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2017: PURSUING
JUSTICE AND TRUTH
Amnesty International India
#235, 13th Cross, Indira Nagar, 2nd Stage,
Bengaluru – 560038, Karnataka, India
After understanding what Human Rights are, I want to change three things in
the world we live in;
–	 Students must learn to speak up. We come to school to
become leaders of our society, not slaves.
–	 Happiness and equality to all. No one deserves sadness.
–	 Our politicians are fair and good. They must win
by respecting all sections of the society, not by hurting them.”
Neeraj Jat, Class 11th, Deputy PM, Bal Cabinet, BVM School,
Sehore, Madhya Pradesh
04	 NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
08	 WHAT WE DO
14	 HUMAN RIGHTS CHALLENGES
18	 GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
24	 HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN INDIA
34	 BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
36	 HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
40	 BUILDING THE MOVEMENT
42	 FINANCIAL REPORT
INSIDE
Dear friend and supporter,
I wish you a prosperous and happy 2018 and I hope this
note finds you well. This note will quickly take you through
our programme of work for this year.
You will be aware that much of our work deals with difficult
social issues in India. We dream of a country where all
individuals can enjoy the rights guaranteed to us by our
Constitution and international human rights standards. This
requires systemic change and that is where our attention
was, and remains.
As a campaigning organisation, one of our strengths has been
mobilising large numbers of individuals. In 2017, we were
able to get over 700,000 Indians to take action on rights
issues. We believe that a community of people aware of their
rights and willing to stand up for them are at the heart of
any rights-respecting society. Along with our campaigns,
research and advocacy this year, we will continue to grow
this community that is invested in the issues on which we
seek change.
Let me detail some of our programmes of work in 2018:
– 	 Our programme on gender-based violence will look at
improving the implementation of the Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. We
will assess how effectively this law addresses violence
against Dalit and Adivasi women.
	 We are also working on a campaign that works with
garment workers standing up against sexual violence at
their workplaces, and seeks the better implementation
of anti-sexual harassment laws. This year, we shall also
launch a campaign aiming to ensure that women can
exercise their right to free speech online without the fear
of violence and abuse.
–	 In 2017, we supported Adivasi people in Chhattisgarh in
their fight to reclaim land unlawfully taken from them.
This year, we will expand the programme to other states
where Adivasi land has been forcibly acquired. We will
assess the safeguards that exist in law, but are rarely
followed.
04 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
NOTE FROM THE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
–	 Our Human Rights Education programme will promote
human rights principles and values in schools and
colleges. We will work with students to ensure that they
know and can claim their rights, in an effort to create a
rights respecting society in India.
–	 In Kashmir, we will continue our campaign to urge the
state government to ban the use of pellet-firing shotguns
by security forces. This weapon, used nowhere else
in India, has blinded hundreds of people, including
bystanders and children, and causing immeasurable
harm to them and their families.
–	 We will stand with whistle-blowers and human rights
defenders - true heroes who risk their lives and safety
to fight for freedom and justice. A new campaign will
highlight the difference that these people make to the
lives of many ordinary Indians.
	 I would like to end by saying that fundraising is a vital
component of our work, particularly to sustain our
movement. Our focus in India remains on creating a base
of concerned people who make monthly contributions as
supporters of Amnesty India. This model helps us involve
other Indians in our work and keeps us independent from
any political, economic or ideological interests. We are
very happy to say that we signed up over 25,000 such
individuals in 2017. We believe this number will grow
substantially in 2018.
Your support remains vital for us and I thank you for continuing
to stand with us.
Aakar Patel
Executive Director
Amnesty International India
“We dream of a country where all individuals
can enjoy the rights guaranteed to us by our
Constitution and international human rights
standards. This requires systemic change and
that is where our attention was, and remains.”
– Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India
EVERY PERSON
IN INDIA ENJOYS ALL THE
HUMAN RIGHTS
ENSHRINED IN THE
CONSTITUTION
OF INDIA AND
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS STANDARDS.
OURVISION
06 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
WHAT WE DO
08 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
Survivor of the Bhopal Gas disaster rallying for justice on the 30th anniversary of the incident in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
A
mnesty International is a
Nobel Peace Prize-winning
global movement of more
than 7 million people in
over 100 countries and
territories who campaign for a world
where human rights are enjoyed by
all. For more than 55 years, we have
shown that people united in common
action can achieve extraordinary
things.
In India, our offices are spread
across six major cities - Delhi,
Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad
and Bengaluru, which is also our
head-office. We have international
offices in cities in Africa, Asia-
Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe,
the Americas and the Middle East.
All the offices are hubs for our
investigations, campaigns, advocacy,
fundraising & supporter engagement.
We stand with women workers
facing sexual violence in garment
factories, with the victims of
the 1984 Sikh massacre in
demanding compensation, with
children in schools who experience
discrimination, with Adivasi
communities who have been
unlawfully dispossessed of their
lands, and other vulnerable and
marginalised groups. We also engage
with children and young people in
schools and colleges, in an effort to
create a rights-respecting society in
India.
RESEARCH. EVIDENCE. ACTION. IMPARTIAL. INDEPENDENT. ACCURATE.
Our action for justice, freedom and
dignity is based on high-quality
research, evidence and legal analysis.
This is accompanied by effective
campaigning, nation-wide solidarity
and determined persuasion to insist
that governments and others live up to
the promises made in the Constitution
and the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. We empower and
inspire others.
Our deeply held core principles
of impartiality, independence and
accuracy underpin all we do. We
mobilize people to speak out for
justice, freedom and dignity, and to
defend activists on the human rights
frontline. We are independent of
any government, ideology, economic
interest or religion. We stand together
with those fighting for their rights.
My colleagues
and I warmly
recall the efforts
made by Amnesty
International for
the restoration
of fundamental
freedoms and
individual
liberties.
Morarji Desai,
Former Prime Minister of India
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 09
Disclaimer: This map should not be interpreted as
Amnesty International's view on disputed territories.
DELHI
HARYANA
UTTAR
PRADESH
PUNJAB
RAJASTHAN
CHHATTISGARH
JHAR
KHAND
ODISHA
BIHAR
GUJARAT
MADHYA
PRADESH WEST
BENGAL
KARNATAKA
ANDHRA
PRADESH
TELAN
GANA
KERALA
GOA
TAMIL
NADU
MAHARASHTRA
JAMMU AND
KASHMIR
UTTARAKHAND
ASSAM
MANIPUR
TRIPURA
IN 2017 AND
LOOKING
FORWARD
HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION
Schools and colleges around India place
human rights at the heart of the learning
experience and make human rights an integral
part of everyday life.
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Laws designed to protect the rights of
women to be free from sexual harassment
and other violence are enforced.
DEFENDING THE RIGHTS OF ADIVASIS
Mining companies in India seek the free, prior
and informed consent of Adivasi communities
whose land they seek to acquire.
UNDERTRIAL DETENTION
Authorities take steps to reduce excessive
detention of undertrial prisoners, especially
those who have been in jail for more than half
the term they would have received if convicted.
1984 SIKH MASSACRE
The government of India reopens every one of
the cases closed by the Delhi Police related to
the 1984 Sikh Massacre, reinvestigates them
and brings those responsible to justice.
ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN JAMMU AND
KASHMIR
Authorities end the use of special laws to
prevent security force personnel charged with
serious crimes from being tried in civilian
courts.
RESPONDING TO IMMEDIATE THREATS
Individuals whose human rights are at risk are
defended and protected.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 11
STRATEGIC GOALS
12 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
A world in which everyone
knows and can claim their
rights.
RECLAIMING
FREEDOM1
A world in which people are
protected during conflict and
crises.
RESPONDING
TO CRISES3
We will be a truly global human
rights movement of people
defending human rights for all.
MAXIMIZING OUR
RESOURCES AND
ENGAGEMENT
5
A world in which human
rights abusers are held
accountable.
HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSERS ARE HELD
ACCOUNTABLE
4
A world in which human
rights and justice are enjoyed
without discrimination.
SECURING EQUAL
RIGHTS FOR ALL2
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 13
T
he year 2017 has been a particularly tough year for human rights in India - marked by violence
and divisiveness - particularly directed towards marginalised communities, across the country.
Dissent was suppressed and criminalized, and constitutional rights came under threat.
14 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
HUMANRIGHTSCHALLENGES:2017
COMMUNAL AND ETHNIC
VIOLENCE
In 2017, dozens of hate crimes against
Muslims took place across several
states. At least ten Muslim men
were lynched and many injured by
vigilante cow protection groups. State
governments failed to take adequate
action to prevent hate crimes, and
some authorities made remarks which
appeared to justify the attacks.
In March 2017, mobs carried out with
impunity a string of racist attacks
against black African students in
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
A special investigation team set up
in 2015 to reinvestigate closed cases
related to the 1984 Sikh massacre
closed 241 cases. In January 2018,
the Supreme Court set up a new team
to investigate 186 closed cases.
1 JAMMU AND
KASHMIR
FREEDOM OF
EXPRESSION
In April 2017, eight people were killed
by security forces, including some
by excessive force, following protests
during a by-election for a parliamentary
seat. Farooq Ahmad Dar, a voter, was
beaten by Army personnel, strapped to
the front of an Army jeep, and driven
around for over five hours, seemingly as
a warning to protesters.
Security forces continued to use
inherently inaccurate pellet-firing
shotguns to police protests, blinding and
injuring several people.
In July, the Supreme Court refused
to reopen 215 cases in which over
700 members of the Kashmiri Pandit
community were killed in Jammu and
Kashmir in 1989, citing the passage of
time.
In 2017, three journalists were killed
in relation to their work, including
prominent Kannada journalist Gauri
Lankesh. Journalists continued to face
criminal defamation cases filed by
politicians and companies. In June, the
Karnataka legislature sentenced two
journalists to one year’s imprisonment
each for allegedly writing defamatory
articles about members of the state
assembly.
Repressive laws were used to stifle
freedom of expression. In June, 20
people were arrested for sedition
in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan,
following complaints that they had
cheered the Pakistan cricket team’s
victory over India in a match. State
governments banned books, and the
central film certification board denied
theatrical release to films, on vague
and overly broad grounds. Freedom
of expression in universities remained
under threat.
2 3
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 15
REFUGEE
RIGHTS
An estimated 40,000 Rohingya people
in India, including over 16,000
recognised as refugees by UNHCR, are
at risk of mass expulsion, in violation
of international law. The Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA), in August 2017,
wrote to state governments asking
them to identify illegal immigrants,
including Rohingya. The MHA later
said that all Rohingya in India were
illegal immigrants, and claimed to
have evidence that some Rohingya
had ties to terrorist organisations.
The Supreme Court is now hearing a
petition filed by two Rohingya refugees
challenging the government’s policy.
In September, the MHA said that
it would grant citizenship to about
100,000 Chakma and Hajong
refugees who fled to India from
Bangladesh in the 1960s.
6IMPUNITY FOR POLICE
AND SECURITY FORCES
Impunity for police and security
forces largely continued. In January,
four Adivasi women in Dhar, Madhya
Pradesh, said they had been gang-
raped by police personnel. In
March, Adivasi villagers in Sukma,
Chhattisgarh, accused security force
personnel of gang-raping a 14-year-
old Adivasi girl. In September, two
paramilitary personnel were arrested
on suspicion of killing a woman and
raping and throwing acid on her friend
in Mizoram in July.
In June, Madhya Pradesh police shot
dead five farmers who were among the
protesters in Mandsaur demanding
better prices for their crops. In July,
the Supreme Court directed the
Central Bureau of Investigation to
investigate more than 80 alleged ‘fake
encounters’ by police and security
force personnel in Manipur between
1979 and 2012.
5HUMAN RIGHTS
DEFENDERS
In January, the Home Ministry said
that it had refused to renew the
foreign funding license of the NGO
known as People’s Watch because
it had allegedly portrayed India’s
human rights record in a “negative
light” internationally. In March,
Jailal Rathia, an Adivasi activist,
died in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, after
allegedly being poisoned by members
of a land mafia he was campaigning
against.
In April, Varsha Dongre, an official at
Raipur Central Jail in Chhattisgarh,
was transferred after she posted on
Facebook that she had seen police
torturing Adivasi girls. In August,
activist Medha Patkar and three
others protesting against inadequate
rehabilitation for families affected by
the Sardar Sarovar dam project were
arrested on fabricated charges and
detained for more than two weeks.
4
16 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
WOMEN’S
RIGHTS
CHILD
RIGHTS
Between January and August 2017,
894 deaths in judicial custody and
74 deaths in police custody were
recorded. In August, Manjula Shetye,
a woman convict at the Byculla jail
in Mumbai, died after being allegedly
beaten and sexually assaulted by
officials for complaining about
the food in the prison. A team of
parliamentarians that visited Byculla
jail reported that prisoners were
routinely beaten. In November, a
committee set up by the Delhi High
Court said that 18 prisoners in Tihar
jail in New Delhi had been beaten
after they objected to their pillow
covers being taken.
In August, the Supreme Court (SC)
banned the practice of instant ‘triple
talaq’ (Islamic instant divorce),
declaring that it was arbitrary and
unconstitutional. While responding
to petitions to criminalise marital
rape, the central government stated
that doing so would ‘destabilize the
institution of marriage’.
Several rape survivors, including girls,
approached the SC in year 2017 for
permission to terminate pregnancies
over 20 weeks.Courts approved some
abortions. The central government
instructed states to set up permanent
medical boards to decide such cases
promptly.
In July, the SC weakened a law
enacted to protect women from
cruelty in their marriages, by requiring
complaints to be initially assessed
by civil society ‘family welfare
committees’. In October, the apex
court held that sexual intercourse by
a man with his wife, who is below 18
years of age, is rape.
In June, India ratified two key ILO
conventions on child labour. Activists
remained critical of amendments
to child labour laws which allowed
children to work in family enterprises.
According to national survey data
released in March 2017, nearly 36%
of children aged below five were
underweight, and more than 38%
were short for their age. In August,
70 children died at a hospital in
Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, allegedly
because of disruption to the oxygen
supply. The share of public spending
on health remained low at 1.2%
of GDP. Spending on government
programmes to provide nutrition and
pre-school education to children under
six remained inadequate. A nationwide
survey found that 36% of children
aged between 14 and 18 in rural areas
were reading at a class 2 level.
7 8 9
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 17
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
18 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
A riot survivor looks on, as the sun sets in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, 2017.
O
ver 338,000 crimes against women were reported
in 2016 across India. That is about 39 crimes
every hour, on average. Nearly a third of the cases
involved cruelty by relatives, followed by sexual
assault cases, abduction and rape.
Women and girls constitute over 48% of India’s population,
but they continue to face inequality, discrimination and
violence. Women from Dalit, Adivasi and other
marginalised communities are disproportionately
affected by sexual violence, and their continued
marginalisation further narrows their avenues to
access justice.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 19
In 2017, we worked to raise awareness among various
groups, organisations and state and national bodies
regarding issues of gender-based violence. We also helped
empower women by making them aware of the national
legal frameworks for protection and access to justice.
We specifically assessed the implementation of the
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act in addressing violence against Dalit and
Adivasi women.
20 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
IMPACT IN 2017
A mother and child participating in the Erase the Shame campaign in Bengaluru.
PREVENTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE
In spite of the legal protection mechanisms under the
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,
Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, also known as the
Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, an estimated
70% of women in India continue to face sexual harassment
at the workplace, according to a survey by the Indian
National Bar Association.
Women from economically vulnerable groups are especially
susceptible to workplace sexual harassment, as they are
less likely to report harassment and seek redressal, for fear
of losing their jobs.
