India: Amnesty International stops work

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Amnesty International India employees at its headquarters in Bangalore (February 2019): frozen accounts, forced layoffs

Photo: Aijaz Rahi / AP

Amnesty International will cease operations in India until further notice.

The human rights organization announced this in a statement.

The group cited reprisals by the Indian government as the reason for the move.

Amnesty International India's accounts were frozen.

The organization found out about the move on September 10th.

This brought all activities of the group to a standstill.

India's government did not initially comment.

A "monstrous and shameful act"

Amnesty's executive secretary general, Julie Verhaar, spoke of an "outrageous and shameful act by the Indian government".

This forced the organization to stop its work in the country "for the moment".

But that does not mean the end of their commitment to human rights in the country.

The group will examine how it can be part of the "human rights movement in India" in the coming years.

Avinash Kumar, head of Amnesty India, spoke of "constant harassment" by the Enforcement Directorate, an investigative body responsible for white-collar crime in the Indian Ministry of Finance.

The latest account freeze is linked to Amnesty's commitment to transparency and, in particular, to the group's demands for accountability for human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as riots in Delhi in February.

It is not the first time that the Indian government has taken action against Amnesty by blocking accounts.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, his government has withdrawn a number of non-governmental organizations from accepting donations from abroad.

Affected organizations such as Amnesty and Greenpeace accuse Modi of trying to suppress critical voices.

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