US monitoring ‘concerning’ human rights abuses in India, says Blinken
WASHINGTON: Juxtaposed with remarks and a joint statement where shared values and democracy were repeatedly cited as a key source of the bilateral partnership, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US was monitoring concerning developments in India, “including a rise in human rights abuses” by State officials.
On Tuesday, the US State Department released a strong and critical report on human rights in India in 2021.
During his press appearance after the 2+2 dialogue — with defence minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S Jaishankar standing next to him — Blinken said that India and the US share a commitment to “our democratic values, such as protecting human rights”.
“We regularly engage with our Indian partners on these shared values, and to that end we are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India, including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police, and prison officials.”
While Washington has emphasised the need for protection of minorities and civil liberties in India, this is the first time in recent times that US has directly implicated Indian government officials in human rights abuses.
The Indian ministers did not respond on the dais.
Blinken did not elaborate, and it was not clear what specific incidents he was referring to.
But on Tuesday, the State Department released its annual country reports on human rights practices for 2021.
In the executive summary, the country report on India flagged what it called credible reports of a range of human rights violations. It claimed these violations included unlawful and arbitrary killings; arbitrary arrest and detention by government authorities; torture and inhuman treatment by police and prison officials and political prisoners or detainees among others.
Blinken’s remarks and the report come in the wake of a push by some progressive lawmakers in the Democratic Party, minority advocacy groups, and human rights organisations which have accused India of democratic backsliding in recent years. People familiar with the relationship said that the message appeared to be an effort to cater to a “domestic constituency” in the US.