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(A Monthly Publication of Manavadhikar Samajik Manch)

Volume XV No. 7 July 2018
 Advisors: Bejon Mishra
President :Dr. A. Shanker Manoj Kar
Editor :Dr. Girija B. Nanda Prof. Sanjay Chandwani
Managing Editor :Dr. Srimoy Patra
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 In this issue...
World Hepatitis Day: 5
From Commitment to Action

World Population Day: 12

Family Planning is a Human Right

World Day against Trafficking in Persons: 14

Act to Protect and Assist Trafficked Persons

National News 16

News from the National Human Rights Commission 20

International News 25

Human Trafficking in India: 28

A Scourge of Civil Society

Higher Education in India: 30

Needs a Revamp
 From the President’s Desk …
India observed the World Population day on July 11th as usual. But the country is still struggling to
achieve the much-awaited goal of reaching the total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.1 per cent. Union Health
Minister Harsh Vardhan also accepted this as he said in Parliament that India is yet to achieve replacement
level of 2.1 due to slow decline in Fertility and wide variations among the states.

While 23 states and UTs have already achieved the target of total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.1 per cent,
states like like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar with large population base still have TFR of 3.3 and 3.5 per
cent respectively. Other states like Jharkhand (TFR- 2.8), Rajasthan (TFR-2.9), Madhya Pradesh
(TFR- 2.9) and Chhattisgarh (TFR- 2.9) continue to have higher levels which contribute to the
growth of population, Vardhan said.

As per World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision, the population of India is likely to be around
162 crores and that of China will 138 crores by 2050. The Health Minister further said that various
measures for stabilizing the populaton have been initiated under which a rational human resource
development plan is in place for provision of Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) and No-
Scalpel Vasectomy (NSV) to empower the facilities.

Further directives have been issued to the states to notify fixed days per week at primary health
centres for conducting IUCD insertions. Further, Government has been emphasising on Minilap
Tubectomy services and increasing male participation and promotion of NSV, which is a safe and
effective method of permanent surgical contraception for men along with improving the supply
management of contraceptives..

When we look at the global scenario, the donor countries are not meeting their commitments. Therefore,
there is lack of resources which is becoming a major stumbling block in reaching global goals on
population and reproductive health. The available resources are not meeting their reproductive health
needs of more than 80 per cent of developing countries. Though progress had been made since 1994
when a global action plan was adopted in an International Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) in Cairo, much more must be done to ensure reproductive hsealth and rights including those
of the world's 1.3 billion adolescents, to promote safe motherhood and to stem the spread of HIV/
AIDS.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done in this area and all the developing and developed countries
must join hands to achieve the goal.
Dr. A. Shanker

Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018 4

 World Hepatitis Day:
From Commitment to Action

"It is encouraging to see countries turning commitment into action to tackle hepatitis.
Identifying interventions that have a high impact is a key step towards eliminating this devastating disease.
Many countries have succeeded in scaling-up the hepatitis B vaccination.
Now we need to push harder to increase access to diagnosis and treatment."

- Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

W
orld Hepatitis Day 2017 is
being commemorated under
the theme "Eliminate
Hepatitis" to mobilize intensified
action towards the health targets in
the 2030 Sustainable Development
Goals. In 2016, the World Health
Assembly endorsed WHO’s first
global health sectors strategy on viral
hepatitis to help countries scale up
their responses.
The new WHO data show that more
than 86% of countries reviewed have
set national hepatitis elimination
targets and more than 70% have
begun to develop national hepatitis
plans to enable access to effective
prevention, diagnosis, treatment and
care services. Furthermore, nearly
half of the countries surveyed are
aiming for elimination through
providing universal access to hepatitis
treatment. But WHO is concerned
that progress needs to speed up.
"The national response towards
hepatitis elimination is gaining
momentum. However, at best one in
ten people who are living with
hepatitis know they are infected and
can access treatment. This is
unacceptable," said Dr Gottfried
Hirnschall, WHO's Director of the
HIV Department and Global Hepatitis
Programme.
"For hepatitis elimination to become
a reality, countries need to accelerate
their efforts and increase investments
in life-saving care. There is simply
no reason why many millions of
people still have not been tested for
hepatitis and cannot access the
treatment for which they are in dire
need."
Viral hepatitis affected 325 million
people worldwide in 2015, with 257
million people living with hepatitis B
and 71 million people living with
hepatitis C - the two main killers of
the five types of hepatitis. Viral
hepatitis caused 1.34 million deaths
in 2015 – a figure close to the number
of TB deaths and exceeding deaths
linked to HIV.
Improving access to hepatitis C cure:
Hepatitis C can be completely cured
with direct acting antivirals (DAAs)
within 3 months. However, as of
2015, only 7% of the 71 million people
with chronic hepatitis C had access
to treatment.
WHO is working to ensure that DAAs
are affordable and accessible to those
who need them. Prices have dropped
dramatically in some countries
(primarily in some high-burden, low-
and lower middle income countries),
facilitated by the introduction of
generic versions of these medicines.
The list of DAAs available to countries
for treating hepatitis C is growing.
WHO has just prequalified the first
generic version of one of these drugs:
sofosbuvir. The average price of the
required three-month treatment
course of this generic is between
US$260 and US$280, a small fraction
of the original cost of the medicine
when it first went on the market in
2013. WHO prequalification
guarantees a product’s quality, safety
and efficacy and means it can now
be procured by the United Nations
and financing agencies such as
UNITAID, which now includes
medicines for people living with HIV
who also have hepatitis C in the
portfolio of conditions it covers.
Hepatitis B treatment:
With high morbidity and mortality
globally, there is great interest also in
the development of new therapies for
chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
The most effective current hepatitis
B treatment, tenofovir, (which is not
curative and which in most cases
needs to be taken for life), is available
for as low as $48 per year in many

Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018 5

low and middle income countries.
There is also an urgent need to scale
up access to hepatitis B testing.
Improving injection safety and
infection prevention to reduce new
cases of hepatitis B and C
Use of contaminated injection
equipment in health-care settings
accounts for a large number of new
HCV and HBV infections worldwide,
making injection safety an important
strategy.Others include preventing
transmission through invasive
procedures, such as surgery and
dental care; increasing hepatitis B
vaccination rates and scaling up harm
reduction programmes for people
who inject drugs.
Today WHO is launching a range of
new educational and communication
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
tools to support a campaign entitled
"Get the Point-Make smart injection
choices" to improve injection safety
in order to prevent hepatitis and other
bloodborne infections in health-care
settings.
World Hepatitis Summit
World Hepatitis Summit 2017, 1–3
November in São Paulo, Brazil,
promises to be the largest global
event to advance the viral hepatitis
agenda, bringing together key
players to accelerate the global
response. Organised jointly by
WHO, the World Hepatitis Alliance
(WHA) and the Government of
Brazil, the theme of the Summit is
"Implementing the Global health
sector strategy on viral hepatitis:
towards the elimination of hepatitis
as a public health threat".
6
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B is a potentially life-
threatening liver infection caused by
the hepatitis B virus (HBV). It is a
major global health problem. It can
cause chronic infection and puts
people at high risk of death from
cirrhosis and liver cancer.
A vaccine against hepatitis B has been
available since 1982. The vaccine is
95% effective in preventing infection
and the development of chronic
disease and liver cancer due to
hepatitis B.
Geographical distribution
Hepatitis B prevalence is highest in
the WHO Western Pacific Region and
the WHO African Region, where
6.2% and 6.1% respectively of the
adult population is infected. In the
WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region,
the WHO South-East Asia Region and
the WHO European Region, an
estimated 3.3%, 2.0% and 1.6%% of
the general population is infected,
respectively. 0.7% of the population
of the WHO Region of the Americas
is infected.
Transmission
The hepatitis B virus can survive
outside the body for at least 7 days.
During this time, the virus can still
cause infection if it enters the body
of a person who is not protected by
the vaccine. The incubation period of
the hepatitis B virus is 75 days on
average, but can vary from 30 to 180
days. The virus may be detected
within 30 to 60 days after infection
and can persist and develop into
chronic hepatitis B.
In highly endemic areas, hepatitis B
is most commonly spread from
mother to child at birth (perinatal
transmission), or through horizontal
transmission (exposure to infected
blood), especially from an infected
child to an uninfected child during the
first 5 years of life. The development
of chronic infection is very common
in infants infected from their mothers
or before the age of 5 years.
Hepatitis B is also spread by
percutaneous or mucosal exposure to
infected blood and various body
fluids, as well as through saliva,
menstrual, vaginal, and seminal fluids.
Sexual transmission of hepatitis B
may occur, particularly in
unvaccinated men who have sex with
men and heterosexual persons with
multiple sex partners or contact with
sex workers. Infection in adulthood
leads to chronic hepatitis in less than
5% of cases. Transmission of the
virus may also occur through the
reuse of needles and syringes either
in health-care settings or among
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
persons who inject drugs. In addition,
infection can occur during medical,
surgical and dental procedures,
through tattooing, or through the use
of razors and similar objects that are
contaminated with infected blood.
Symptoms
Most people do not experience any
symptoms during the acute infection
phase. However, some people have
acute illness with symptoms that last
several weeks, including yellowing of
the skin and eyes (jaundice), dark
urine, extreme fatigue, nausea,
vomiting and abdominal pain. A small
subset of persons with acute hepatitis
can develop acute liver failure, which
can lead to death.
In some people, the hepatitis B virus
can also cause a chronic liver
infection that can later develop into
cirrhosis (a scarring of the liver) or
liver cancer.
Who is at risk for chronic disease?
The likelihood that infection becomes
chronic depends upon the age at
which a person becomes infected.
Children less than 6 years of age who
become infected with the hepatitis B
virus are the most likely to develop
chronic infections.
In infants and children:
- 80–90% of infants infected during
the first year of life develop
chronic infections; and
- 30–50% of children infected
before the age of 6 years develop
chronic infections.
In adults:
- less than 5% of otherwise healthy
persons who are infected as
adults will develop chronic
infection; and
- 20–30% of adults who are
chronically infected will develop
cirrhosis and/or liver cancer.
7
HBV-HIV coinfection
About 1% of persons living with HBV
infection (2.7 million people) are also
infected with HIV. Conversely, the
global prevalence of HBV infection
in HIV-infected persons is 7.4%.
Since 2015, WHO has recommended
treatment for everyone diagnosed
with HIV infection, regardless of the
stage of disease. Tenofovir, which is
included in the treatment
combinations recommended in first
intention against HIV infection, is also
active against HBV.
Diagnosis
It is not possible, on clinical grounds,
to differentiate hepatitis B from
hepatitis caused by other viral agents
and, hence, laboratory confirmation
of the diagnosis is essential. A number
of blood tests are available to diagnose
and monitor people with hepatitis B.
They can be used to distinguish acute
and chronic infections.
Laboratory diagnosis of hepatitis B
infection focuses on the detection of
the hepatitis B surface antigen HBsAg.
WHO recommends that all blood
donations be tested for hepatitis B to
ensure blood safety and avoid
accidental transmission to people who
receive blood products.
Acute HBV infection is characterized
by the presence of HBsAg and
immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody to
the core antigen, HBcAg. During the
initial phase of infection, patients are
also seropositive for hepatitis B e
antigen (HBeAg). HBeAg is usually a
marker of high levels of replication
of the virus. The presence of HBeAg
indicates that the blood and body
fluids of the infected individual are
highly infectious.
Chronic infection is characterized by
the persistence of HBsAg for at least
6 months (with or without