In Bengaluru, we worked to empower women garment
workers to understand and report sexual harassment in
the Peenya Industrial Area, where more than 600,000
women work in 25 garment factories. This region reported
the highest incidents of rape in the city in 2015. We will
continue to engage with these women in 2018.
We collaborated with the Garment Labor Union and five
organisations, including Open Space and CIVIDEP, to
conduct trainings on gender, sexual harassment and the
POSH Act for a core group of 20 people from local civil
society groups. With the Karnataka State Commission
for Women, we conducted a consultation on the
implementation of the POSH Act in garment factories. The
State Commission for Women and State Department of
Labour agreed to follow up on this issue with the factories.
In Pune, our efforts were to improve the support system
for women to enable them to report cases of sexual
harassment. We worked in the slum of Dattawadi and
neighbouring slums. We trained 55 Anganwadi workers, 24
Accredited Social Health Activist workers and six Auxiliary
Nurse Midwives on gender-based violence and the POSH
Act. These frontline workers will share their learning with
local communities.
We trained officials of six police stations in and around
Dattawadi on issues of gender-based violence and sexual
harassment.
Our team is also working on improving the implementation
of central government guidelines on dealing with survivors of
sexual violence in hospitals. We are collaborating with Centre
for Enquiry Into Health and Allied (CEHAT), an organization
working on medical and health care issues. We also trained
doctors and nurses at the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune
after studying existing challenges to the provision of medical
and legal care to survivors of sexual violence.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 21
Interaction between Peenya police personnel and garment workers; Bengaluru residents and college students participate in ‘16 days of activism’.
(Top left to bottom right)
OTHER IMPACT
We are partnering with the Mumbai Western Railways for
a period of five years. In 2017, through our partnership,
we reached 15,000 commuters at 10 stations in
Mumbai, to raise awareness about sexual harassment
and protection mechanisms.
In April, we launched the ‘Transgender Rights are
Human Rights’ campaign with a missed call petition
to gather support for amendments to the highly flawed
Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016.
The Bill was introduced in August 2016 and referred
to a Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC). We had
submitted our recommendations, which were supported
by over 3000 people, to the PSC in December 2016. In
July 2017, the PSC submitted a report to the Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment, many of which
reflected our recommendations.
22 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
A representative of the transgender community.
Garment workers of the Peenya Industrial area, Bengaluru march for better enforcement of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace
(POSH Act), on International Women’s Day.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 23
VISION FOR 2018
Research conducted by Amnesty International in 2017
revealed the alarming impact that online violence and
abuse have on women, with women around the world
reporting stress, anxiety, or panic attacks as a result of
these harmful online experiences.
In 2018, we will launch a campaign to ensure that women
in India are able to express themselves online freely, with-
out fear of violence and abuse. We will continue to
campaign for the rights of women garment workers in
Bengaluru who face sexual harassment and violence, and
seek better implementation of the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
36%
TOOK NO ACTION
AT ALL
58%
FACED SOME KIND OF ONLINE
AGGRESSION IN THE FORM OF
ABUSE OR HARASSMENT
28%
REDUCED THEIR
ONLINE PRESENCE
30%
WERE UNAWARE OF LAWS
TO PROTECT THEM FROM
ONLINE HARASSMENT.
Amnesty International India’s campaigners interact with Bengaluru citizens during the ‘16 days of activism’.
Garment workers from the Peenya Industrial area, Bengaluru take a stand against sexual harassment at workplace.
Source: Feminism in india; Survey of 500 survivors of Cyber violence in india
HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION
IN INDIA
24 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
I
ndian educational institutions
are rife with discrimination and
abuse against children and young
people, particularly those from
marginalised communities. The
forms of abuse that students face
extend to corporal punishment and
sexual abuse. These abuses can have
a long term and severe impact on the
lives of children and young people.
Amnesty International set up the
Human Rights Education (HRE)
programme across several countries to
create, promote and sustain rights-
respecting societies by integrating
human rights into educational
systems. Amnesty India launched
our HRE programe five years ago. We
have established the largest network
of schools under HRE, which is fitting
considering the size of our population!
HRE promotes a shared understanding
of equality, non-discrimination,
inclusion, respect, dignity and
participation. Through this
programme, we hope to prepare all
young people, from all sections of
society, for a life in the democratic
and pluralistic society of India.
While the Indian government is yet to
incorporate human rights education
into the educational system, we
and our partners are working to lay
the foundation for HRE in society.
We hope this becomes a model for
state and national governments to
implement across the country.
WRITE FOR RIGHTS
RIGHT TO EXPRESS YOURSELF!
OTHER IMPACT
Over 23,600 students from Telanga-
na, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and
Madhya Pradesh sent postcards to the
President of Honduras, demanding
that the government protect members
of MILPAH, an Indigenous Peoples’
movement.
‘Your Right to Express Yourself!’ was
an interactive theory and practice
activity which introduced the concept
of the right to freedom of expression
in educational spaces, and addressed
issues around exercising this right.
In 2017, we set up three new student-
led Amnesty College Clubs. They are in
Sampurna Montfort College and Jyoti
Nivas College in Bengaluru, and in the
Madras School of Social Work, Chennai.
There are now six Amnesty College
Clubs in different cities.
Our team reached out to several
colleges across Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu and New Delhi and interacted
with students on subjects such as
child sexual abuse, violence against
women, human rights obligations and
the role of NGOs.
In March, Amnesty International
India and National Institute of Open
Schooling (NIOS) launched the ‘Self-
Learning Human Rights Certificate
Course’ for over 4,000 community
health workers in Bihar. The course
is designed to promote human rights
values and principles of equality,
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 25
IMPACT IN 2017
dignity, inclusion, non-discrimination
and participation in the public
through community health workers.
Student participating in the ‘Your Right
to Express Yourself!’ activity.
Students take part in the Write for Rights
programme in Vellore, Tamil Nadu.
Schools and colleges undertake activities
as part of HRE clubs.
BHARAT GYAN VIGYAN SAMITI
(BGVS)
PEOPLE’S ASSOCIATION FOR RURAL
AWARENESS, (PARA), TELANGANA
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL EDUCATION
(ISE) AWARENESS
Marginalized groups often have to face
human rights violations. We believe
that educating everyone about the
human rights they inherently possess,
Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti strives
to educate people about their rights
through a focus on science and
knowledge. We work with BGVS to
integrate human rights values and
principles in schools through ‘Bal
Cabinets’ (Youth Parliaments). We
have jointly initiated a pilot project
to strengthen Bal Cabinets in 400
schools in Sehore district, Madhya
Pradesh.
PARA is a grassroots organisation
which is a pioneer in Human Rights
Education. It works with government
schools in Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana. In collaboration with
PARA, we aim to set up HRE clubs
in 60 government schools in the
Rangareddy and Hyderabad districts of
Telangana. We aim to set up a ‘junior’
and a ‘senior’ human rights club in
every school.
ISE is a Chennai-based organisation
with 15 years of experience in HRE.
They have worked with the Tamil
Nadu government and teachers union
and UNICEF’s Child Friendly Schools
initiative. With ISE, we aim to set up
HRE clubs in six districts of northern
Tamil Nadu, including Chennai.
26 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
PARTNERSHIPS
by virtue of their humanity, is key to
fulfilling our goal to create a rights-
respecting society. Since 2016, we
have reached out to students from
different marginalised communities
through valuable partnerships with
organisations who share our vision of
empowerment through knowledge.
TESTIMONIES
“Through the workshop, I got to know about the right to education under
the Constitution of India. The government school in my village, Gillaur,
lacks basic facilities, so I decided to take action under the Right to
Education Act. Together with members of the Gram Panchayat and the
community, I drafted and sent a complaint to the Madhya Pradesh Chief
Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan.”
– Deepak Solanki, Participant at
an HRE Teacher Workshop, Bhopal
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 27
VISION FOR 2018
Apart from increasing our
engagement with marginalised
communities, we want to engage
students already in HRE clubs
to participate in human rights
campaigns relevant to them.
