges of “sedition” in theory carry quite a high penalty if someone is convicted. But when you hear the charges against Trivedi, you have to wonder what the fuss is all about. In fact, I’d argue that his arrest will do more damage to India’s institutions than his cartoons. Just have a read of what C. Bhosale, senior inspector of police had to say as to why he was arrested:

“The cartoons by Trivedi depicted Parliament as a commode and showed the national emblem with wolves instead of lions. The cartoons were obviously aimed at creating unrest in the society.”

It’s not obvious to me at all. In fact, just judge for yourself as to whether the cartoonist or the Indian parliament has been more of a problem for India:

The current Lok Sabha, which [Devika Malik, an analyst at PRS Legislative Research] said is on a path to becoming the least productive in the country’s history, has passed an average of 40 bills a year since its members were elected in 2009. By comparison, the first Lok Sabha passed an average of 72 bills each year.

Seems to me that a cartoonist highlighting the mockery of government institutions by the people in power and the main opposition party is exactly what India needs more of.

Low-income demonstrators in Amritsar on May 7,2012. (Photo Narinder Nanu/AFP/GettyImages)

This August 15, India will celebrate its 65th year of independence from the British Empire. Since then, the country has seen some improvements in the livelihoods of the poorest of its citizens. However, India still has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world.

Millions lack adequate sanitation and die of easily preventable diseases such as diarrhea (the satirical newspaper The Onion did a hilarious take on this during India’s recent electricity blackout). In many parts of northern India, maternal mortality rates exceed those of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Human needs are human rights and the Government of India and the state governments have not fulfilled their obligations under the  UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

A recent survey conducted by an Indian NGO, the Naandi Foundation, found that in a survey of 100 districts across India, “42% of children under five are underweight and 59% are stunted. Of the children suffering from stunting, about half are severely stunted.”

The study also showed the following:

• Girls were more likely to be malnourished;
• There was considerably less malnutrition in families where mothers were better educated;
• Those households without a toilet are more likely to see severe level of malnutrition.

The report was a devastating but necessary corrective on India’s economic growth. India has been independent for 65 years. Let’s hope that by India’s 70th birthday, we can celebrate an end to malnutrition and easily preventable diseases.

Sri Lankan policemen stand guard outside the main prison in Colombo (Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Right now, hundreds of people are languishing in detention in Sri Lanka.  They haven’t been convicted of any crime; indeed, they haven’t even been charged with any crime.  Their detentions violate international law.  Many of them are tortured while in custody.  Some detainees have been killed.

More than three years after the end of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war, security laws enacted to combat armed opposition groups continue to be used against outspoken, peaceful critics, including journalists, and others.

No one has been held accountable for these crimes. Impunity for human rights violations is the norm in Sri Lanka.

But this fall, Sri Lanka’s human rights record will be under scrutiny by the UN as part of the UN Human Rights Council’s “Universal Periodic Review” (UPR) procedure.  We have a chance to expose Sri Lanka’s shameful record of detention without trial and to pressure them to end it.

We need your help.

Please write to your Senators and Representatives.  Ask them to urge the Obama administration to highlight Sri Lanka’s practices of unlawful detention during the Human Rights Council’s UPR session on Sri Lanka.  The U.S. should make the following recommendations to the Sri Lankan government during this session:

• Repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act and abolish the system of administrative detention.
• Release all individuals arrested under emergency or anti-terrorism laws, unless they are charged with recognizably criminal offenses and remanded by an independent, regularly constituted court. Any trials must be held promptly and in regularly constituted courts with all internationally recognized safeguards provided.
• Ensure that any arrest and/or detention is in strict compliance with Sri Lanka’s obligations under international human rights law, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which Sri Lanka is a party), and adheres to the 2006 decree of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa by registering detainees and informing their families and the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission of the place of arrest.

Also, please send an online letter to the Sri Lankan government asking that they end their practice of unlawful detention without delay.

He was arrested in 2011 for alleged domestic violence incident where he was accused of choking of wife. He was then released from custody mainly because the Indian government could not be bothered to seek his extradition despite being wanted for murder charges in Jammu and Kashmir.

The head of the Kashmir Commission of Jurists, Jalil Andrabi was killed at the height of protests in Kashmir against Indian rule in the disputed region. Andrabi disappeared in March 1996 in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir. His body was recovered 19 days later in the Jhelum River. He had been shot in the head, and his eyes were gouged out.

A police investigation blamed Maj. Singh and his men for that killing and also accused Maj. Singh of involvement in the killings of six other Kashmiri men.

He had been charged in Kashmir only with Andrabi’s killing. J&K police sought permission from the central government for Maj. Singh’s prosecution in the six other killings.

Maj. Singh fled India after he was accused of killing Andrabi. He was tracked to California in 2009 with the help of the Canadian Centre for International Justice, a human rights advocacy group, but New Delhi did not pursue extradition.

Along with Jalil Andrabi and at least three family members of Avtar Singh are now dead. As Jalil Andrabi’s brother Arshad Andrabi said: “It’s a failure of justice at all levels.”