concurrent HBeAg). Persistence of
HBsAg is the principal marker of risk
for developing chronic liver disease
and liver cancer (hepatocellular
carcinoma) later in life.
Treatment
There is no specific treatment for
acute hepatitis B. Therefore, care is
aimed at maintaining comfort and
adequate nutritional balance, including
replacement of fluids lost from
vomiting and diarrhoea.
Chronic hepatitis B infection can be
treated with medicines, including oral
antiviral agents. Treatment can slow
the progression of cirrhosis, reduce
incidence of liver cancer and improve
long term survival.
WHO recommends the use of oral
treatments - tenofovir or entecavir,
because these are the most potent
drugs to suppress hepatitis B virus.
They rarely lead to drug resistance
as compared with other drugs, are
simple to take (1 pill a day), and have
few side effects so require only
limited monitoring.
Entecavir is off-patent, but availability
and costs vary widely. Tenofovir is
protected by a patent until 2018 in
most upper-middle- and high-income
countries, where the cost ranged
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
from US$ 400 to US$ 1500 for a year
of treatment in February 2017. While
some middle-income countries (such
as China and the Russian Federation)
still face patent barriers in accessing
tenofovir, generic tenofovir is
affordable in most countries where
it is accessible. The Global Price
Reporting Mechanism (GPRM)
indicates that the cost for a year of
treatment ranged from US$ 48 to US$
50 in February 2017.
In most people, however, the
treatment does not cure hepatitis B
infection, but only suppresses the
replication of the virus. Therefore,
most people who start hepatitis B
treatment must continue it for life.
There is still limited access to
diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis
B in many resource-constrained
settings. In 2015, of the 257 million
people living with HBV infection, 9%
(22 million) knew their diagnosis. Of
those diagnosed, the global treatment
coverage was only 8% (1.7 million).
Many people are diagnosed only
when they already have advanced
liver disease.
Among the long-term complications
of HBV infections, cirrhosis and
hepatocellular carcinoma cause a
large disease burden. Liver cancer
8
progresses rapidly, and since
treatment options are limited, the
outcome is in general poor. In low-
income settings, most people with
liver cancer die within months of
diagnosis. In high-income countries,
surgery and chemotherapy can
prolong life for up to a few years.
Liver transplantation is sometimes
used in people with cirrhosis in high
income countries, with varying
success.
Prevention
The hepatitis B vaccine is the mainstay
of hepatitis B prevention. WHO
recommends that all infants receive
the hepatitis B vaccine as soon as
possible after birth, preferably within
24 hours. The low incidence of
chronic HBV infection in children
under 5 years of age at present can be
attributed to the widespread use of
hepatitis B vaccine. Worldwide, in
2015, the estimated prevalence of HBV
infection in this age group was about
1.3%, compared with about 4.7% in
the pre-vaccination era. The birth dose
should be followed by 2 or 3 doses to
complete the primary series. In most
cases, 1 of the following 2 options is
considered appropriate:
- a 3-dose schedule of hepatitis B
vaccine, with the first dose
(monovalent) being given at birth
and the second and third
(monovalent or combined
vaccine) given at the same time
as the first and third doses of
diphtheria, pertussis (whooping
cough), and tetanus – (DTP)
vaccine; or
- a 4-dose schedule, where a
monovalent birth dose is followed
by three monovalent or combined
vaccine doses, usually given with
other routine infant vaccines.
The complete vaccine series induces
protective antibody levels in more

than 95% of infants, children and
young adults. Protection lasts at least
20 years and is probably lifelong.
Thus, WHO does not recommend
booster vaccination for persons who
have completed the 3 dose
vaccination schedule.
All children and adolescents younger
than 18 years-old and not previously
vaccinated should receive the vaccine
if they live in countries where there
is low or intermediate endemicity. In
those settings it is possible that more
people in high-risk groups may
acquire the infection and they should
also be vaccinated. They include:
- people who frequently require
blood or blood products, dialysis
patients, recipients of solid organ
transplantations;
- people interned in prisons;
- persons who inject drugs;
- household and sexual contacts of
people with chronic HBV
infection;
- people with multiple sexual
partners;
- healthcare workers and others
who may be exposed to blood and
blood products through their
work; and
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
- travellers who have not completed
their hepatitis B vaccination
series, who should be offered the
vaccine before leaving for
endemic areas.
The vaccine has an excellent record
of safety and effectiveness. Since
1982, over 1 billion doses of hepatitis
B vaccine have been used worldwide.
In many countries where between 8–
15% of children used to become
chronically infected with the hepatitis
B virus, vaccination has reduced the
rate of chronic infection to less than
1% among immunized children.
In 2015, global coverage with the
third dose of hepatitis B vaccine
reached 84%, and global coverage
with the birth dose of hepatitis B
vaccine was 39%. The WHO Region
of the Americas and WHO Western
Pacific Region were the only regions
that have wide coverage. In addition,
implementation of blood safety
strategies, including quality-assured
screening of all donated blood and
blood components used for
transfusion, can prevent transmission
of HBV. Worldwide, in 2013, 97% of
blood donations were screened and
quality assured, but gaps persist. Safe
9
injection practices, eliminating
unnecessary and unsafe injections,
can be effective strategies to protect
against HBV transmission. Unsafe
injections decreased from 39% in
2000 to 5% in 2010 worldwide.
Furthermore, safer sex practices,
including minimizing the number of
partners and using barrier protective
measures (condoms), also protect
against transmission.
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes both
acute and chronic infection. Acute
HCV infection is usually
asymptomatic, and is only very rarely
(if ever) associated with life-
threatening disease. About 15–45%
of infected persons spontaneously
clear the virus within 6 months of
infection without any treatment.
The remaining 60–80% of persons
will develop chronic HCV infection.
Of those with chronic HCV
infection, the risk of cirrhosis of the
liver is between 15–30% within 20
years.
Geographical distribution
Hepatitis C is found worldwide. The
most affected regions are WHO
Eastern Mediterranean and European
Regions, with the prevalence of 2.3%
and 1.5% respectively. Prevalence of
HCV infection in other WHO regions
varies from 0.5% to 1.0%.
Depending on the country, hepatitis
C virus infection can be concentrated
in certain populations (for example,
among people who inject drugs) and/
or in general populations. There are
multiple strains (or genotypes) of the
HCV virus and their distribution varies
by region.
Transmission
The hepatitis C virus is a bloodborne
virus. It is most commonly
transmitted through:
- injecting drug use through the
sharing of injection equipment;
- the reuse or inadequate
sterilization of medical equipment,
especially syringes and needles in
healthcare settings; and
- the transfusion of unscreened
blood and blood products.
- HCV can also be transmitted
sexually and can be passed from
an infected mother to her baby;
however these modes of
transmission are much less
common.
Hepatitis C is not spread through
breast milk, food, water or by casual
contact such as hugging, kissing and
sharing food or drinks with an
infected person.
Estimates obtained from modelling
suggest that worldwide, in 2015,
there were 1.75 million new HCV
infections (globally, 23.7 new HCV
infections per 100 000 people).
Symptoms
The incubation period for hepatitis C
is 2 weeks to 6 months. Following
initial infection, approximately 80%
of people do not exhibit any
symptoms. Those who are acutely
symptomatic may exhibit fever,
fatigue, decreased appetite, nausea,
vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine,
grey-coloured faeces, joint pain and
jaundice (yellowing of skin and the
whites of the eyes).
Screening and diagnosis
Due to the fact that acute HCV
infection is usually asymptomatic,
few people are diagnosed during the
acute phase. In those people who go
on to develop chronic HCV infection,
the infection is also often undiagnosed
because the infection remains
asymptomatic until decades after
infection when symptoms develop
secondary to serious liver damage.
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
HCV infection is diagnosed in 2 steps:
- Screening for anti-HCV antibodies
with a serological test identifies
people who have been infected
with the virus.
- If the test is positive for anti-HCV
antibodies, a nucleic acid test for
HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) is
needed to confirm chronic infection
because about 30% of people
infected with HCV spontaneously
clear the infection by a strong
immune response without the need
for treatment. Although no longer
infected, they will still test positive
for anti-HCV antibodies.
After a person has been diagnosed
with chronic hepatitis C infection,
they should have an assessment of
the degree of liver damage (fibrosis
and cirrhosis). This can be done by
liver biopsy or through a variety of
non-invasive tests.
In addition, these people should have
a laboratory test to identify the
genotype of the hepatitis C strain.
There are 6 genotypes of the HCV
and they respond differently to
treatment. Furthermore, it is possible
for a person to be infected with more
than 1 genotype. The degree of liver
damage and virus genotype are used
to guide treatment decisions and
management of the disease.
Getting tested
Early diagnosis can prevent health
problems that may result from
infection and prevent transmission of
the virus. WHO recommends
screening for people who may be at
increased risk of infection.
Populations at increased risk of HCV
infection include:
- people who inject drugs;
- people who use intranasal drugs;
10
- recipients of infected blood
products or invasive procedures
in health-care facilities with
inadequate infection control
practices ;
- children born to mothers infected
with HCV ;
- people with sexual partners who
are HCV-infected;
- people with HIV infection;
- prisoners or previously
incarcerated persons; and
- people who have had tattoos or
piercings.
About 2.3 million people of the
estimated 36.7 million living with HIV
globally have serological evidence of
past or present HCV infection.
Conversely, among all HIV-infected
persons, the prevalence of anti-HCV
was 6.2%. Liver diseases represent
a major cause of morbidity and
mortality among persons living with
HIV.
Treatment
Hepatitis C does not always require
treatment as the immune response in
some people will clear the infection,
and some people with chronic
infection do not develop liver damage.
When treatment is necessary, the goal
of hepatitis C treatment is cure. The
cure rate depends on several factors
including the strain of the virus and
the type of treatment given.
The standard of care for hepatitis C
is changing rapidly. Sofosbuvir,
daclatasvir and the sofosbuvir/
ledipasvir combination are part of the
preferred regimens in the WHO
guidelines, and can achieve cure rates
above 95%. These medicines are
much more effective, safer and
better-tolerated than the older
therapies. Therapy with DAAs can
cure most persons with HCV
infection and treatment is shorter
(usually 12 weeks). WHO is currently
updating its treatment guidelines to
include pangenotypic DAA regimens
and simplified laboratory monitoring.
Meanwhile, there remains a very
limited role for pegylated interferon
and ribavirin in certain scenarios.
Although the production cost of
DAAs is low, these medicines remain
very expensive in many high- and
upper middle-income countries.
Prices have dropped dramatically in
some countries (primarily low-
income) due to the introduction of
generic versions of these medicines.
Access to HCV treatment is
improving, but remains limited. In
2015, of the 71 million persons living
with HCV infection globally, 20% (14
million) knew their diagnosis. 7.4%
of those diagnosed (1.1 million) were
started on treatment in 2015. In 2016,
1.76 million people were additionally
treated in bringing the global coverage
of hepatitis C curative treatment to
13%. Much needs to be done in order
for the world to achieve the 80%
treatment target by 2030.
- provision of comprehensive
harm-reduction services to people
who inject drugs including sterile
injecting equipment;
- testing of donated blood for
hepatitis B and C (as well as HIV
and syphilis);
- training of health personnel; and
- promotion of correct and
consistent use of condoms.
Secondary and tertiary prevention
For people infected with the hepatitis
C virus, WHO recommends:
- education and counselling on
options for care and treatment;
- immunization with the hepatitis
A and B vaccines to prevent
coinfection from these hepatitis
viruses and to protect their
liver;
- early and appropriate medical
management including antiviral
therapy if appropriate; and
- regular monitoring for early
diagnosis of chronic liver disease.
- Screening, care and treatment of
persons with hepatitis C infection
In April 2016, WHO updated its
"Guidelines for the screening, care
and treatment of persons with chronic
hepatitis C". These guidelines
complement existing WHO guidance
on the prevention of transmission of
bloodborne viruses, including HCV.
They are intended for policy-makers,
government officials, and others
working in low- and middle-income
countries who are developing
programmes for the screening, care
and treatment of people with HCV
infection. These guidelines will help
expand of treatment services to
patients with HCV infection, as they
provide key recommendations in
these areas and discuss
considerations for implementation.

Prevention
Primary prevention
There is no vaccine for hepatitis C,
therefore prevention of HCV infection
depends upon reducing the risk of
exposure to the virus in health-care
settings and in higher risk
populations, for example, people who
inject drugs, and through sexual
contact.