We believe that doing so will provide
them with a clearer understanding of
the practical application of human
rights principles. We intend to set
up 20 Amnesty College Clubs in
educational institutions, which
will be run solely by students who
initiate independent action.
ACCESS TO JUSTICE
IN KASHMIR
Touseef Ahmad Malla, a teenager from Bandipora, Kashmir, was shot in the back with pellet shotguns.
28 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
H
uman rights abuses
continued with impunity
in Jammu and Kashmir
in 2017. In September,
we released a briefing,
“Losing Sight in Kashmir”, which
called for an end to the use of pellet-
firing shotguns - weapons that have
been responsible for blinding, killing
and traumatizing hundreds of people
in Kashmir. Our briefing presented the
cases of 88 people whose eyesight
were damaged by metal pellets fired
from pump-action shotguns by security
forces between 2014 and 2017.
The briefing was based on months of
research and interviews and Right to
Information applications. It showed
how people injured by pellet-firing
shotguns have faced serious physical
and mental health issues, including
symptoms of psychological trauma.
School and university students who
were hit in the eyes said that they
continue to have learning difficulties.
Several victims who were the primary
breadwinners for their families fear
they will not be able to work any
longer.
Between March and June 2017, we
also published several statements on
issues including cases of excessive
use of force by security forces, the
burning of schools, and the detention
of children under the Jammu and
Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA).
We successfully campaigned for the
release of three children who were
illegally detained under the PSA. We
also continued to advocate for the
repeal of the PSA and the Armed
Forces Special Powers Act with
political parties.
“Authorities claim the pellet shotgun is not lethal, but the injuries and
deaths caused by this cruel weapon bear testimony to how dangerous,
inaccurate and indiscriminate it is. There is no proper way to use pellet-
firing shotguns. It is irresponsible of authorities to continue the use of
these shotguns despite being aware of the damage they do.”
Aakar Patel, Executive Director at Amnesty International India
Ishrat Javid, 18, Anantnag, Kashmir, was partially blinded in both eyes by pellets while she was looking for her brother during protest.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 29
M
ore than 50,000 people
fled their homes from
Muzaffarnagar and
Shamli in Uttar Pradesh,
following the communal
violence in 2013 which claimed 60
lives. Four years later, nearly 200
families continue to wait for the justice
and compensation promised to them.
They live in squalid conditions in
resettlement colonies without proper
access to basic amenities like drinking
water, sanitation and electricity.
In September 2017, Amnesty
International India and AFKAR India
Foundation released a briefing titled
“Nowhere to go: the broken promises
to the displaced of Muzaffarnagar
and Shamli”. The report showed how
hundreds of families displaced from
their villages have been denied the
compensation they were promised
by the Uttar Pradesh government,
for reasons ranging from clerical
errors and corruption to inconsistent
definitions of a ‘family’.
The report was based on field
research conducted in Muzaffarnagar
between August 2016 and
April 2017. During these visits,
researchers met 65 families across
12 resettlement colonies, and
analyzed the documentation of almost
200 families.
An overwhelming majority of
families in resettlement colonies
lack access to basic services. About
82% of colonies in Muzaffarnagar
and 97% of colonies in Shamli
are estimated to not have safe and
clean drinking water, while 61%
of colonies in Muzaffarnagar and
70% of colonies in Shamli do not
have drainage facilities. In colonies
visited by Amnesty International India
researchers, many families lived in
unsanitary and dangerous conditions.
Toilets, which invariably lacked
proper drainage, were often shared by
three or four households.
We launched a campaign demanding
that the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
ensure that families in resettlement
colonies receive adequate
compensation and rehabilitation,
including immediate aid towards
housing, water, sanitation and health
care.
“Our good times have been
pushed back by 10 years to 15
years. We cannot provide for the
future of our children.”
Amjad Khan, survivor of the
Muzaffarnagar riots; excerpt
from “Nowhere to go: the broken
promises to the displaced of
Muzaffarnagar and Shamli”
COMPENSATION FOR
MUZAFFARNAGAR
RIOT SURVIVORS
The riot survivors of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli still wait for justice and compensation in a resettlement colony, Uttar Pradesh.
30 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
S
ince 2015, over half a
million people in India have
supported our campaign for
justice for the 1984 Sikh
massacre. On the 33rd
anniversary of the massacre in 2017, we
released a photo digest giving a glimpse
into the lives of survivors.
We remain one of the few
organizations that continue to
campaign on this issue. We kept
up pressure on the government
through our briefings, advocacy, and
campaigning to make the work of the
Special Investigation Team (SIT) - set
up in 2015 to reinvestigate closed
cases related to the massacre -
transparent and effective.
When the SIT refused to disclose
details about its functioning, we filed
Right to Information applications. We
took the concerns of the survivors of
the massacre to the Supreme court
when they told us that they were
worried about the proceedings of the
investigations. When the SIT declared
that it had closed most of the cases
it had been set up to investigate, we
condemned their ineffectiveness.
In January, the Supreme Court
set up a new three-member team
to reinvestigate 186 cases which
were closed by the previous SIT – a
move that vindicated our campaign
for justice. This is a renewed hope
for justice for the 1984 survivors,
Amnesty International India, all the
organizations who have fought for the
survivors, and all our supporters who
believed in us and the cause.
“After years of relentless
campaigning for justice for
the survivors and victims of
the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre,
our demand for reopening the
related closed cases is closer to
being met.”
Sanam Sutirath Wazir,
Senior Campaigner,
Amnesty International India
1984 SIKH
MASSACRE
A boy prays in front of the pictures of those who perished during the 1984 massacre, at the
1984 martyrs museum in Tilak Vihar, New Delhi.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 31
O
ver 650,000 Rohingya
refugees – most of them
women and children – have
fled for their lives from
Myanmar since August
2017, in what is termed as the ‘world’s
fastest-growing refugee crisis’ by the
United Nations.
Since August 2017, the Myanmar
military has executed thousands of
Rohingya women, men, and children;
raped and perpetrated other forms of
sexual violence on Rohingya women
and girls; and carried out organized,
targeted burning of entire Rohingya
villages. Amnesty International’s
report from the ground - ‘My World
is Finished’ and ‘Caged Without
a Roof’, used witness accounts,
satellite imagery and data, and
photo and video evidence to uncover
evidence of ethnic cleansing and
an institutionalized system of
segregation and discrimination.
In September 2017, the Ministry
of Home Affairs (MHA) said that all
of the estimated 40,000 Rohingya
in India were “illegal immigrants”
and would be forcibly expelled
- a decision that went against
international human rights law and
India’s own tradition of providing
refuge to people in need.
Following the government’s
announcement, we launched a
campaign, “#IWelcomeRohingya”,
calling on people to help stop the
#IWELCOMEROHINGYA
“We are talking about a country
of 1.2 billion people, the third
largest economy in the world and
we can’t give shelter to 40,000
hungry and destitute who knock
on our doors looking for help?”
Shashi Tharoor, Member of
Parliament, Lok Sabha from
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
unlawful expulsion of Rohingya people
from India. And over 600,000 people
stepped forward to stand with us.
Hundreds more participated in
solidarity events we held in New
Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Mumbai.
Our supporters signed postcards
and petitions to Union Home
Minister Rajnath Singh calling on
the government to respect India’s
humanitarian traditions and not
forcibly expel Rohingya people
from India. Author and MP Shashi
Tharoor and historian Ramachandra
Guha also came forward to support
our campaign. We will keep up the
pressure to make sure that Rohingya
women, men and children are not
forced to return to the horrors they
have fled.
32 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
I
ndia has one of the highest
undertrial populations in the world,
with two out of every three prisoners
being held in pretrial detention. Our
report Justice Under Trial: A Study
of Pre-trial Detention in India showed
how the lack of enforcement of existing
laws and safeguards contributes to
this problem, which disproportionately
affects poor and marginalised people.
