Use of live ammunition in Kashmir amounts to violation of right to life: UN experts

By A Representative
Five UN human rights experts have called upon on the Government of India to end the “crackdown” on freedom of expression, access to information and peaceful protests imposed in Kashmir, even as pointing out that the use of “excessive” force against protesters, including the use of live ammunition, amounts to “violations of the right to life”.
“The blackout is a form of collective punishment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, without even a pretext of a precipitating offence”, the experts said, adding, they were “deeply concerned” by reports that security forces were conducting night raids on private homes leading to the arrests of young people.
“Such detentions could constitute serious human rights violations,” the experts said, adding, “We are gravely concerned about allegations that the whereabouts of some of those detained is not known as well as the general heightened risk of enforced disappearances, which may proliferate against the backdrop of mass arrests and restricted access to the internet and other communications networks.”
Those who have issued the statement are David Kaye (USA), Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Michel Forst (France), Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Bernard Duhaime, Chair-Rapporteur, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the right to peaceful assembly and association; and Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Can free‑living Indian street dogs teach us about how to care for pet dogs?

By Daniel Ramp, Kapil Vishwas Patwardhan, Rosalie Chapple We give our pet dogs shelter, veterinary care, affection, training and play. We decide when they eat, where they sleep, when they go outside, who they meet, and how they move through the world.

Rights groups condemn arrests and security buildup amid Siang mega-dam protests in Arunachal

By A Representative A coalition of several civil rights, labour, student and social justice groups, Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), has condemned the arrest of three anti-dam activists in Arunachal Pradesh following recent violence in Pasighat, demanding their immediate release and the withdrawal of security forces from protest areas opposing the proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP).

A path of self-reliance in place of migration: Saplings, nutrition gardens and perseverance

By Vikas Meshram* In the tribal belt stretching from Banswara to Dahod, the day often begins with a glance at the sky. The fields are small, the land uneven and sloping, and irrigation mostly means whatever the rain chooses to give. Yet in the villages of this region, a different story has been unfolding over the past few years. Sitting in meetings of Vaagdhara’s Gram Swaraj groups, farmers have begun to treat water, forest, land, livestock and seed as their real capital.

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