The following list provides a limited

example of primary prevention
interventions recommended by WHO:

- hand hygiene: including surgical

hand preparation, hand washing
and use of gloves;
- safe and appropriate use of health
care injections;
- safe handling and disposal of
sharps and waste;

Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018 11

 World Population Day:
Family Planning is a Human Right
W
orld Population Day, which
seeks to focus attention on
the urgency and importance
of population issues, was established
by the then-Governing Council of the
United Nations Development
Programme in 1989, an outgrowth
of the interest generated by the Day
of Five Billion, which was observed
on 11 July 1987.
2018 theme: “Family Planning is
a Human Right”
This year marks the 50th anniversary
of the 1968 International Conference
on Human Rights, where family
planning was, for the first time,
globally affirmed to be a human right.
The conference’s outcome
document, known as the Teheran
Proclamation, stated unequivocally:
“Parents have a basic human right to
determine freely and responsibly the
number and spacing of their
children.”
Embedded in this legislative language
was a game-changing realization:
Women and girls have the right to
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
avoid the exhaustion, depletion and
danger of too many pregnancies, too
close together. Men and women have
the right to choose when and how
often to embrace parenthood — if at
all. Every individual has the human
right to determine the direction and
scope of his or her future in this
fundamental way.
Background
Current estimates indicate that
roughly 83 million people are being
added to the world’s population every
year. Even assuming that fertility
levels will continue to decline, the
global population is expected to reach
8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050
and 11.2 billion in 2100, according
to the medium-variant projection.
The UN Population Division
collaborates closely with the
agencies, funds, programmes and
bodies of the United Nations system
in the implementation of the work
12
programme on population and in the
follow-up to the International
Conference on Population and
Development. United Nations
missions, national Government
offices, United Nations offices,
researchers, media representatives
and the public regularly consult the
Population Division regarding
population estimates and projections,
and information and analyses on
population and development issues.
At its thirty-eighth session, the
Statistical Commission requested the
United Nations Statistics Division and
other international agencies to
increase their technical assistance to
national statistical offices in order to
strengthen national capacity for the
implementation of the 2010 World
Programme on Population and
Housing Censuses. In addition, the
Commission requested countries to
begin implementation of the revised
Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses.
UNFPA works with many partners,
both within and outside the United
Nations system, including
Governments, non-governmental
organizations, civil society, faith-
based organizations, religious leaders
and others, to achieve its mission. To
better respond to local needs, UNFPA
increasingly devotes resources to
country-led efforts, placing emphasis
on country-focused and country-led
implementation to achieve improved
results, at the same time addressing
mutual accountability and
strengthening harmonization and
alignment.
UNFPA works to support family
planning by: ensuring a steady, reliable
supply of quality contraceptives;
strengthening national health systems;
advocating for policies supportive of
family planning; and gathering data
to support this work. UNFPA also
provides global leadership in
increasing access to family planning,
by convening partners – including
governments – to develop evidence
and policies, and by offering
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
programmatic, technical and financial
assistance to developing countries.
Nine standards to uphold the human
right to family planning:
Non-discrimination: Family planning
information and services cannot be
restricted on the basis of race, sex,
language, religion, political affiliation,
national origin, age, economic status,
place of residence, disability status,
marital status, sexual orientation or
gender identity.
Available: Countries must ensure
that family planning commodities and
services are accessible to everyone.
Accessible: Countries must ensure
that family planning commodities
and services are accessible to
everyone.
Acceptable: Contraceptive services
and information must be provided in
a dignified manner, respecting both
modern medical ethics and the
cultures of those being
accommodated.
13
Good quality: Family planning
information must be clearly
communicated and scientifically
accurate.
Informed decision-making: Every
person must be empowered to make
reproductive choices with full
autonomy, free of pressure, coercion
or misrepresentation.
Privacy and confidentiality: All
individuals must enjoy the right to
privacy when seeking family
planning information and services.
Participation: Countries have an
obligation to ensure the active and
informed participation of individuals
in decisions that affect them,
including health issues.
Accountability: Health systems,
education systems, leaders and
policymakers must be accountable to
the people they serve in all efforts to
realize the human right to family
planning.
World Day against Trafficking in Persons:
Act to Protect and Assist Trafficked Persons
H
uman trafficking is a crime
that exploits women, children
and men for numerous
purposes including forced labour and
sex. The International Labour
Organization estimates that 21 million
people are victims of forced labour
globally. This estimate also includes
victims of human trafficking for
labour and sexual exploitation. While
it is not known how many of these
victims were trafficked, the estimate
implies that currently, there are
millions of trafficking in persons
victims in the world.
Every country in the world is affected
by human trafficking, whether as a
country of origin, transit, or
destination for victims. Children make
up almost a third of all human
trafficking victims worldwide,
according to the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime Global
Report on Trafficking in Persons.
Additionally, women and girls
comprise 71 per cent of human
trafficking victims, the report states.
In 2010, the General Assembly
adopted the Global Plan of Action to
Combat Trafficking in Persons,
urging Governments worldwide to
take coordinated and consistent
measures to defeat this scourge. The
Plan calls for integrating the fight
against human trafficking into the
UN’s broader programmes in order
to boost development and strengthen
security worldwide. One of the
crucial provisions in the Plan is the
establishment of a UN Voluntary Trust
Fund for victims of trafficking,
especially women and children.
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
The Trust Fund facilitates effective,
on-the-ground assistance and
protection to victims of trafficking,
through grants to specialized NGOs.
In the coming years, it aims to
prioritize victims coming from a
context of armed conflict and those
identified among large refugee and
migration flows. It will also focus its
assistance to victims trafficked for
the purpose of sexual exploitation,
organ removal, forced begging,
forced criminality and emerging
exploitative purposes (e.g. skin
removal, online pornography).
14
In 2013, the General Assembly held
a high-level meeting to appraise the
Global Plan of Action. Member States
also adopted resolution A/RES/68/192
and designated July 30 as the World
Day against Trafficking in Persons.
This resolution declared that such a
day was necessary to “raise
awareness of the situation of victims
of human trafficking and for the
promotion and protection of their
rights.”
In September 2015, the world
adopted the 2030 Sustainable
Development Agenda and embraced
goals and targets on trafficking in
persons. These goals call for an end
to trafficking and violence against
children; as well as the need for
measures against human trafficking,
and they strive for the elimination of
all forms of violence against and
exploitation of women and girls.
Another important development is
the UN Summit for Refugees and
Migrants, which produced the
groundbreaking New York
Declaration. Of the nineteen
commitments adopted by countries
in the Declaration, three are dedicated
to concrete action against the crimes
of human trafficking and migrant
smuggling.
‘Act to Protect and Assist
Trafficked Persons’
This year the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has
chosen ‘act to protect and assist
trafficked persons’ as the focus of
the World Day. This topic highlights
one of the most pressing issues of
our time -- the large mixed migration
movements of refugees and
migrants. The theme puts the spotlight
on the significant impact of conflict
and natural disasters, as well as the
resultant, multiple risks of human
trafficking that many people face. It
addresses the key issue concerning
trafficking responses: that most
people are never identified as
trafficking victims and therefore
cannot access most of the assistance
or protection provided.
Background
The World Day against Trafficking
in Persons was proclaimed by the
United Nations General Assembly, in
its resolution A/RES/68/192.
Trafficking in persons is a serious
crime and a grave violation of human
rights. Every year, thousands of men,
women and children fall into the hands
of traffickers, in their own countries
and abroad. Almost every country in
the world is affected by trafficking,
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
whether as a country of origin, transit minimum, the exploitation of the
or destination for victims. UNODC, prostitution of others or other forms
as guardian of the United Nations of sexual exploitation, forced labour
Convention against Transnational or services, slavery or practices
Organized Crime (UNTOC) and the similar to slavery, servitude or the
Protocols thereto, assists States in removal of organs.
their efforts to implement the Protocol
to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Support us for the creation of
Trafficking in Persons (Trafficking a just and equitable society
in Persons Protocol).
Article 3, paragraph (a) of the
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons defines
Trafficking in Persons as the
recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of persons, by
means of the threat or use of force
Visit our
or other forms of coercion, of social media page at :
abduction, of fraud, of deception, of https://
the abuse of power or of a position
of vulnerability or of the giving or
www.facebook.com/
receiving of payments or benefits to humantouchmagazine/
achieve the consent of a person for online
having control over another person,
for the purpose of exploitation.
human rights updates.
Exploitation shall include, at a
15
 National Human Rights Update
Clothing Brands Need to Step Up
and Keep Women Safe in Their
Factories
In a recent survey of experts,
countries were ranked according to
how safe they are for women. India
came out as the most dangerous,
followed by Afghanistan and Syria.
Leaving aside the survey’s obvious
challenges – including its attempt to
use six measures to compare 10 very
different countries – it paints a dire
picture for women’s safety in the
world. One area in which women
everywhere face discrimination,
inequality, harassment or violence in
their everyday lives is in their
workplace. Governments and
corporations must contend with how
to keep women safe when they are
working.
Globally, the #MeToo and #TimesUp
movements have forced many
companies to revisit their gender pay
gap and anti-harassment policies. The
momentum has spurred discussions
for a new international labor standard
that squarely addresses violence and
harassment in the workplace.
As in the apparel industry, for
example, where women make up
much of the global workforce.
Apparel companies should do more
to create work spaces free of
violence and harassment, including
sexual harassment. This is not just
for the benefit of their own
employees, but also for the
customers and clients walking into
their stores; the models who are the
face of their clothes; and the workers
producing their clothes and shoes in
factories around the world.
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
In May, when I was speaking to
garment workers about the
conditions in factories, I met Roja R.,
a married woman in her 30s who
worked in a factory in the Indian city
of Mysore making clothing for
international brands. She told me the
cutting section supervisor had been
stalking her, asking for sexual favors.
She said he misused his access to her
cell number, calling her after work
hours to harass her. He promised that
if she submitted to his demands, he
would give her a more manageable
workload and assured her that he
would quickly approve requests for
time off work.
Roja resisted. She complained to the
factory administration. But the person
she spoke with laughed and told her:
“This is normal practice and you need
to adjust.” Nobody in the factory’s
management took the steps that
Indian law requires to stop
harassment. That includes setting up
an internal complaints committee and
disseminating and publicly displaying
the names and contact information
of committee members. Companies
are also supposed to develop a policy
against harassment and widely
publicize it through harassment-
prevention training programs.
The harassment went on for months,
Roja said. She was losing sleep.
Coming from a conservative family,
she worried that her husband would
find out, blame her and stop her from
going to work. By the time I met her,
16
the problems still hadn’t been
resolved. Another of her co-workers
also told me she was sexually
harassed in a different part of the same
factory.
Even in their desperation for some
respite from the harassment, they had
one plea: They wanted the clothing
brands they work for to help fix the
problem, but not by cutting ties with
the factory. If the factory lost
business, these women could lose
their jobs. They feared not just for
their own livelihoods, but also for
those of their colleagues.
The factory’s management exploited
this fear. The women say supervisors
had threatened them, telling them that
any mention of harassment or other
complaints to the monitors who
inspect factories for labor
compliance would cause problems.
The women were told: “You will take
away food from many mouths. Do
you want everyone to eat mud?”
Brands need to be held accountable
for monitoring and remediating labor
conditions in factories they source
from, rather than being allowed to
conveniently distance themselves
from labor abuses.
No doubt a brand should be able to
cut ties with a factory that is a repeat
offender, one that shows zero
willingness to put in place legal
protections and to abide by
international human rights standards.
But before taking that step,
companies need to find ways to help
factories improve and ensure that
workers can safely raise their issues.
Investing in the underlying
infrastructure that translates paper
codes of conduct into actual practice
is key to any meaningful effort.
Brands should take steps toward this
goal.
First, they should publish information
about the factories that supply their
products, which makes it easier for
workers to find out which brands
buy from that factory and whom to
contact when problems occur. Many
apparel companies have been leaders
on transparency, but many others
have yet to follow good industry
practices for making details about
their business easily available.
Second, brands should recognize the
limits of social and labor compliance
checks (known as “social audits” in
industry parlance), in which it may
not be possible to address issues like
sexual harassment effectively.
Monitors are expected to document
“evidence” or sufficiently corroborate
complaints they get from workers
before they can report it. Studies by
CARE and other organizations show
how often workers themselves
under-report and sometimes do not
even recognize sexual harassment.
Third, merely having monitors check
periodically whether or not a
workplace has a complaint system is
not good enough. The absence of
well-trained, independent and gender-
sensitive committees to look into
complaints, coupled with a lack of
strong anti-retaliation procedures, risk
stripping these systems of any