The research report, released in June
2017, was based on responses to
nearly 3,000 Right To Information
(RTI) applications filed to every
district and central jail in the country
– about 500 in all – and various state
government departments. In addition,
researchers interviewed undertrial
prisoners, legal aid lawyers, public
prosecutors, academics, and civil
society organizations.
Our report found that safeguards
under law to protect undertrials
were regularly ignored across
the country as only a few prisons
appeared to know how to accurately
determine which undertrials were
eligible for release. The relatively
low number of legal aid lawyers in
many states as compared to the
undertrial population, coupled with
the low frequency of lawyer visits,
also creates a situation where
many undertrials are unable, and
sometimes unwilling, to access legal
aid. A shortage of police escorts
leads to thousands of undertrials
not being produced in court for their
hearings, effectively prolonging
their detentions. And Home Ministry
guidelines are virtually ignored by
many prisons.
Our report made several
recommendations to authorities
at both the central and state
levels, including standardising the
remuneration paid to legal aid lawyers
across India and establishing a
database to alert prison authorities
about undertrials eligible for release.
The Law Commission of India, in a
report released last year, also pointed
out that many poor undertrials
often languish in prison because of
India’s unjust bail system. It said
that “the existing system of bail in
India is inadequate and inefficient
to accomplish its purpose”, because
poor people often did not get bail,
and when they did, they were unable
to get ‘sureties’, or people to vouch
for them. The report made several
progressive recommendations on bail
reform, which can go a long way in
reducing excessive pre-trial detention.
We have launched a petition urging
the Union Law Minister to amend the
bail law, and ensure that alternatives
to pre-trial detention are considered.
India’s criminal justice system must
stop punishing poverty.
EXCESSIVE
UNDERTRIAL
DETENTION
“Decisions about custody or
release should not be influenced
to the detriment of the person
accused of an offence by factors
such as gender, race, ethnicity,
financial conditions or social
status.”
Excerpt from the 268th Law
Commission Report
Life of an undertrial waiting for justice by Arun Ferreira
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 33
BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
34 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
I
ndia is the world’s third largest consumer of coal,
and holds a fifth of its coal reserves. Despite making
international commitments to increase renewable
energy production, the Indian government plans to
continue to rely on energy from coal as an important source
of energy for many years to come. The government has
further announced its intention to increase coal output to
1.5 billion tonnes per annum by 2020, of which 1 billion
tonnes will be produced by the state-owned Coal India
Limited (CIL) – the world’s largest coal miner.
About 70% of India’s coal is located in Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand and Odisha, which are home to over 26 million
Adivasi people. Adivasis, or “Scheduled Tribes”, comprise
8.6% of India’s population. For decades, they have borne
the brunt of development-induced displacement, including
through state-run coal mines. A range of protective
laws, including the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (POA), which
criminalises the dispossession of Adivasi land without
consent, are rarely enforced.
Adivasis who have been unlawfully dispossessed of their land often have limited access to justice.
Amnesty International India worked with the Adivasi communities in the Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, who took
up a legal battle over the alleged wrongful land dispossession against companies TRN Energy Ltd, Mahavir Energy
and Jindal Steel Power Limited. These people say that they have been coerced, threatened and duped into selling
their land to three private companies.
In our journey, we witnessesed the struggles of Adivasi women and men who wanted to file a First Information
Report with the police, and their persistence for justice.
THE STRUGGLE TO HAVE A FIRST INFORMATION REPORT REGISTERED
Amnesty, along with
200 individuals,
accompanies and
supports the mass-
filing of 88 criminal
complaints by Adivasis
under the SC & ST
(Prevention of Atrocities)
Act, 1989.
We organise press
conference about the
mass-filing.
The police accepts the
complaints, but does not
register First Information
Reports (FIR)
We organise two-day legal
aid clinic with six lawyers,
150 Adivasis sought legal
recourse against the
alleged unlawful purchase
of their lands by private
companies.
9-10 JUNE 14 JUNE 15 JUNE JULY
Kusmunda Open Cast Mines, Korba, Chhattisgarh.
2016: A YEAR FOR JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS 35
OTHER IMPACT
We created a legal primer explaining how dispossession of
the land of Dalit and Adivasi communities without their
consent is a criminal offence under the Indian law. This
was prepared in consultation with lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj.
In 2017, we campaigned to ensure that the acquisition
of Adivasi land without free prior and informed consent is
widely recognized as a criminal offence and to build public
support to amend the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition
and Development) Act 1957 to require consultation with
communities before land acquisition.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 35
IMPACT IN 2017
A copy of the NCST
petition is also sent
to the Ministry of
Tribal Affairs (MoTA),
Government of India,
seeking a direction to the
Raigarh police to register
FIRs on the complaints.
The NCST issues a
notice to the Director
and Inspector General of
Police, Chhattisgarh to
submit an action taken
report in 30 days.
We supported Adivasis in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh to
file criminal complaints against the alleged unlawful
dispossession of their land by agents acting on behalf of
private companies. (See below)
VISION FOR 2018
We will attempt to create an enabling environment for indigenous people to resist violations
of their right to free, prior and informed consent on decisions that affect them. We will
continue to support Adivasi communities in Raigarh and elsewhere to have their allegations
of unlawful dispossession of land investigated by the police.
We will also establish stronger collaborations with civil society organisations, lawyers,
journalists and activists working on Adivasi rights.
We help five Adivasis to
file private complaints
at a special court,
challenging the decision
of the police.
30 AUGUST21 AUGUST 10 OCTOBER
THE WAIT CONTINUES...
We help the Adivasis
submit a petition to the
National Commission of
Scheduled Tribes (NCST)
about the delay in the
registration of the FIRs.
21 AUGUST
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
36 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
Community meeting underway in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.
Human Rights Defenders in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.
H
uman Rights Defenders (HRDs) are people who
promote and protect human rights by non-
violent means. They include journalists, lawyers,
and artists. Amnesty India seeks to ensure that
HRDs in India are recognised, protected and
able to function in a safe environment.
In February, we organised a media sensitisation workshop
for HRDs and journalists in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on
issues relating to unlawful displacement of Adivasi
people. We also contributed to Amnesty International’s
Report, “Deadly but Preventable Attacks: Killings and
Enforced Disappearances of Those who Defend Human
Rights”. The report, published in December, found that
India is amongst the deadliest countries in the world for
human rights defenders, especially for journalists, land
rights activists and environmental activists. Some brave
Indian HRDs have also been featured on hrdmemorial.org.
In October, we campaigned for Rajat Kalsan, a Dalit
lawyer and human rights defender who faced fabricated
charges and death threats due to his work defending
the rights of Dalit communities in Haryana state. We
published a press release and an urgent call to action
for all politically motivated charges against him to
be dropped and for an independent and impartial
investigation to be conducted into the threats and attacks
he had faced.
VISION FOR 2018
We aim to highlight the work of Indian HRDs and highlight
their work to promote greater recognition of the immense
contribution they make to our society and challenge
negative public perceptions about HRDs.
We will campaign to stop the passage of the Whistleblower
Protection (Amendment) Bill 2015, which is currently
pending before the Rajya Sabha. The Amendment Bill
dilutes the existing provisions that protect whistleblowers
and increases the risks associated with disclosing certain
information. We will recommend that the Bill be sent to
a Select Committee in the Rajya Sabha for a thorough
reexamination.
Ordinary people with
extraordinary courage
who risked and lost
their lives;
for justice, for rights,
for truth and
transparency.
For others.
Defend their ideals.
Uphold their work.
And in doing so,
remember the Brave.
THE
DETAINED JOURNALIST RELEASED ON BAIL
Journalist Santosh Yadav was
released from prison on 9 March
2017 after detention for over
1.5 years. It is believed that he
was targeted for his work among
indigenous Adivasi communities in
Bastar district, Chhattisgarh.
