- Ezrela Dalidia Fanai, NET Correspondent
The apex anti-racism body of the United Nations – United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD Committee) have directed the Indian Government to submit its Action Taken Report (ATR) today i.e. July 15, 2022; mentioning about the steps undertaken to prevent and halt measures leading towards deporting or relocating the Chakma and Hajong communities of Arunachal Pradesh, including through the special census.
It have also urged the administration to list the measures adopted to prevent and combat racial profiling or racial discrimination against the persons belonging to these communities; and the implementation of the judgements of the Supreme Court of India in the cases of the National Human Rights Commission v. State of Arunachal Pradesh and Anr and the Committee for C.R. of C.A.P. & Ors vs State of Arunachal Pradesh & Ors.
According to an official statement, the UN’s top anti-racism body consisting of 18 experts elected by the members of the United Nations on April 29, directed India to submit its ATR, after it intervention against announcement of relocation by Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh in August 2001, the special census of the Chakmas and Hajongs launched by Deputy Commissioner of Changlang district in November 2021 with a view to deporting Chakmas and Hajongs from Arunachal Pradesh State, and never processing their citizenship applications as directed by the Supreme Court of India in the two judgments.
“The intervention of the UN top anti-racism body is a recognition of racial discrimination faced by the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh by the United Nations. That the UN has to intervene seeking implementation of the Supreme Court’s judgements in the country sends an absolutely wrong message on India. If the Supreme Court judgments are not implemented by the Union of India and the State of Arunachal Pradesh, it basically means that the rule of law does not exist in the country for the Chakmas and Hajongs,” stated the Founder of the Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI) – Mr Suhas Chakma.
India had ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in 1968 accepting its legal enforceability in India.
On September 21, 2010, India also issued gazette notification specifying the Convention “as an international covenant in its application to the protection of human rights in India” under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