credibility. In numerous cases from
South Asia, I have found that women
workers who dared to speak up
about sexual harassment had
experienced retaliation. That included
factory management not allowing the
complainant to work, suddenly
finding fault with her productivity and
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
quality of work, or warning that she
was a troublemaker.
Another problem is that often brands
do their own training and monitoring.
In fact, it may be more effective for
multiple brands buying garments
from the same factory to pool their
resources to create a single,
comprehensive and effective system
for that factory.
They could ensure that there are
effective and accessible grievance-
redress systems for workers if their
problems are not resolved at the
factory level. Instead of requiring
workers to find and use a different
complaints procedure for each
brand, which is time-consuming and
difficult for workers, there should
be a simple and effective process for
them to lodge complaints. And the
process should result in clear
outcomes when problems are found.
Without effective grievance redress
that leads to binding outcomes,
brands should know that their talk
of protecting workers’ rights is pure
rhetoric.
In late May and early June,
governments, employers’ and
workers’ organizations concluded the
first round of negotiations for a
binding International Labor
Organization (ILO) standard to
address violence and harassment in
the workplace supplemented by a
non-binding recommendation.
Another round of discussions will
follow next year.
Apparel and footwear companies
should call on employers’
organizations and governments to
unequivocally support a binding
standard in next year’s negotiations.
That would be a major step toward
helping make the world a safer place
for women.
17
Dalit Rights Activists Detained
Indian authorities should cease arrests
of Dalit rights activists for their work,
Amnesty International India and
Human Rights Watch said today. The
recent arrest and detention of five
Dalit and Adivasi rights activists for
alleged terrorism-related offenses
appear to be politically motivated.
On June 6, 2018, Maharashtra police
arrested Surendra Gadling, Rona
Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen,
and Mahesh Raut under India’s
principal counterterrorism law, the
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
(UAPA), and several sections of the
Indian Penal Code. They were
arrested for allegedly inciting caste-
based violence on January 1 in Bhima
Koregaon and neighboring villages in
Maharashtra state.
“This is not the first time that
activists working on Dalit and Adivasi
rights have been arrested with little
evidence,” said Aakar Patel, executive
director of Amnesty International
India. “The government should
protect people’s rights to freedom of
expression, association, and peaceful
assembly instead of creating an
atmosphere of fear.”
Hundreds of Dalits, formerly
“untouchables,” had gathered in
Bhima Koregaon on January 1 to
commemorate a 200-year-old battle
in which Dalit soldiers of the British
army defeated the ruling Peshwas.
Right-wing nationalist groups and
alleged supporters of the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), some
carrying saffron flags, objected to the
celebration, calling it anti-national
because it celebrated a colonial
victory. One person died in the
clashes and several were injured. The
organizers of the Dalit march said that
they wanted to open a campaign
against the pervasive ideology in India
that leads to attacks on Dalits and
Muslims.
Gadling, one of those arrested, is in
police custody. The others have been
sent into judicial custody until July
4. They could be detained without
charge for up to six months under
the UAPA. If convicted, they could
face life in prison.
The activists have worked for years
to defend the rights of some of India’s
poorest and most marginalized
communities, including Adivasis, as
some tribal groups like to call
themselves, and have been vocal in
their criticism of government policies.
Dhawale, 54, is a Mumbai-based
Dalit activist and editor of the
magazine Vidrohi. Gadling, 47, is a
Dalit human rights lawyer and general
secretary of Indian Association of
People’s Lawyers.
Raut, 30, a former Prime Minister
Rural Development fellow, is a land-
rights activist whose work includes
mobilizing people at local levels to
ensure they are part of decision-
making processes in areas affected
by mining projects. Sen, 60, is a Dalit
rights and women’s rights activist
who was head of the English
department at Nagpur University. A
week after her arrest, the university
suspended her because she had been
detained by the police. Wilson, 47, is
a Delhi-based social activist and
member of the Committee for Release
of Political Prisoners, which has
campaigned against the UAPA and
other repressive laws. The five
activists are suspected of being
members of, providing support to,
and recruiting and raising funds for
a terrorist organization, under the
UAPA. They are also suspected of
promoting enmity between groups
and criminal conspiracy under the
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
penal code. The arrests were based
on a police complaint filed by a Pune-
based businessman on January 8, in
which Dhawale was named as a
suspect. The other four were not
named in that First Information
Report.
The authorities have also named nine
other people in the case; they are
several of the members of Kabir Kala
Manch, a Pune-based cultural group
of singers, poets, and artists. The
group, largely consisting of Dalit
youth, uses music, poetry, and street
plays to raise awareness about issues
such as oppression of Dalits and tribal
groups, social inequality, corruption,
and Hindu-Muslim relations. The
police contend that Dhawale and
Kabir Kala Manch members sang
objectionable songs and created a
sense of enmity among the public
with aggressive, provocative
speeches on December 31, 2017,
allegedly inciting the violence the next
day at Bhima Koregaon.
While seeking custody of the five
activists, the police told the court that
the activists had held the event on
December 31 at the behest of and
funded by the banned Communist
Party of India (Maoist), an armed
anti-government group, and that their
actions were “anti-national.” The
police also stated that they had found
pamphlets, CDs, and books in the
activists’ homes indicating that they
had carried out transactions and
arranged meetings for the Maoists,
which the police said amounted to
participation in illegal activities.
Two days after the arrests, the police
said they had seized a letter on
Wilson’s laptop that mentioned a plot
to assassinate Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. Supporters of the
activists asserted that any such letter
was fabricated.
18
“The police in India have frequently
used counterterrorism laws to target
critics of the government and social
activists, particularly those acting on
behalf of marginalized communities,”
said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia
director at Human Rights Watch.
“The authorities should follow
Supreme Court directives not to
punish ideological support for a
movement and to protect freedom of
expression.”
Several Dalit and tribal activists in
Maharashtra, including Dhawale and
members of Kabir Kala Manch, have
been previously arrested on similar
accusations. In 2011, six members
of Kabir Kala Manch were arrested
under the UAPA. In January 2013,
the High Court in Mumbai ruled that
membership in an illegal organization
should be interpreted in light of
fundamental freedoms such as rights
to free speech and expression, and
that “passive membership” was
insufficient for prosecution.
Dhawale was also arrested in 2011
under the UAPA and for sedition, but
was acquitted after spending 40
months in prison. The acquittal
judgment noted that the police had
failed to comply with legal
procedures for arrest, seizure, and
collection of evidence. The court
noted: “How can highlighting the
wrongs prevalent in the society, and
insisting that there is a need to change
the situation, be considered as
evidence of they being members of a
terrorist organization?”
Indian courts have ruled that merely
possessing literature that espouses a
particular philosophy does not
constitute an offense. The Supreme
Court has also ruled that “mere
membership of a banned organization
will not make a person a criminal
unless he resorts to violence or
incites people to violence or creates
public disorder by violence or
incitement to violence.”
Despite these judgments, in March
2017, G. N. Saibaba, an activist and
teacher, was convicted under the
UAPA on the basis of documents and
videos found in his home, which a
court ruled was evidence that he was
a member of a Maoist front
organization. He has appealed to the
Bombay High Court.
Amnesty International India and
Human Rights Watch have repeatedly
urged the Indian government to
ensure that any restrictions on
organizations do not violate the rights
to freedom of expression,
association, and peaceful assembly
under international human rights law.
They have also urged the repeal of
the UAPA, whose provisions use
vague and overbroad definitions of
“terrorism,” authorize pre-charge
detention for up to 180 days, including
30 days in police custody, place
limitations on bail, and presume guilt
in certain circumstances.
“Instead of targeting those who speak
out for the rights of the marginalized
and against state abuses, the
government should address the
grievances of the affected
communities,” Ganguly said.
Act on UN Rights Report on
Kashmir
The Indian government should
immediately act on the
recommendations in the first-ever
report by the United Nations on
human rights in Kashmir, Human
Rights Watch said today.
India has long accused Pakistan of
providing material support, arms, and
training to the insurgency that has
resulted in more than 50,000 deaths
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
since 1989. The Indian government
should work with UN Human Rights
Council member countries to create
an independent international
investigation that would
comprehensively examine allegations
of serious human rights violations in
Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian-
administered part of the disputed
province.
The 49-page report by the Office of
the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) includes human rights
abuses in both Indian and Pakistan-
held parts of Kashmir, but notes that
those in Pakistan Kashmir are of a
“different calibre or magnitude.” In
India, the report focuses on abuses
since July 2016, when violent
protests erupted in response to the
killing of a militant leader by
government forces. The
government’s immediate response
was to reject the report, calling it
“fallacious, tendentious and
motivated.”
“The Indian government’s dismissal
of the serious concerns raised in the
UN’s Kashmir report is unjustified
and counterproductive,” said
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia
director. “Instead the government
should accept these findings and take
prompt steps in support of an
impartial international investigation.”
The OHCHR report said the Indian
security forces used excessive force
in response to the often violent
protests that began in 2016, which
civil society groups estimate killed as
many as 145 people and injured many
more. It also said that armed groups
killed up to 20 people in the same
period.
Just hours after the report was
released, unidentified gunmen killed
19
prominent journalist Shujaat Bukhari,
editor of the Rising Kashmir, outside
the newspaper's office in Srinagar.
Among other abuses, the UN reported
the use of pellet-firing shotguns
against violent protesters resulting in
deaths and serious injuries. Official
government figures list 17 people as
being killed by pellet injuries between
July 2016 and August 2017. In
January 2018, the Jammu and
Kashmir chief minister told the state
legislative assembly that 6,221 people
had been injured by pellet guns.
The report expressed concern over
impunity for human rights violations
and lack of access to justice. It noted
that the Armed Forces (Jammu and
Kashmir) Special Powers Act
(AFSPA) and the Jammu and
Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA)
have “created structures that obstruct
the normal course of law, impede
accountability and jeopardize the right
to remedy for victims of human
rights violations.”
The AFSPA, which is also present in
several states in India’s northeast,
grants the armed forces the power
to shoot to kill in law enforcement
situations, to arrest without warrant,
and to detain people without time
limits. The law forbids prosecution
of soldiers without approval from the
central government, which is rarely
granted, giving them effective
immunity for serious human rights
abuses.
Support us for the
creation of a just and
equitable society
News From the National Human Rights Commission
NHRC to the Government of
Arunachal Pradesh: pay Rs. five
thousand each to 88 girl students
forced to remove their clothes by
the three teachers now facing
criminal charges
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC has
recommended that the Government
of Arunachal Pradesh pay Rs. 5,000/
- each, as monetary relief, to the 88
girl students of the Kasturba Gandhi
Balika Vidyalaya, District Papum
Pare, Arunachal Pradesh, who were
stripped off their dignity when forced
to remove their clothes in front of
the entire school, as punishment by
the three teachers, when none among
them confessed for having written
vulgar words against the head teacher
and another student on a piece of
paper on the 23rd November, 2017.
The Commission's directions have
come after the reports received from
the State Government confirmed the
incidents and informed that the act
of three teachers had been found
inhumane and cruel. Their action on
minor girl students was against the
basic human dignity and decency.
After enquiry, the Education
Department placed one teacher under
suspension, while the two others
were removed from the services.
The matter was reported to the police
station and a case Cr. No. 112/17 had
been registered U/Ss 354 (b) of 34
IPC read with Section 21 (1) of
POCSO Act. The three teachers were
arrested and later on released on bail.
The affected girl students had been
imparted emotional and psychological
counseling.
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
The State Government has also
served a show cause to the
Chairman, Arunachal Farmers'
Development Society, Sagalee,
which is running the KGBV, seeking
explanation why the MoU signed
between the society with SSA, Rajya
Mission, Itanagar, should not be
terminated. It has also been directed
that male Headmasters and teachers
engaged in all KGBVs in the State
be replaced immediately and it is also
proposed to install cameras in the
girls hostel.
The Union Ministry of Human
Resource and Development has
informed about a series of guidelines
have been issued to the State
Governments. These also include
guidelines on the safety and security
of girl students in the Kasturba
Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.
The Commission has observed that
the report from the Government of
Arunachal Pradesh indicates that
the concerned State authorities have
failed in their responsibility to
protect the Right to dignity of the
88 girls for which vicariously they
are liable. The criminal proceedings
initiated against the guilty teachers
have been noted but the State
Government should also pay a sum
of Rs. 5,000/- each as monetary
relief to the 88 girl students. It has
also asked for a compliance report
along with proof of payment within
four weeks.
20
The Commission registered a case
suo motu on the basis of a media
report regarding the incident on 1st
December, 2017. While issuing the
notices to the Chief Secretary,
Government of Arunachal Pradesh
and the Secretary, Union Ministry of
Human Resource Development in the
matter, the Commission had
observed that the sordid act of the
school teachers, as reported in the
media, was indeed inexcusable.
Teachers are always highly respected
in the society as they play the role of
a true guide and protector for their
students. Such an inhuman and
insensible act cannot be expected
from them. Stripping minor girls, in
front of the entire school, is unethical
and cruel act committed by the
teachers who were their lawful
custodians and protectors, at that
time.
NHRC holds discussions on "The
Prison Reforms and Prisoner's
Welfare in India" in its second
'Open Forum'
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC in its second
'Open Forum' held a discussion on
"The Prison Reforms and Prisoner's
Welfare in India" at Manav Adhikar
Bhawan in New Delhi today. Opening
it, Mr. Justice H.L. Dattu,
Chairperson NHRC said that
sustained efforts are needed from all
the stakeholders to improve the
conditions in prisons in the country
by putting in place the process of
reforms.
With reference to the overcrowding
of jails resulting in denial of basic
amenities to prisoners, he said that
one way of reducing burden on the
prison resources and other facilities
is that judges must be liberal in
granting bail to the undertrial
prisoners as per the provisions of
Section 436A of Code of Criminal
Procedure and it should be a matter
of right and not a charity towards
them. He also favored provision of
open prison for the undertrial
prisoners. He said that many jails
were old and in dilapidated
conditions lacking basic
infrastructure and facilities including
for recreation of prisoners which
needed to be looked into.
The objective of this 'Open Forum'
discussion was to raise awareness
about the various issues related to
Prisoners i.e, Undertrial Prisoners and
their inability to furnish Bail and
Bonds, Long Term Prisoners,
Foreign Prisoners, Women Prisoners
and their children, Crime in prison by
Prison Staff against prisoners and
Rehabilitation and re-integration of
Released Prisoners.
Several suggestions emerged during
the discussions, which will be further
deliberated upon by the Commission
before finalizing the
recommendations suggesting
reforms needed for prisons and
criminal justice system.
Besides the NHRC Members, Mr.
Justice P.C Ghose, Mr. Justice D.
Murugesan, Secretary-General, Mr.
Ambuj Sharma and other senior
officers, the participants included,
among others, DG (Prison), Tihar
Central Jail, Mr. Ajay Kashyap,
Director NALSA, Mr. Surendra Rathi,
Director Commonwealth Citizens'
Forum, Mr. Sanjoy Hazarika, Senior
advocate, Ms. Vrinda Grover,
Secretary, New Delhi, DLSA, Mr.
Chander Jit Singh.
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
NHRC notice to the Government
of Jammu & Kashmir calling for
reports into the killing of
journalist Shujaat Bukhari's and
his to personal security guards
and steps taken for the security
of the journalists
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC has taken suo
motu cognizance of a media report
that the network of editors and
media practitioners namely
SAMDEN has urged the NHRC to
seeks swift probe into Shujaat
Bukhari's killing along with his two
personal security officers in Lal
Chowk area of Srinagar in Jammu
& Kashmir on 14.06.2018.
Reportedly, SAMDEN has also
demanded swift action to be taken
by the Central and the State
Government for the necessary steps
ensuring safety and security of all
the journalists across the country.
As per news report, the deceased
journalist had been under police
protection since the year 2000. He
was reportedly facing threats, being
a rare voice of moderation and an
advocate for peace and justice. Many
other NGOs and Human Rights
Defenders have also raised their voice
against the threats, attacks and
murders carried out against the media
persons.
The Commission has observed that
in view of special provisions laid
down u/s 1(2) of the Protection of
Human Rights Act, 1993 in
connection with the State of Jammu
& Kashmir, it generally does not
intervene into the matters relatable to
entries enumerated in the List II (State
List) mentioned under Seventh
Schedule to the Constitution of India.
In such cases, it is for the State
Human Rights Commission to take
cognizance of the complaints
regarding alleged violation of human
21
rights in the State of Jammu &
Kashmir.
However, it further observed that it
is learnt that the State Human Rights
Commission is closed for summer
vacations till 30th June, 2018 and till
date, cognizance of this case has not
been taken by them. The way, Mr.
Shujaat Bukhari had been killed by the
miscreants indicates that the media
persons, even those who have been
provided police protection by the State
Government, are not safe in the
valley. This is a case of violation of
Right to Life of the victim and the
incident is causing serious threat to
free speech and freedom of press in
the State.
Looking into the gravity of the
matter, the Commission has issued a
notice to the Chief Secretary and the
Director General of Police of the State
of Jammu & Kashmir calling for
detailed report in the matter. The State
Government is also expected to
provide details of the attacks made
on the media persons during last two
years along with number of persons
died/ injured and status of relief/
rehabilitation provided to the victims
and their families.
The Commission would also like to
know as to what special measures
have been taken by the State
Government to stop such incidents
in the State of Jammu & Kashmir.
The response is expected within four
weeks.
Besides this media report in the
matter, a complaint from the Front
Line Defenders, an NGO has been
received which has been registered
by the Commission. The formal letter
from the Commonwealth Human
Rights Initiative (CHRI) is yet to be
received by the Commission.
 NHRC to the Government of
Uttar Pradesh: show cause why it
should not pay Rs. 9 lakh as
relief to the family of the three
victims of electrocution in
Aligarh
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC in a case of three
deaths due to electrocution in Aligarh
has held responsible the officials of
the electricity department and
Municipal Corporation for their
negligence and issued notices to the
Government of Uttar Pradesh,
through its Chief Secretary, why Rs.
3 lakh each should not be
recommended to be paid to the next
of kin of the three deceased persons
of a family. The Commission has
given the State Government four
weeks to respond.
The Commission had registered a
case on the basis of a complaint that
on the 17th July, 2016 in Aligarh a
street was flooded after rain and water
was entering the houses in a locality.
The Municipal officials were
requested to pump out the water but
they did not do so. In the meantime,
the wife of the complainant tried to
manually flush out water but she was
electrocuted due to current in water,
which had leaked from the nearby
electric pole. On hearing her screams,
her son rushed to save her but he too
was electrocuted. The daughter of the
complainant also met the same fate.
Noticing this from the roof of his
house, the complainant alerted his
neighbours and requested them to
inform power house to shut down
power supply of the area but none
attended the phone there.
Allegedly, after about an hour, many
people reached the power house and
made hue and cry, then only power
supply was shut down. The
complainant alleged that due to the
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
negligence of Electrical Department
and Nagar Nigam, Aligarh, 3
members of his family had lost life.
He also informed that on his
complaint, police had registered an
FIR against the electrical department
and the Nagar Nigam, Aligarh but the
officials of both the departments
were mounting pressure on him to
withdraw the case.
During the course of enquiry, the
Commission found that the
allegations against the electricity
department as well as the Municipal
Corporation were true. It observed
that the report of the Executive
Engineer, Dakshinanchal Vidyut
Vitraran Nigam Limited, Aligarh did
not inspire confidence in absence of
any evidence to support his argument
that the occupants of the house were
electrocuted because some domestic
appliance was not having proper
earthing for which his department
was not responsible.
It was also confirmed that despite
requests, neither the officials of the
Municipal Corporation pumped out
the water logged in the street nor
the officials of the electricity
department shut down power supply
timely. The Commission's stand
holding the negligence of the
officials of electricity department
and Municipal Corporation
responsible for the incident also got
strength from the fact that after the
completion of investigations in case
crime No. 501/2016 u/s 304 IPC,
the police had filed a chargesheet in
the court against the two employees
of Municipal Corporation, Aligarh.
Therefore, it concluded that the State
is vicariously liable for the
dereliction of the duty on part of its
officials for which it needed to pay
relief to the next of kin of the three
deceased persons.
22
NHRC notices to the Centre and
the Governments of Rajasthan
and Haryana over the reported
massive deforestation in Aravali
Hills causing dust storm and
health concerns in Delhi-NCR
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC has taken suo
motu cognizance of media reports
that massive deforestation in Aravali
Hills for business interests in the
States of Rajasthan and Haryana is
the root cause behind the increasing
dust storms and air pollution in Delhi-
NCR region during the past several
days creating health concerns.
Reportedly, the open forest cover in
the Aravali Hills has deceased in the
last three decades while the scrub has
increased by 5.7 per cent making it
almost barren without any moisture
in the air.
The Commission has observed that
the gravity of the issue demands
proactive and effective measures by
the authorities concerned to stop
deforestation and degradation of
Aravali Hills. Heavy vegetation can
prevent the situation from further
deterioration and create a green
barrier against the sand storm. The
citizens and the public authorities have
to become more sensitive towards
protecting the echo system around
the mountains, which have continued
to protect them.
Accordingly, in order to know the
steps being taken or proposed to be
taken by them in this regard, the
Commission has issued notices to the
Chief Secretaries of the Governments
of Rajasthan and Haryana as well as
the Secretary, Union Ministry of
Environment Forest and Climate
Change seeking their response in the
matter within six weeks.
Reportedly, according to the experts,
if the degradation of Aravali Hills,
which acted as a green cover to
check the extent of the desert from
Western Rajasthan to Eastern parts,
may cause its advancement and
increased intensity of dust storms,
which will affect the health of the
people due to air pollution. The media
reports have quoted the findings of
studies conducted by the Wild Life
Institute of India and the Amity
School of Earth and Environmental
Sciences as well as several other
experts in this regard.
According to them, the Aravali range,
extending over 690 Kms from
Palampur in Gujarat to Delhi through
Rajasthan and Haryana, has stood
strong against the advancement of the
Thar desert for more than three billion
years. If its degradation is not
checked, the day is not far when its
desertification will badly affect a host
of echo system services including
rain, ground water level, checking
temperature, trapping of dust and
pollutants, habitat for hundreds of
flora and fauna.
NHRC's month long Summer
Internship Programme
concludes
The month long Summer Internship
Programme of the National Human
Rights Commission concluded in
New Delhi today. It was inaugurated
by Mr. Justice P.C. Ghose, Member,
NHRC on the 15th May, 2018. 37
select students of different colleges
and universities from various parts
of the country participated in the
programme. They included 24 girls
and 13 Boys. Three students Isha
Mishra, Ayushi Uttam and Sunidhi
Pandey got the cash prize of
Rs.6,000/-, 5,000/- and 4,000/-
respectively for the best interns.
Addressing the valedictory function
Mrs. Jyotika Kalra, Member, NHRC
congratulated the interns on the
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
successful completion of their
internship. She expressed the hope
that they would make the best use of
the knowledge gained about various
aspects of human rights and put that
to practice to defend not only their
but also the human rights of others.
She said that they should strive for
exploring new ways to do things and
address the issues facing life instead
of falling in the trap of set patterns.
She asked them to set priorities in life
and move forward without losing
hope and faith in their efforts to
achieve the goals in the midst of any
adversity.
Earlier, Mr. Ambuj Sharma, Secretary
General, NHRC said that human rights
are the basic edifice on which any
nation is built on. Historically, India
has a long tradition of a value based
society with respect for human rights
but unfortunately in the modern days
this picture may not be entirely true.
The concept and the scope of human
rights have been expanding and
therefore the challenges for the
protection thereof. Hence, it would
go a long way if the NHRC interns
became practitioners of human rights.
During the course of the internship,
the students were exposed to various
human rights issues and laws,
composition, role and function of the
Commission. Besides the NHRC
Members and senior officers, some
of the other prominent speakers,
who addressed them included, Mr.
Bezwada Wilson, Mr. P.K. Pincha,
Mr. Sanjoy Hazarika, Mr. Chaman
Lal, Ms. Bharti Ali and Mr. Mathew
Cherian. The interns were guided to
choose some issues of human rights
for brief research and study to write
dissertations. They were also taken
for field visits to prisons, police
stations and NGO to give them a first-
hand account of the functioning of
such institutions.
23
Mr. Gurbachan Singh, DG(I), Mr.
Surajit Dey, Registrar (Law), Mr.
Dilip Kumar, Joint Secretary (T&R),
Dr. Ranjit Singh, Joint Secretary
(P&A), Dr. Sanjay Dubey, Director
(Admn) and other senior officers of
the Commission were present on the
occasion.
NHRC notice to the Government
of West Bengal over reported
killing of a political worker in
Purulia
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC has taken suo
motu cognizance of media reports that
a boy, belonging to Dalit Community
in Purulia, was mercilessly beaten till
he died, allegedly, by the workers of
the ruling Trinamool Congress Party
in West Bengal. Later, his body was
found hanging by a tree. Reportedly,
a Poster was also found affixed on
the back of the dead body with a
message written in Bangla language-
"18 bachhor bayose BJP rajneeti. Ebar
bojh" which means, "BJP politics at
the age of 18. Now take this."
Reportedly, he was a worker of
Bhartiya Janta Party and he had called
the family over telephone stating that
he was abducted by a group of men
on bikes.
The Commission has observed that
the contents of the news report, if
true, amount to gross violation of
human rights of the victim.
Accordingly, it has issued a notice to
the Chief Secretary, Government of
West Bengal calling for a detailed
report in the matter The DGP, West
Bengal has been asked to intimate the
present status of investigation in the
case and the steps taken to ensure
that such incidents do not recur in
future. They have been given four
weeks to respond.
The Commission also observed that
India is a democratic country.
Difference of opinion and ideology
are obvious in a multi-party
democratic political system.
Bloodshed in the name of political
differences is neither desirable, nor
acceptable in a civilized society. Brutal
killings of the party workers in such
a manner are indicative of deficient
law and order situation in the state,
which does not allow rival political
parties to exercise their political
rights. Right to life of the poor Dalit
victim has been grossly violated,
which is a glaring instance that law
enforcing agencies have failed to
protect the precious human life.
According to the media report,
carried on the 31st May, 2018 that
violence continues in Purulia even
after the Panchayat elections are over.
Several other local BJP leaders have
been threatened after the BJP won
many seats in the district. The father
of the deceased has alleged that his
son was killed by the workers of the
Trinamool Congress. They had also
threatened to kill him on the polling
day. The BJP leaders have leveled
allegations against the Trinamool
Congress party stating that the
deceased was killed just because his
ideology differed from that of the
State sponsored goons.
NHRC notice to the Government
of Kerala over media reports
about the arrest of two
policemen on suspicion of their
involvement in the murder of a
youth
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC has taken suo
motu cognizance of media reports that
a Dalit, two policemen were taken into
custody and questioned by the special
investigation team on Wednesday
following damning evidence of their
role in helping the gang that murdered
newly married Kevin Joseph in
Kottayam, Kerala. Kevin, 23,
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
belonging to Dalit Christian
community, was allegedly abducted by
the family members of his wife a day
after their wedding from the house of
his cousin. His badly bruised body was
found two days later in a rivulet.
The Commission has observed that
going by the contents of the media
reports, the Rights to Life, Liberty and
Dignity of the victim have been grossly
violated. Such kind of inhuman acts
cannot be accepted in a civilized society.
The State has a responsibility to
safeguard the rights of its citizens from
such heinous crimes.
The Commission therefore takes suo-
motu cognizance of the matter and
directs issuance of notice to the Chief
Secretary and the Director General of
Police, Kerala calling for a detailed report
in the matter within four weeks along
with status of rehabilitation/protection
provided to the family members of the
deceased. The response is expected
within four weeks.
As per media reports carried today
on the 31st May, 2018, the brother
of the wife of deceased and his father
have been arrested and sent to judicial
custody. One of the accused
surrendered in Peerumedu court. He
was handed over to the police. An
audio tape of conversation between
guilty ASI and the brother of the wife
of the deceased has also been run on
TV channels, which reportedly,
indicates involvement of the police
personnel in the crime. The Finance
Minister of the State has also said that
the incident is an indelible blot on the
state's reputation.
NHRC notice to the Government
of Gujarat over the reported
death of a Dalit rag picker due
to beating by five men in Rajkot
The National Human Rights
Commission, NHRC has taken suo
24
motu cognizance of media report that
a 40 year old Dalit rag picker was
beaten to death at Shapar village in
Rajkot district on Sunday the 20th
May, 2018, allegedly over the issue
of collecting scraps in the area.
Following a complaint lodged by the
victim's wife, police have registered
an offence of murder and other
charges against five unidentified
persons under the IPC and Scheduled
Castes & Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The Commission has observed that
the contents of the news report, if
true, raise serious issue of violation
of human rights of the victims.
Accordingly, it has issued a notice to
the Chief Secretary to the
Government of Gujarat calling for a
report in the matter within four weeks
along with measures taken for relief
to the affected families.
According to the media report,
carried on the 21st May, 2018, the
victim, a native of Parnala village of
Surendranagar district of Gujarat,
along with his wife and an
acquaintance was picking rags
around a factory in Shapar area. Five
unidentified persons from the factory
had an altercation with them and all
three rag pickers were allegedly
beaten up by them. After beating
them, the women were sent back
while the victim was held by the
miscreants. When the women
returned with some other persons,
they found the victim on the ground.
He was taken to the hospital, where
doctors declared him brought dead.
As reported, the Deputy
Superintendent of Police of the area
has stated that there are wounds on
the body of the deceased which could
have been caused by blunt objects like
sticks. The probe in the matter has
been reportedly initiated by the police
authorities.
 International Human Rights Update
Insurgents Use Landmines in
South Thailand
Separatist insurgents have used
landmines to maim rubber plantation
workers and seriously disrupt the
daily life of people in Thailand’s
southern border provinces, Human
Rights Watch said today. Ethnic
Malay Muslim insurgents affiliated
with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional
(BRN) separatist movement should
immediately cease using
antipersonnel landmines and end
attacks on civilians.
On July 2, 2018, Suthin
Haewkhuntod, an ethnic Thai
Buddhist latex tapper in Yala
province’s Krong Penang district, lost
his foot after he stepped on a landmine
reportedly laid by insurgents on the
rubber plantation where he worked.
Two other ethnic Thai Buddhist latex
tappers, Wipawan Plodkaenthong and
Chutipon Namwong, were seriously
wounded by landmines, in Yala’s Yaha
district on June 28 and in Muang
district on July 2.
“Laying landmines on rubber
plantations and in paths used by
villagers is cruel beyond words,” said
Brad Adams, Asia director. “Insurgent
groups should stop using these
unlawful weapons and clear the
landmines they have already laid.”
The separatist groups should observe
the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which
Thailand ratified in 1998.
Antipersonnel mines are prohibited
because they cannot discriminate
between civilians and combatants,
and because they kill and maim people
long after they are laid.
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
The insurgents have claimed that
ethnic Thai Buddhists should not live
in the southern border provinces.
They have frequently used both
victim-activated and command-
detonated landmines over the past
decade, according to Landmine
Monitor. Victim-activated mines are
specifically prohibited by the Mine
Ban Treaty. Since the first reported
case in 2010, Human Rights Watch
found that the BRN insurgents
frequently used explosives activated
by pressure plates or tripwires to kill
and injure people working in rubber
and fruit plantations.
International humanitarian law, also
known as the laws of war, prohibits
attacks on civilians or attacks that fail
to discriminate between combatants
and civilians. Since the escalation of
insurgent attacks beginning January
2004, Human Rights Watch has
documented numerous violations of
the laws of war. Most victims have
been civilians from the populations
of ethnic Thai Buddhists and ethnic
Malay Muslims in the provinces of
Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and
Songkhla. There is no basis to
insurgent claims that attacks on Thai
Buddhist civilians are lawful because
they are part of the Thai Buddhist state
or that Islamic law, as they interpret
it, permits such attacks.
The most visible impact of insurgent
attacks is the flight of ethnic Thai
Buddhists from the communities
where they have lived alongside
25
ethnic Malay Muslims for
generations. Their plantations have
been abandoned. Landmine victim
Suthin Haewkhuntod is the last ethnic
Thai Buddhist latex tapper in his
village.
Although the insurgents have suffered
major setbacks from government
security sweeps, they maintain a
presence in hundreds of ethnic Malay
Muslims village. The BRN insurgents
point to abusive, heavy-handed
tactics by government security
forces as a justification for their acts
of violence, and as a recruiting tactic
to get new members.
In the southern border provinces,
Thai government security forces and
associated militias have carried out
reprisal attacks and other abuses in
violation of the laws of war.
Government forces benefit from an
entrenched culture of impunity for
human rights violations in the
southern border provinces. The
government has yet to successfully
prosecute any police or military
personnel for human rights abuses
against suspected ethnic Malay
Muslim insurgents.
“The Thai government should
respond to the insurgents’ use of
landmines and other brutal attacks
on civilians by upholding the rule of
law, ending security force abuses,
and addressing long-held grievances
in the ethnic Malay Muslim
community,” Adams said. “If the
government continues to shield its
troops from criminal liability, it will
only add fuel to the flames of
insurgent violence.”
 Syria/Jordan: Open Borders to
Daraa Residents
Jordanian and Israeli authorities
should allow Syrians fleeing fighting
in Daraa governorate to claim asylum
and protect them, Human Rights
Watch said today. On June 16, 2018,
the Syrian-Russian military alliance
opened an offensive in Daraa and
Quneitra governorate, one of the last
anti-government held areas in Syria.
The United Nations estimates that
271,800 people have fled the
hostilities thus far, moving toward the
Jordanian border and the Israeli-
occupied Golan Heights.
On June 26, 2018, Jordan’s new
prime minister, Omar Razzaz, said at
a news conference that Jordan “will
not receive any new refugees from
Syria.” On June 28, the Jordanian
foreign affairs minister, Ayman al-
Safadi, met with UN Secretary-
General Antonio Guterres, and told
him that Jordan will provide all
support necessary to Syrians “on
their own soil.” In response, dozens
of Jordanian citizens have taken to
social media to call on their
government to open the border for
Syrians. The Jordanian border has
been closed to fleeing asylum seekers
since at least June 2016.
“The abject refusal by Jordanian
authorities to allow asylum seekers
to seek protection not only goes
against their international legal
obligations, but against basic human
decency,” said Lama Fakih, deputy
Middle East director at Human Rights
Watch. “Jordanians themselves are
appealing to their government’s basic
decency and calling for those in need
to be let in.”
Since June 27, no aid convoy has
been able to cross the border into
Syria from Jordan due to their
security concerns and the Syrian
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
government has not authorized aid
deliveries across the fighting lines.
Residents told Human Rights Watch
that displaced people residents along
the border lack access to shelter,
clean water, and food.
Daraa and Quneitra, which adjoin the
occupied Golan Heights and Jordan,
are part of one of four de-escalation
zones in Syria established to stop
hostilities and facilitate aid access
until a political resolution is reached.
The zone was negotiated by the
United States, Jordan, and Russia.
Local media activists reported
relentless strikes and shelling by the
Syrian-Russian military alliance onto
towns in Daraa governorate since
June 16, leading to extensive
displacements.
Human Rights Watch spoke to five
people, including three displaced
Daraa residents who traveled to the
Jordanian border attempting to flee
the violence in the area, but could not
due to the Jordanian border closure.
“There are displaced persons about
two kilometers away from the border,
but of course they can’t cross,” an
activist who lived in Ghasam, a village
near the Jordanian border, told Human
Rights Watch on June 29. “Those
who try face warning gunshots.”
The activist, whose name is withheld
for his protection, said that almost
every area in Eastern Daraa had been
shelled or struck: “I visited most
places that were struck except Reef
al-Atash, given there are intense
strikes and heavy clashes. I went to
Busra, al-Karak, al-Musayfirah, al-
Hirak, al-Jiza, al-Naihmah, Umm al
Ma’azen, Al-Sahwah – and they were
all hit by the Syrian government.”
He said that the towns are now
entirely empty: “Nothing is left but
26
stones…Have you ever heard of
Grozny? This is how I’d compare the
situation. It’s Grozny. The
destruction is unbelievable,” he said,
referring to the capital of Russia’s
Chechnya region during the conflict
there. Another resident said: “I was
in Daraa al-Balad and I left to al-
Karak, they shelled us there, I went
to al-Jiza. There, the house I was
staying in was shelled and we
miraculously survived. From there,
we fled to an area close to the
Jordanian border. There is nowhere
to go from here.”
He said he would enter Jordan if
Jordanian authorities opened the
border, but that it is clearly closed.
Mousa Zobi, the head of the
Emergencies Committee for the
Daraa Local Council, said that people
are fleeing strikes and shelling but are
also afraid of incoming Syrian
government forces and pro-
government militias retaking their
areas. A resident of Tafas village in
Daraa governorate confirmed this,
saying that he was the only one left
in his village but would leave if Syrian
forces entered the village.
Zobi said he had visited the Jordanian
border numerous times over the past
two weeks and was trying to support
the displaced people, but that
humanitarian conditions were very
difficult with limited and dwindling
access to shelter, clean water, or
food, and that he anticipates that the
situation will only get worse as
numbers of displaced people
increase.
On June 29, the UN humanitarian
arm, the Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said
that the displaced population is in
urgent need of assistance, and that
while this agency is able to provide
support through supplies already
there, the Syrian government has yet
to give them permission to provide
aid across the line of fighting.
The activist from Ghasam said that
he visited the border regularly: “We
have been trying to return [the
displaced people] into the towns near
the border because there’s nothing to
shelter them on the border, no tents,
no water, no sanitary services.
Everything is unavailable.”
OCHA said that the area near the
Jordanian border is also at risk from
the ongoing hostilities, with aid
convoys unable to cross since June
27 due to bombardment a few
kilometers from the border.
Thousands of displaced Daraa
residents have also gathered along
the outskirts of the occupied Golan
Heights. Media reports indicate that
the delivery of aid from Israel is
continuing to camps close to the
occupied Golan Heights, though
residents indicate that this is not
nearly sufficient for their needs. On
June 29, the Israeli army, which
controls entry into the Golan
Heights, said it will not allow
Syrians fleeing the fighting in Daraa
to enter, but will continue to provide
aid. There is no access to the Golan
Heights for residents of Syria
without Israeli authorities’
permission.
Human Rights Watch has previously
documented the Syrian
government’s use of unlawful
tactics in retaking territory from
anti-government groups in places
like Eastern Aleppo and Eastern
Ghouta, including using prohibited
weapons such as chemical weapons
and incendiary and cluster munition
attacks. The Syrian government,
with the backing of its Russian ally,
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
also restricted access to
humanitarian aid and struck medical Please subscribe to
facilities during fighting in Eastern Human Touch
Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta. and support us for
On June 27, a hospital supported by creation of a just and
the Syrian-American Medical Society equitable society and
in Daraa was attacked with six Contribute Articles and
airstrikes, severely damaging the
facility and killing one doctor, Support Our Cause in
according to the organization. The Creating a Just and
attack on the hospital was the eighth Equitable Society
reported on a medical facility by the
Syrian-Russian military alliance in as
many days.
International humanitarian law
prohibits attacks directed against "There are many causes that I
health facilities and medical workers. am prepared to die for but no
All parties to the conflict must take causes that I am prepared to
all feasible precautions to save civilian kill for."
lives and should cease the use of
prohibited weapons and unlawful Mahatma Gandhi
attacks on civilians and medical The Story of My
facilities. All parties should all facilitate Experiments with Truth, 1927
unimpeded humanitarian aid and
access. All warring parties should
provide permission for and facilitate
cross-line and cross-border
assistance.
Jordan and Israeli authorities
operating in the occupied Golan
Heights should allow asylum seekers
to seek asylum in areas under their
control, and facilitate the entry of
humanitarian aid to serve the
displaced population fleeing violence.
The international community should
also provide support to countries that
are hosting refugees and providing Visit our
humanitarian assistance. social media page at :
“The situation in the southwest is so
https://
dangerous that even humanitarian www.facebook.com/
convoys cannot cross to provide aid humantouchmagazine/
to populations in need,” Fakih said.
“There is no stronger signal that for online
Jordan and Israeli authorities should human rights updates.
not close the door on Syrians fleeing
to safety.”
27
 Human Trafficking in India:
W
hen MONA was 13 years,
her mother died and her
father remarried. The
stepmother was uncomfortable with
Mona and wanted to send her away
for some job, where she would be
able to look after herself. Along came
a ”contractor” who arranged jobs for
youngsters as domestic help, etc. He
paid a certain sum of money to the
stepmother and took Mona to a town
far away. He got her a job in a
massage parlour as a ‘receptionist’.
Even before Mona got to know the
work profile, she realized that she had
been trapped into sexual
exploitation. She had become a sexual
slave to the ‘customers’ who
frequently visits the place for full-
body massage.
 
Mona is no exception. She is one of
the millions of women and children
being trafficked and exploited.
Mona’s case presents a typical
trafficking scenario. Human
trafficking (HT) is one of the gravest
violations of human dignity and
human rights. Trafficking can be
classified under three heads: (a) for
commercial sexual exploitation
(CSE), (b) for exploitative labour or
EL and (c) for other forms of
exploitation, like selling of organs,
camel jockeying, etc.
 
CSE could take place in a brothel or
anywhere else like massage parlours
and bars. The cause of trafficking is
two-dimensional. One is the demand
factor and the other is the
vulnerability of the person being
victimized. More the demand, more
the crime. The vulnerability of the
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
A Scourge of Civil Society
trafficked victim is another
dimension. Vulnerability, as often
quoted, is not exactly attributable to
poverty. It is a culmination of several
factors, including awareness of rights,
lack of access to rights, illiteracy,
disparities of income , the scope for
exploitation of the victim, poor law
enforcement, lack of public
awareness and the ” culture of
silence” to violation of rights of
others.
 
Article 23 of the Constitution of India
prohibits trafficking in any form. We
have special legislations like the
Immoral Traffic Prevention Act
(ITPA), 1956, the Bonded Labour
System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and the
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection)
Act, 2000. The law enforcement
scenario, seen from the traditional
viewpoint, presents a dismal picture.
Research conducted by the National
Human Rights Commission during
28
2002-2004 shows that the major
issues in law enforcement are as
follows:
1. Lack of priority-The law
enforcement agencies and justice
delivery agencies, for various
reasons, accord lowest or nil priority
to HT issues.
2. Insensitivity-The lack of
sensitivity to human trafficking is a
major challenge. It is more of an
attitudinal issue.
3. Victimization of the victim-More
often, the trafficked women have
been arrested and penalized for
‘soliciting’.
4 Improper Investigation-
trafficking involves a long trail,
starting from the source point,
covering several transit points before
terminating at the destination. But the
investigation is more or less confined
to the place where the victim is
rescued. Victims remain more often
unheard and unrepresented.
5. Organized crime perspective is
lacking in investigation- HT
involves several offenders like
recruiters, transporters, traffickers,
harbourers, exploiters and
conspirators. But often, investigation
is limited to those present at the scene
of rescue. Human trafficking being
an organized crime requires sharing
of intelligence and an in-depth
investigation into all linkages but this
is rarely done.
6. Lack of co-ordination-The
response to human trafficking
requires co-ordination among the
various government departments, like
police, public welfare, health, women
and child. The gap in co-ordination
is a major challenge to the response
system.
7. Lack of coordination with NGO’s-
The ITPA and labour laws do assign
specific role to NGO’s; however there
is no institutionalized system of co-
ordination between the law
enforcement agencies and NGO’s.
8. Lack of Appreciation-Several
instances of good work done by the
police officers, researchers, NGO’s,
etc, in controlling human trafficking
can be cited. However such actions
are not acknowledged and
disseminated; often good news is no
news and bad news is good news.
 9.  Lack  of  Emphasis  on
Rehabilitation- This is a major
challenge which leads to not only
victimization of victims but also re-
trafficking of the rescued person.
Despite the fact that several
corporates set aside large funds for
social responsibility, lack of synergy
with the law enforcement agencies
and NGO’s has been an impediment
in effective dovetailing of such
sources for rehabilitating the victim.
 
However, the emerging scenario is
certainly positive. There are several
initiatives launched across the
country to address human trafficking
in a comprehensive and effective
manner. Some of these initiatives may
be initiated by individuals who are
committed to the cause and due to
their initiatives, such steps are getting
institutionalized. In fact, during the
last six years of this century, there
has been a growing momentum
against human trafficking. The
reasons may be many. First of all,
credit should go to NGOs who have
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
brought the HT issue into the national
agenda. Secondly,  several  law
enforcement officers and human
rights activists have provided
leadership and proper orientation in
achieving better results in anti-human
trafficking (AHT).
Increased awareness
There is a national momentum,
involving various stake holders,
especially the media, the corporates,
government agencies including the
law-enforcement wing and human
rights agencies. One of the best
examples is the Global Initiative in
Fighting Human Trafficking (GIFT),
initiated by UNODC (United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime).
 
Holistic approach
Several agencies working together
and attending to the issues of ‘PPP’
(Prevention, Protection and
Prosecution), in a concerted manner
has been one of the features of the
new response system. While police
undertake rescue operations along
with NGOs, other government
departments immediately move in, to
provide interim relief to the
victims. The  NGOs  take  over  post-
rescue care and attention in
association with the government
agencies concerned.
 
Synergy in action
The UNODC, New Delhi, in
partnership with the government of
India and State
government
agencies as well as
civil society has
set up ‘anti-human
trafficking units’
(AHTU) in several
states. AHTU is a
special task force
set up under the
State police, by
involving chosen
29
police officers, NGOs and others
who are specially trained for the
purpose. UNODC has provided
training and empowerment to these
officers with focus on knowledge,
skills and attitudinal orientation.
These units are making a tremendous
impact on the law enforcement
scenario - for example, in a span of
six months, the AHTUs in Andhra
Pradesh have rescued more than 700
victims of which more than 100 are
children under 18. The rescued
victims are being promptly taken
care of by the government as well as
NGOs, most of them having been
rehabilitated with the help of
corporate and business houses.
Excellent rehabilitation has been
achieved through synergetic action.
 