Speaking to Amnesty International
India, Santosh Yadav said, “ I want to thank Amnesty from
the bottom of my heart. No one supported me, or came
to meet me in jail, like you did. The way journalists are
being put in jail, it’s not very motivating to do this work
right now.”
Chandrakant Gaikwad
Shahid Azmi
Jailal Rathia
T Purushottam
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 37
FALLEN JOURNALISTS AND
THE SHRINKING SPACE
FOR DISSENT
Candlelight vigil demanding thorough investigation in the case of the slain journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
38 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
T
he year 2017 was a
particularly bad year for
journalists and press freedom.
In September, journalist Gauri
Lankesh, an outspoken critic
of Hindu nationalism and the caste
system, was shot outside her home in
Bengaluru by unidentified gunmen.
The same month, Shantanu Bhowmick,
a television reporter, was beaten to
death near Agartala while covering
violent political clashes. Photojournalist
Kamran Yousuf was arrested in J&K for
allegedly instigating people to throw
stones at security forces, under a law
which does not meet international
human rights standards.
In November, journalist Sudip
Datta Bhowmik was shot dead,
allegedly by a paramilitary force
member, at a paramilitary camp near
Agartala. In December, a French
filmmaker conducting research
for a documentary on the Kashmir
conflict was detained for three days
in J&K, allegedly for violating visa
regulations.
Journalists continued to face
criminal defamation cases filed by
politicians and companies. In March,
the Central Bureau of Investigation
raided the homes and offices of the
promoters of television news channel
NDTV, on the basis of a complaint
that they had caused a financial
loss to a private bank. In June, the
Karnataka legislature sentenced two
journalists to a year’s imprisonment
for allegedly writing defamatory
articles about members of the state
assembly.
Attacks on journalists are a direct
assault on the right to freedom of
expression, including the public’s
right to receive information. A free
press is critical to building a culture
of transparency and promoting active
participation in public affairs and;
it is essential that authorities take
effective steps towards protecting
journalists and press freedom.
Ending impunity for attacks, and
ensuring the implementation of the
Right to Information Act, 2005 and
the Whistle Blowers Protection Act,
are important steps that governments
must take.
“A free press is critical to
building a culture of transparency
and promoting active
participation in public affairs,
and it is essential that authorities
take effective steps to protecting
journalists and press freedom.”
Asmita Basu, Programme Director,
Amnesty International India
RTI activists from across India at the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information convention in Bhubaneswar, Odisha show solidarity for
the brave RTI activists who have lost their lives fighting corruption and standing up against human rights violations.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 39
A
mnesty International launched one of the first
social networks of activists in the world. Letters
crossed the world demanding justice - from
teleprinters, photocopiers, fax machines to radio,
television and telephone. Today, Facebook, Twitter and
e-mail are how we reach out to people to take action. In
2017, nearly 800,000 actions were taken through our
website, social media and mobile phones.
ACTIVISM
Online actions can have real impact and bring new
supporters into the movement, which will help us to grow
over the coming years. In 2017, over 800,000 actions
were taken through our website, social media and mobile
phones. By the end of the year, we also launched a new
website to provide a better user experience.
TOP FACEBOOK POST
RELENTLESS CAMPAIGNING FOR
JUSTICE FOR THE SURVIVORS AND
VICTIMS OF THE 1984
ANTI-SIKH MASSACRE
LIKES
4,916
MOBILE ACTIONS
NUMBER OF MOBILE
ACTIONS IN 2017.7,66,571
ON FACEBOOK
TOTAL SUPPORTERS
1,24,285
OUR REACH
33,23,361
ON TWITTER
THE WEBSITE
FOLLOWERS
89,036
NEW VISITORS IN 2017
2,51,761
ENGAGEMENT
82,188
RETURNING VISITORS IN 2017
48,489
BUILDING THE MOVEMENT
40 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
FUNDRAISING
In the past few years, financial stability has become a
major component of development work. Individual support
of the people of India is what helps us take a stand for the
vulnerable and marginalised people without any outside
bias. By 2020, we will be an organisation of over three
million activists and 51,000 members who will help us
stand for human rights in India.
In 2017, 150 of our front-line campaigners actively
interacted with over 2,60,000 people in Bengaluru,
Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad. At present we
are supported by 10,789 individual supporters. These
supporters, through regular monthly contributions, help
us to do human rights work. In addition, we received large
philanthropic gifts from those who wish to see a sustainable
human rights movement in India.
PARTNERSHIPS
Our team builds relationships with corporates, IT Parks,
malls, events and even residential complexes to help raise
awareness regarding all of our programmes. In the year
2017, we engaged with 74 corporates, 47 tech-parks, 15
malls and 31 residential locations.
Our flagship project is a long term partnership with the
Mumbai Western Railways till May 2022. Through the
next five years, our team will conduct 25 workshops, the
first of which was held in June and attended by 55 railway
employees. Women travellers are being provided with
numbers of helplines, police stations and complaint points
through personal interaction and posters at stations.
We have conducted several gender sensitivity workshops for
front-line railway staff on dealing with women passengers,
who file a complaint or report an incidents of sexual
violence and harassment.
SUPPORTERS WHO ENROLLED
TO BECOME MEMBERS OF
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA
TELEPHONE CALLS TO SUPPORTERS
ON HUMAN RIGHTS
28,670
3,17,483
We are proud that financial contributions for our work
comes from different sections of our society - from the
rickshaw driver to the head of a business. They have found
value in what we do. This has provided us with a strong
start in reaching out to new audiences online and offline.
These personal donations allow us to maintain our
independence from governments, political ideologies,
economic interests and religions. We neither seek nor
accept any funds for human rights research or campaigns
from governments or political parties, and we accept
support only from businesses that have been carefully
vetted.
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 41
MUMBAI
1,205 PUNE
1,875
CHENNAI
3,052
HYDERABAD
2,379
BENGALURU
2,278
ACTIVE INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERS
OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
INDIA
10,789
23%
68%
9%WHERE OUR MONEY COMES FROM
Year ended 31 December 2017
WHAT WE SPEND OUR MONEY ON
The overwhelming majority of our income comes from
individuals. These personal and unrestricted donations allow
Amnesty International to maintain full independence.
The money that Amnesty International India receives goes
towards research and action that aim to prevent and end
human rights abuse. Most of it - 70% - is spent directly
on our human rights work: research, campaigns, human
rights education and encouraging more people to join and
continue supporting our work. The remaining 30% is used
to provide strategic direction and administrative support to
implement our long and short-term plans.
Individual fundraising - Single gifts
Major donor programme
Individual fundraising - Regular gifts
* Funds received from Indian citizens.
On-ground campaigning and
membership development
Research, Campaigns and Advocacy
Operations, Human Resources, IT
and Finance
30%
INCOME
30%
45%
25%
EXPENSES
FINANCIAL REPORT
42 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
HOW WE SPEND MONEY ON PROGRAMME WORK
Our actions for human rights are based on high-quality
research, evidence and legal analysis. This is accompanied
by effective campaigning and relentless local, national and
global pressure to insist that the central and state govern-
ments live up to the commitments made in the Indian con-
stitution and international human rights law and standards.
Donations received by Amnesty International India are used to
fund a mix of human rights work that combat discrimination,
violence, inequality and impunity. The chart on the left shows
a breakdown of our expenses by the issues we work on.
8%
8%
18%
16%
14%
Access to Justice in Jammu and Kashmir
Defending the Rights of Adivasis
1984 Sikh Massacre
Human Rights Education
Violence Against Women
Responding to Immediate Threats
Undertrial Detention
HOW WE MEASURE IMPACT
AI India uses tested change methodologies and captures
qualitative and quantitative data to accurately report on
human rights impact. Four interrelated dimensions of change
have been identified to outline the broad areas of change
expected from our work; these are: changes in people’s lives;
in accountability; in activism and mobilisation. A ‘theory
of change’ approach is used to outline changes at different
levels in each dimension. Reports are published regularly for
our Board and other supporters.
Securing justice – and offering hope to those whose
rights are violated – is hard to measure than, for example,
development aid. Nor is impact always immediate.
Long term systemic change takes years but has a larger
multiplier effect, often a result from many factors and many
actions. There are many stories of change where we know
our contribution was significant.
25%
11%
2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 43
WILL YOU JOIN US?
With your support, we will work to protect the rights of women
and girls, and fight for justice for Adivasi families, forced out
of their lands and livelihoods.
Take injustice personally. Invest in our life saving work to
protect human rights today.
Like Us
/AIIndia
/AIIndia
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA
#235, 13th Cross, Indira Nagar, 2nd Stage,
Bengaluru – 560038. Karnataka, India
T: +91 080 4938 8000
www.amnesty.org.in

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2017: Pursuing Justice and Truth

  • 2. Amnesty International India #235, 13th Cross, Indira Nagar, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 560038, Karnataka, India After understanding what Human Rights are, I want to change three things in the world we live in; – Students must learn to speak up. We come to school to become leaders of our society, not slaves. – Happiness and equality to all. No one deserves sadness. – Our politicians are fair and good. They must win by respecting all sections of the society, not by hurting them.” Neeraj Jat, Class 11th, Deputy PM, Bal Cabinet, BVM School, Sehore, Madhya Pradesh
  • 3. 04 NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 08 WHAT WE DO 14 HUMAN RIGHTS CHALLENGES 18 GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE 24 HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN INDIA 34 BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS 36 HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS 40 BUILDING THE MOVEMENT 42 FINANCIAL REPORT INSIDE
  • 4. Dear friend and supporter, I wish you a prosperous and happy 2018 and I hope this note finds you well. This note will quickly take you through our programme of work for this year. You will be aware that much of our work deals with difficult social issues in India. We dream of a country where all individuals can enjoy the rights guaranteed to us by our Constitution and international human rights standards. This requires systemic change and that is where our attention was, and remains. As a campaigning organisation, one of our strengths has been mobilising large numbers of individuals. In 2017, we were able to get over 700,000 Indians to take action on rights issues. We believe that a community of people aware of their rights and willing to stand up for them are at the heart of any rights-respecting society. Along with our campaigns, research and advocacy this year, we will continue to grow this community that is invested in the issues on which we seek change. Let me detail some of our programmes of work in 2018: – Our programme on gender-based violence will look at improving the implementation of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. We will assess how effectively this law addresses violence against Dalit and Adivasi women. We are also working on a campaign that works with garment workers standing up against sexual violence at their workplaces, and seeks the better implementation of anti-sexual harassment laws. This year, we shall also launch a campaign aiming to ensure that women can exercise their right to free speech online without the fear of violence and abuse. – In 2017, we supported Adivasi people in Chhattisgarh in their fight to reclaim land unlawfully taken from them. This year, we will expand the programme to other states where Adivasi land has been forcibly acquired. We will assess the safeguards that exist in law, but are rarely followed. 04 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR – Our Human Rights Education programme will promote human rights principles and values in schools and colleges. We will work with students to ensure that they know and can claim their rights, in an effort to create a rights respecting society in India. – In Kashmir, we will continue our campaign to urge the state government to ban the use of pellet-firing shotguns by security forces. This weapon, used nowhere else in India, has blinded hundreds of people, including bystanders and children, and causing immeasurable harm to them and their families. – We will stand with whistle-blowers and human rights defenders - true heroes who risk their lives and safety to fight for freedom and justice. A new campaign will highlight the difference that these people make to the lives of many ordinary Indians. I would like to end by saying that fundraising is a vital component of our work, particularly to sustain our movement. Our focus in India remains on creating a base of concerned people who make monthly contributions as supporters of Amnesty India. This model helps us involve other Indians in our work and keeps us independent from any political, economic or ideological interests. We are very happy to say that we signed up over 25,000 such individuals in 2017. We believe this number will grow substantially in 2018. Your support remains vital for us and I thank you for continuing to stand with us. Aakar Patel Executive Director Amnesty International India
  • 5. “We dream of a country where all individuals can enjoy the rights guaranteed to us by our Constitution and international human rights standards. This requires systemic change and that is where our attention was, and remains.” – Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India
  • 6. EVERY PERSON IN INDIA ENJOYS ALL THE HUMAN RIGHTS ENSHRINED IN THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS. OURVISION 06 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 7.
  • 8. WHAT WE DO 08 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH Survivor of the Bhopal Gas disaster rallying for justice on the 30th anniversary of the incident in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
  • 9. A mnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning global movement of more than 7 million people in over 100 countries and territories who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. For more than 55 years, we have shown that people united in common action can achieve extraordinary things. In India, our offices are spread across six major cities - Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, which is also our head-office. We have international offices in cities in Africa, Asia- Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. All the offices are hubs for our investigations, campaigns, advocacy, fundraising & supporter engagement. We stand with women workers facing sexual violence in garment factories, with the victims of the 1984 Sikh massacre in demanding compensation, with children in schools who experience discrimination, with Adivasi communities who have been unlawfully dispossessed of their lands, and other vulnerable and marginalised groups. We also engage with children and young people in schools and colleges, in an effort to create a rights-respecting society in India. RESEARCH. EVIDENCE. ACTION. IMPARTIAL. INDEPENDENT. ACCURATE. Our action for justice, freedom and dignity is based on high-quality research, evidence and legal analysis. This is accompanied by effective campaigning, nation-wide solidarity and determined persuasion to insist that governments and others live up to the promises made in the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We empower and inspire others. Our deeply held core principles of impartiality, independence and accuracy underpin all we do. We mobilize people to speak out for justice, freedom and dignity, and to defend activists on the human rights frontline. We are independent of any government, ideology, economic interest or religion. We stand together with those fighting for their rights. My colleagues and I warmly recall the efforts made by Amnesty International for the restoration of fundamental freedoms and individual liberties. Morarji Desai, Former Prime Minister of India 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 09
  • 10. Disclaimer: This map should not be interpreted as Amnesty International's view on disputed territories. DELHI HARYANA UTTAR PRADESH PUNJAB RAJASTHAN CHHATTISGARH JHAR KHAND ODISHA BIHAR GUJARAT MADHYA PRADESH WEST BENGAL KARNATAKA ANDHRA PRADESH TELAN GANA KERALA GOA TAMIL NADU MAHARASHTRA JAMMU AND KASHMIR UTTARAKHAND ASSAM MANIPUR TRIPURA IN 2017 AND LOOKING FORWARD
  • 11. HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION Schools and colleges around India place human rights at the heart of the learning experience and make human rights an integral part of everyday life. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE Laws designed to protect the rights of women to be free from sexual harassment and other violence are enforced. DEFENDING THE RIGHTS OF ADIVASIS Mining companies in India seek the free, prior and informed consent of Adivasi communities whose land they seek to acquire. UNDERTRIAL DETENTION Authorities take steps to reduce excessive detention of undertrial prisoners, especially those who have been in jail for more than half the term they would have received if convicted. 1984 SIKH MASSACRE The government of India reopens every one of the cases closed by the Delhi Police related to the 1984 Sikh Massacre, reinvestigates them and brings those responsible to justice. ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR Authorities end the use of special laws to prevent security force personnel charged with serious crimes from being tried in civilian courts. RESPONDING TO IMMEDIATE THREATS Individuals whose human rights are at risk are defended and protected. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 11
  • 12. STRATEGIC GOALS 12 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 13. A world in which everyone knows and can claim their rights. RECLAIMING FREEDOM1 A world in which people are protected during conflict and crises. RESPONDING TO CRISES3 We will be a truly global human rights movement of people defending human rights for all. MAXIMIZING OUR RESOURCES AND ENGAGEMENT 5 A world in which human rights abusers are held accountable. HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE 4 A world in which human rights and justice are enjoyed without discrimination. SECURING EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL2 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 13
