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Open letter to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi
Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned human rights
organisations are writing to express our grave concern regarding ongoing
numerous violations of human and environmental rights linked to the
illegal handover of people’s land in several villages in Jagatsinghpur
District, Odisha State, to JSW Utkal Steel Ltd. (JUSL).
Since 2005, when land was forcibly
acquired for the now abandoned POSCO project, local communities have
been facing eviction, loss of livelihood, and criminalisation. POSCO, a
South Korean corporation, had planned to construct a steel plant on
community land, in, what was at the time, the largest foreign investment
in India. The proposed project sparked resistance from the communities
including the passing of several village assembly (Gram Sabha)
resolutions against environmental destruction and the illegal
acquisition of their land and community forest resources and drew
international condemnation, including from eight UN Mandate holders.
After a sustained struggle by the
community for many years, POSCO finally withdrew in March 2017. However,
instead of returning the land to the villagers, the government of
Odisha handed over the community land to Indian steel major, JUSL in
September 2018, to set up steel and cement plants, a power plant and a
port. JSW Steel Limited is part of the Sajjan Jindal controlled JSW
Group. It is estimated that, if implemented, the project would displace
up to 40,000 people from their land and livelihoods, impinge upon their
human rights to food, water, work, health, adequate housing, healthy
environment and other economic and social rights, and will have
disastrous effects on the environment.
The State of Odisha has responded with
severe repression to the protests. The violence and criminalization
against members of the Anti-Jindal and Anti-POSCO movement has
terrorized the communities that have mobilized in opposition to the
project. Women have always been at the forefront of the resistance, and
many of them, including children and elderly people, were injured while
protecting their villages and lands. Reports suggest that 24 police
platoons (700 police personnel) deployed at village entry points and in
the vicinity, have been hindering the freevmovement of villagers and
their access to agricultural fields and betel vineyards, and restricting
supplies of emergency goods.
More than 60 community members have been
arrested over the past seven months as a result of the irresistance to
the projects. More than 72 criminal cases have been registered against
over 1,000 community members. Human rights defenders involved in
organizing and leading the protests have faced serious reprisals
including arrests, detention, physical assault, threats and harassment.
Human rights defenders and community leaders Debendra Swain, Manas Bardhan, Prakash Jena, and Ajodhya Swain remain imprisoned and there are serious allegations that they have been tortured in judicial custody. Human rights defenders Manas Ranjan Kar, Pradipta Satpathy, and women human rights defenders Santi Das and Santi Sethy have been subjected to physical assault and implicated in false police cases. Others including Prasant Paikray and Kailash Das
continue to face serious threats and harassment. In some cases, the
families of human rights defenders have also been made targets of
physical assault and criminalisation.
We regret to learn that the intended
projects have been allowed to proceed without adhering to the due
procedure listed in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Notification, 2006, and without giving adequate attention to the rights
and claims of the affected villagers under the Scheduled Tribes and
Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act,
2006 (FRA, 2006). As many ofthe villagers belong to the Scheduled castes
(Dalits), the alleged incidents have also led to several violations of
the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act, 1989.
India is a state party to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which
guarantees the right to liberty, protects individuals from arbitrary
arrest or detention, and requires any deprivation of liberty to take
place in accordance with procedures established by law. The targeting of
human rights defenders and protesters for exercising their rights to
freedom of expressionand peaceful association is a clear violation of
international human rights law.
India is also a state party to the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
By failing to respect the rights enshrined under the Covenant and
refusing to settle the rights and claims of the affected communities
under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006, the government of India has
breached its international obligation under the ICESCR and other related
international standards.
Human rights defenders are entitled to
specific protection by the State from arbitrary arrest under false
charges, use of force, or deprivation of liberty under the United
Nations General Assembly’s Declaration on Human Rights Defenders 1998,
in whose favor India had voted unanimously with other nations. The UN
Declaration for the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural
Areas (UNDROP), in whose favor India voted, explicitly mentions in
Article 6(2) that peasants shall not be subjected to arbitrary arrest.
Article 15 (4) emphasizes the rights of peasants to determine their food
and agricultural systems. Furthermore, Article 17 (1) outlines the
individual and collective right to land( access to, use and manage land
and water bodies, coastal seas, fisheries and pastures) and Article
17(4) emphasizes the rights of peasants to be protected against
arbitrary and unlawful displacement from their land and prohibits the
destruction of agricultural areas and expropriation of land.
Due to the gravity of the situation, we call on the government of India to:
- Put an end to all types of repression
and violence against the resisting communities and withdraw all false
and fabricated cases and criminal charges filed against the villagers;
- Immediately release all the human
rights defenders arrested protesting the JUSL project and withdraw all
charges against them while ensuring that they are not subjected to
torture or any form of other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment
while in the custody of the police;
- Withdraw all police force from the area and refrain from using force and intimidating people to push forceful land acquisition;
- Conduct independent fact-finding and
document the violence, repression and coercion that the villagers in the
area have been facing since the inception of the project and hold those
responsible to account;
- Urgently process individual and community forest rights claims on land that has been taken over for the project;
- Provide compensation for the damages and loss of life and livelihood to the locals;
- Stop the establishment of large-scale
industries and rather encourage small & medium scale industries like
beetle vine processing factory along with ecotourism and preserving the
traditional livelihoods;
- Ensure that all of the international
commitments India is bound to under international law are prioritised
and implemented, specifically under the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD), the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the 2030
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders and the UN Declaration for the Rights of Peasants and Other
People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), among others.
We would like to thank you for your
attention and request you to kindly keep us informed about theaction you
intend to take on this matter.
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