The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights sees an Indian bill that seeks to expedite citizenship only for non-Muslims as discriminatory, its spokesperson said Friday
GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2019) The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights sees an Indian bill that seeks to expedite citizenship only for non-Muslims as discriminatory, its spokesperson said Friday.The Indian parliament has passed the bill fast-tracking citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians fleeing persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who have been resident before 2014. Muslims are not given the same protection.
"We are concerned that India's new Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 is fundamentally discriminatory in nature," Jeremy Laurence said in a statement.
He argued that the draft law appeared to undermine the commitment to equality before the law enshrined in India's secular constitution and the Global Compact on Migration, which it endorsed a year ago, pledging to respect and protect all migrants.
"We understand the new law will be reviewed by the Supreme Court of India and hope it will consider carefully the compatibility of the law with India's international human rights obligations," Laurence added.
The UN rights body also expressed concern over clashes that erupted this week in the states of Assam and Tripura. Troops were deployed to the ethically-diverse northeastern regions after protests erupted over the bill.
