On May 3, 2024, at 6 p.m., a Citizens Human Rights Manifesto for India 2024 will be released by Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Maharashtra. Through this Manifesto, the two human rights organisations aim to address all the political parties of India and highlight the fundamental as well as basic human rights that need to be protected. The main idea behind this Manifesto is to ensure that the political parties of India, which are in the midst of the election campaigns for the 18th General Election 2024, must explicitly recognise the right of everyone to protect and promote human rights and publicly support the important action of defenders, acknowledging their contribution to the advancement of peace, justice, equality, dignity, good governance and sustainable development.
Justice D Haripanthaman, former Judge, Madras High Court will release the manifesto at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 3. This will be followed by a panel discussion with the following participants: Henri Tiphagne, advocate and national secretary of Human Rights Defenders Alert-India, Anjali Bharadwaj, transparency activist and co-convenor of National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), Dr V Suresh, general secretary, PUCL and Teesta Setalvad, secretary, CJP.
Precisely, the Manifesto captures 14 key human rights asks, varying from upholding of right to peaceful assembly, right to free press, right to clean environment, to protection of right to life and liberty of all. The Manifesto, which has evolved over eight months, has been in the making since month the month of August 2023, when a draft was released seeking nationwide endorsements. In this process, 61 countrywide organisations and 39 individuals have so far endorsed the document. Apart from freedom of movement and free speech, the Manifesto also focusses on issues of gender, linguistic, ethnic and religious minorities as well as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes with a view to promote and protect interests of all communities in India.
In addition to the 14 asks, the Manifesto also raises one major demand for the immediate repeal of draconian laws and withdrawal of unconstitutional bills. The last decade has seen the weaponisation of several laws passed by the executive that in fact snatch away individual and community rights.
Hence, the Citizens Human Rights Manifesto, has demanded the rolling back of laws such as the newly introduced three criminal laws and the draconian sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) as it is contradictory to the democratic structure of India and also negatively affects the rights guaranteed to the citizens of India by the Constitution of India. Many recently passed legislations, such as the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023, the Telecommunications Act, 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, were also included in the list of legislations demanded to be repealed.
Among the organisations who have endorsed the Manifesto are People’s Watch, Tamil Nadu, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan, Rajasthan, the All India Forum for the Right to Education (AIFRTE), All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), Dalit Adivasi Evam Ghumantu Adhikar Abhiyan Rajasthan (DAGAR), Forum Against Oppression of Women, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy among several others.
The complete Manifesto can be read here:
The Executive Summary may be read here: