UN experts on Wednesday expressed “grave concern’’ at the ongoing update of the National Register of Citizens in Assam with its potential to harm millions of people.
They also placed on record that the Indian government had not responded to any of three representations they had sent seeking clarifications on the NRC process over the past one year, the latest as recently as May-end.
Independent experts are part of the UN Human Rights Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address country-specific situations as well as thematic issues across the world.
In a statement from Geneva, the UN experts detailed the NRC process and said it “may exacerbate the xenophobic climate while fuelling religious intolerance and discrimination in the country’’.
They asserted that in processes to determine people’s nationality, the burden of proof should lie with the state and not the individual.
“We are seriously concerned over the current implementation of the NRC update in Assam and its potentially far-reaching consequences for millions of people, in particular persons belonging to minorities who risk statelessness, deportation or prolonged detention,’’ the statement said.
The experts took note of the Indian government’s reported intention to replicate the NRC model elsewhere in the country and Mizoram’s adoption of a bill to create a separate register for residents and non-residents.
They urged India to ensure that the process does not result in “statelessness, discriminatory or arbitrary deprivation or denial of nationality, mass expulsion, and arbitrary detention’’.