AHT is an area, which beckons all
those who are concerned with human
rights. There is much to do and
something to be done by everybody.
It is everybody’s business. The
question is whether one is a part of
the problem or part of the solution.
There is no third option. Therefore,
all who are committed to human
rights must join hands in this global
initiative to fight human trafficking.
We can together ensure that, Mona
is safe in our home and community
and that Mona lives with dignity, like
all of us and it will be so with all the
Mona’s.
- HT Bureau
 Higher Education in India:
I
t is a proven fact that education
and more education is the ultimate
panacea for curing the ills of the
people. Accordingly, governments of
various countries are making effort
to raise the quality of higher education
of their people.
Here, I dare to submit that a
simplistic solution for this complex
issue can be obtained to a large extent
simply by charging the cost of higher
education from its beneficiaries. And
this pay-back for the cost of higher
education can play a vital role in
improving quality of higher education
as well as create enabling
environment for facilitating much
needed reforms in higher education
sector in one comprehensive sweep.
The aforesaid approach will induce
self-sustainable reforms in the field
of higher education and there will be
quantum jump in quality of higher
education. The modalities for the
aforesaid are elaborated below, in the
context of India which is largely
applicable to other countries, also:
Recently, the Government of India
planned to establish 8 new Indian
Institutes of Technology, 7 new
Indian Institutes of Management, 15
Central Universities, 5 new Indian
Institutes of Science Education and
Research, and 14 World-class
Universities. However, it is unlikely
that the dream of setting up of
acknowledgeable world-class
institutions in India can be realized in
near foreseeable future, because it
appears to me that just by starting a
few more educational institutions and
investing huge sums of money in their
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
Needs a Revamp
establishment or by allocating more
money for existing educational
institutions, and wishing that some
of these will rise to world-class,
nothing significant can be achieved.
Had money been the most significant
factor, many universities of oil-rich
West-Asian countries would have
been pushed in the top echelon of
world-class universities by now.
Moreover, the money and other
resources are also limited, thus these
should be judiciously employed with
a strategic view to ensure their
optimal utilization, or else we will end
up merely with a few more money
guzzling educational institutions.
Beyond the money and the resources,
there are two more significant factors,
viz., (i) “Frame-work of an
Institution” and (ii) “Performance of
Individuals”, which play important
role in raising the quality of an
educational institution.
In India, frame-work of a
government-aided educational
institution is bound by rigid
regulations which cannot be set aside
in the near future, like, reservation
quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs)/
Scheduled Tribes (STs)/Other
Backward Castes (OBCs), as well as
quota for minorities, for admission
of students as well as for
appointment of faculty members and
other administrative staff.
Reservation policies will stay in India,
till people of the reserved categories
30
- Dr. Prem Kumar Sinha
achieve parity with those of the
general category. So, till, we continue
with the existing frame-work of our
government-aided educational
institutions, there is no scope for
raising the level of Indian Universities
to the world-class.
So presently, “Performance of
Individuals” is the only remaining factor
on which we can work upon and try
to raise the level of education as much
as possible, and it comprises three sets
of people, viz., Administrators,
Faculty-Members, and Students.
First, I briefly touch upon the attitude
of administrators of government-
aided educational institutions. Many
a time, heads of these institutions,
viz., Vice-chancellors/Principals are
themselves appointed with undue
interventions. Quite often, they have
their personal agenda to meet through
the process of appointment of
teachers and other staff. Also, many
a time, teachers do not care seriously
whether their pupils learn or not
because it does not have any
detrimental effect on their salaries (at
least in government-aided
institutions).
Now, I discuss the role of the students
who comprise the last but the most
important block of an educational
institution. People seldom discuss as
to how students can be made more
receptive towards the education
which is delivered to them in an
educational institution. It has been
noticed, in India, that they put up their
hardest efforts for ensuring their
admission in a government-aided

educational institution (where they are
imparted highly subsidized higher
education) but once they secure
admission in an educational institution
of higher education, their motivation
level drops. The very same students
when they go to U.S.A. for higher
studies, they again start working
harder because they pay dearly for
the cost of their education and thus
easily understand that the opportunity
granted to them for learning is not to
be wasted.
Generally, it costs Rs.50,000/- to
Rs.200,000/- per student per year
to the Government of India,
depending upon the academic
discipline, for providing higher
education in a medium level
government-aided educational
institution, whereas such students
are charged, each, around
Rs.5,000/- to Rs.20,000/-, only, per
year. One should provide free
education up to secondary level for
public good but for the higher
education, fruits of which are
mostly enjoyed by the concerned
students privately, its cost must be
charged from the students, not for
the sake of any monetary profit but
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
at least to promote further the cause
of education. So, it is argued that
actual cost of higher education
should be charged from the
students. One should not fear that
it would take away higher education
from the reach of the students as,
now, they should be charged for the
cost of their education only after
they have finished their studies, and
while they pursue for their studies,
they should be provided free
education, of course, without any
fees.
Now, a question arises as to how
the cost of education can be realized
from the students after they have
completed their studies. It is not
difficult anymore, because owing to
advancement of information
technology enabled services, now,
a person can be easily traced. Thus,
cost of his education can be directly
debited from his salary in the same
way as Income Tax is deducted.
No one should think that the pay-
back for the cost of higher
education delivered to a person is
any kind of hardship to him. Because
the person concerned would be
31
paying only for a thing which he has
already availed of and, now, reaping
its rich dividend which should
continue throughout his life.
Moreover, this pay-back will help in
spreading and strengthening higher
education for the benefit of his
remaining brethren, which will make
the entire society more prosperous
in due course of time and its rich
reward will be enjoyed by one and
all. Also, this pay-back for the cost
of higher education can play a very
dominant role as well as create an
enabling environment which can
facilitate purposeful and much
needed reforms in the higher
education sector, in one
comprehensive sweep, as is
illustrated below:
1. Students will not wile away
their time during their studies
because they will be aware
about the true cost of their
education in the beginning
itself. Therefore, they will not
fritter away the golden period
of their lives, when they can
naturally acquire skills/
knowledge in the most
efficient manner.
2. When the Government will be
spared from the burden of
meeting ever-increasing
recurring cost for maintaining
already established educational
institutions, it can spend more
money on establishment of
new institutions and thereafter
it can pass over its control to
selected educational bodies
(public or private or co-
operative or corporate) for
professional management. It
will increase availability of
more educational institutions
for our youngsters, thus
unburdening them from a lot
of anxiety in this respect.

3. When students are not
required to pay for higher
education, no meritorious
student, howsoever poor will
ever face difficulty in receiving
higher education. Instead, all
the meritorious students will
be preferred for granting
admission, since after their
studies, chances of their early
and decent employment will be
more which will ensure earlier
pay-back for the cost of their
education, which in turn will
directly benefit the institutions
from where they received their
higher education. So
meritorious students will not
be denied admission and
fairness in the selection
process during admissions
will get a boost.
4. Another benefit of setting up
of more and more educational
institutions by the
Government would be that
private un-aided educational
institutions, which are mostly
set up to mint money by
fleecing students, will have
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
some kind of check in
charging fees from the
students, as now students will
have more options to pursue
higher studies. Thus the fee
burden of those students, who
do not get admission in
government-aided educational
institutions, will also reduce.
5. As the money realized from
the students is to be
transferred to their alma mater
for paying salaries to their
teachers, staff, and other
recurring expenses, this factor
will act as a big catalyst in
increasing interest of the
teachers towards their
students because the better
they teach, the more their
students will learn, which will
help these students in getting
decent employment which will
ensure quick pay-back of the
cost of their education, which
will improve financial health
and growth of the concerned
educational institution and its
teachers. Similarly, now,
educational administrators
32
would also like to recruit the
best teachers. At the same
time, students will also like to
study in those institutions
where quality teaching is
imparted, so that chances of
their employability increase.
Because, now, education is not
free and thus they would not
like to pay for a thing which
does not yield value to them.
In this cycle of
(i) appointment of teachers
and staff;
(ii) admission of students;
(iii) teaching;
(iv) learning,
(v) placement for jobs;
(vi) pay-back of the cost of
education;
everyone’s interest will get
inseparably inter-twined,
which will infuse
transparency in the entire
process and usher in a new
era where everyone would feel
responsible for his actions.
Because now the teaching-
learning process would be
performance-oriented and will
be judged by the third party,
i.e., the employer, who will
measure the quality and
suitability of the students for
his organization. This in turn
will inculcate team spirit
among the teachers, the
educational administrators and
the students, and such a
scenario can certainly
galvanize rapid growth of
higher education by leaps and
bounds.
The first and foremost question
which arises in one’s mind is with
regard to feasibility and sustainability
of the scheme, which envisages that,
first, higher education should be
provided free, and later, its cost
should be charged from the
concerned students. People will
question what will happen if pay-back
for the cost of higher education is
received only from a minuscule
percentage of students and others are
unable to pay-back of their own or
simply express their inability to pay-
back by concealing their actual
income. My answer is as under: As
per the conservative estimates, at
least 50 percent students, who receive
higher education, are able to garner a
good job in public/private sector or
successful in establishing a profitable
venture, and thus they would be
earning more than Rs.20,000/- per
month. Thus, on an average a sum
of Rs.10,000/- per month or Rs.0.12
million per annum, can be charged
from such persons. Now, supposing,
Rs.0.1 million per annum is spent on
higher-education of a student by the
Government, for duration of 4 to 5
years, thus his pay-back for cost of
higher education will be over in about
4 years. In this fashion, at least 50
percent cost of higher education can
be collected by the Government in 4
years.
Now, considering that remaining 50
percent do not earn enough or their
earnings cannot be traced in black
and white then for these remaining
50 percent, there should be a
stipulation that if such people
transact any financial deal later in
their lives, like, sale or purchase or
inheritance of any property, motor-
driven vehicle, etc., then first charge
from their income should be
adjusted towards their outstanding
cost of higher education. In this way,
the Government will be able to
recover much more than the above
estimated conservative figure of 50
percent towards cost of higher-
education.
Presently, the Government is able to
realize less than 10 percent of the
Vol. XV No. 7 July 2018
total expenditure incurred by it teachers as well as students will
towards the higher education and still increase thus raising the quality of
maintaining its educational higher education in a sequential
institutions, therefore, the scenario manner and (ii) money collected from
suggested above is much better those who have benefitted from the
which enables the Government to higher education, can supplement
realize more than 50 percent cost of government efforts in spreading
higher education from the higher education among all, which is
beneficiaries in about four years as the ultimate panacea for uplift of
well as reap a bigger reward by weaker sections in a shortest possible
inducing a culture of academic time.
accountability among the teachers as
well as the students. So, now, the
Government can maintain its - The author is working as the
educational institutions for the initial Assistant Registrar (Academic) at
years, and thereafter these Dayalbagh Educational Institute,
institutions should be paid, only in Agra.
proportion to the remittances The article is available online at
collected from the students who http://www.curingindia.com/
received education from these
institutions.
It would be worthwhile to mention
that, presently, the system of higher
education is skewed in favour of
those who are more empowered in
their respective categories (General/ Contribute Articles and
SCs/STs/OBCs). First of all, those Support Our Cause in
few who hail from empowered Creating a Just and
families are likely to receive better Equitable Societyhuman
education in their childhood which in
turn helps them in securing admission rights updates.
in government-aided educational
institutions, with low fee-structure.
Later, it helps them in securing a
better job which naturally improves
their standing in the society even
more. Thus, presently, the
empowered ones receive higher
subsidy and opportunity for higher
Please subscribe to
growth vis-à-vis those who were Human Touch
under privileged since birth, which and support us for
is not fair by any count.
creation of a just and
Thus, in the nut-shell, it can be said equitable society and
that if we fully charge the students Contribute Articles and
for the cost of their higher education,
it will help in creating a conducive
Support Our Cause in
environment, whereby the following Creating a Just and
twin objectives can be achieved: (i) Equitable Society
academic accountability of the
33
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2. Letter Heads Mob: 9810284958, 9350314602
3. Envelopes E-mail: crystalcom@gmail.com
4. Marriage & Invitation Cards etc.