  • 14. T he year 2017 has been a particularly tough year for human rights in India - marked by violence and divisiveness - particularly directed towards marginalised communities, across the country. Dissent was suppressed and criminalized, and constitutional rights came under threat. 14 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH HUMANRIGHTSCHALLENGES:2017
  • 15. COMMUNAL AND ETHNIC VIOLENCE In 2017, dozens of hate crimes against Muslims took place across several states. At least ten Muslim men were lynched and many injured by vigilante cow protection groups. State governments failed to take adequate action to prevent hate crimes, and some authorities made remarks which appeared to justify the attacks. In March 2017, mobs carried out with impunity a string of racist attacks against black African students in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. A special investigation team set up in 2015 to reinvestigate closed cases related to the 1984 Sikh massacre closed 241 cases. In January 2018, the Supreme Court set up a new team to investigate 186 closed cases. 1 JAMMU AND KASHMIR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION In April 2017, eight people were killed by security forces, including some by excessive force, following protests during a by-election for a parliamentary seat. Farooq Ahmad Dar, a voter, was beaten by Army personnel, strapped to the front of an Army jeep, and driven around for over five hours, seemingly as a warning to protesters. Security forces continued to use inherently inaccurate pellet-firing shotguns to police protests, blinding and injuring several people. In July, the Supreme Court refused to reopen 215 cases in which over 700 members of the Kashmiri Pandit community were killed in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, citing the passage of time. In 2017, three journalists were killed in relation to their work, including prominent Kannada journalist Gauri Lankesh. Journalists continued to face criminal defamation cases filed by politicians and companies. In June, the Karnataka legislature sentenced two journalists to one year’s imprisonment each for allegedly writing defamatory articles about members of the state assembly. Repressive laws were used to stifle freedom of expression. In June, 20 people were arrested for sedition in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, following complaints that they had cheered the Pakistan cricket team’s victory over India in a match. State governments banned books, and the central film certification board denied theatrical release to films, on vague and overly broad grounds. Freedom of expression in universities remained under threat. 2 3 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 15
  • 16. REFUGEE RIGHTS An estimated 40,000 Rohingya people in India, including over 16,000 recognised as refugees by UNHCR, are at risk of mass expulsion, in violation of international law. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in August 2017, wrote to state governments asking them to identify illegal immigrants, including Rohingya. The MHA later said that all Rohingya in India were illegal immigrants, and claimed to have evidence that some Rohingya had ties to terrorist organisations. The Supreme Court is now hearing a petition filed by two Rohingya refugees challenging the government’s policy. In September, the MHA said that it would grant citizenship to about 100,000 Chakma and Hajong refugees who fled to India from Bangladesh in the 1960s. 6IMPUNITY FOR POLICE AND SECURITY FORCES Impunity for police and security forces largely continued. In January, four Adivasi women in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, said they had been gang- raped by police personnel. In March, Adivasi villagers in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, accused security force personnel of gang-raping a 14-year- old Adivasi girl. In September, two paramilitary personnel were arrested on suspicion of killing a woman and raping and throwing acid on her friend in Mizoram in July. In June, Madhya Pradesh police shot dead five farmers who were among the protesters in Mandsaur demanding better prices for their crops. In July, the Supreme Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate more than 80 alleged ‘fake encounters’ by police and security force personnel in Manipur between 1979 and 2012. 5HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS In January, the Home Ministry said that it had refused to renew the foreign funding license of the NGO known as People’s Watch because it had allegedly portrayed India’s human rights record in a “negative light” internationally. In March, Jailal Rathia, an Adivasi activist, died in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, after allegedly being poisoned by members of a land mafia he was campaigning against. In April, Varsha Dongre, an official at Raipur Central Jail in Chhattisgarh, was transferred after she posted on Facebook that she had seen police torturing Adivasi girls. In August, activist Medha Patkar and three others protesting against inadequate rehabilitation for families affected by the Sardar Sarovar dam project were arrested on fabricated charges and detained for more than two weeks. 4 16 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 17. TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT WOMEN’S RIGHTS CHILD RIGHTS Between January and August 2017, 894 deaths in judicial custody and 74 deaths in police custody were recorded. In August, Manjula Shetye, a woman convict at the Byculla jail in Mumbai, died after being allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted by officials for complaining about the food in the prison. A team of parliamentarians that visited Byculla jail reported that prisoners were routinely beaten. In November, a committee set up by the Delhi High Court said that 18 prisoners in Tihar jail in New Delhi had been beaten after they objected to their pillow covers being taken. In August, the Supreme Court (SC) banned the practice of instant ‘triple talaq’ (Islamic instant divorce), declaring that it was arbitrary and unconstitutional. While responding to petitions to criminalise marital rape, the central government stated that doing so would ‘destabilize the institution of marriage’. Several rape survivors, including girls, approached the SC in year 2017 for permission to terminate pregnancies over 20 weeks.Courts approved some abortions. The central government instructed states to set up permanent medical boards to decide such cases promptly. In July, the SC weakened a law enacted to protect women from cruelty in their marriages, by requiring complaints to be initially assessed by civil society ‘family welfare committees’. In October, the apex court held that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, who is below 18 years of age, is rape. In June, India ratified two key ILO conventions on child labour. Activists remained critical of amendments to child labour laws which allowed children to work in family enterprises. According to national survey data released in March 2017, nearly 36% of children aged below five were underweight, and more than 38% were short for their age. In August, 70 children died at a hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, allegedly because of disruption to the oxygen supply. The share of public spending on health remained low at 1.2% of GDP. Spending on government programmes to provide nutrition and pre-school education to children under six remained inadequate. A nationwide survey found that 36% of children aged between 14 and 18 in rural areas were reading at a class 2 level. 7 8 9 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 17
  • 18. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE 18 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH A riot survivor looks on, as the sun sets in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, 2017.
  • 19. O ver 338,000 crimes against women were reported in 2016 across India. That is about 39 crimes every hour, on average. Nearly a third of the cases involved cruelty by relatives, followed by sexual assault cases, abduction and rape. Women and girls constitute over 48% of India’s population, but they continue to face inequality, discrimination and violence. Women from Dalit, Adivasi and other marginalised communities are disproportionately affected by sexual violence, and their continued marginalisation further narrows their avenues to access justice. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 19
  • 20. In 2017, we worked to raise awareness among various groups, organisations and state and national bodies regarding issues of gender-based violence. We also helped empower women by making them aware of the national legal frameworks for protection and access to justice. We specifically assessed the implementation of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in addressing violence against Dalit and Adivasi women. 20 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH IMPACT IN 2017 A mother and child participating in the Erase the Shame campaign in Bengaluru.
  • 21. PREVENTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE In spite of the legal protection mechanisms under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, also known as the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, an estimated 70% of women in India continue to face sexual harassment at the workplace, according to a survey by the Indian National Bar Association. Women from economically vulnerable groups are especially susceptible to workplace sexual harassment, as they are less likely to report harassment and seek redressal, for fear of losing their jobs. In Bengaluru, we worked to empower women garment workers to understand and report sexual harassment in the Peenya Industrial Area, where more than 600,000 women work in 25 garment factories. This region reported the highest incidents of rape in the city in 2015. We will continue to engage with these women in 2018. We collaborated with the Garment Labor Union and five organisations, including Open Space and CIVIDEP, to conduct trainings on gender, sexual harassment and the POSH Act for a core group of 20 people from local civil society groups. With the Karnataka State Commission for Women, we conducted a consultation on the implementation of the POSH Act in garment factories. The State Commission for Women and State Department of Labour agreed to follow up on this issue with the factories. In Pune, our efforts were to improve the support system for women to enable them to report cases of sexual harassment. We worked in the slum of Dattawadi and neighbouring slums. We trained 55 Anganwadi workers, 24 Accredited Social Health Activist workers and six Auxiliary Nurse Midwives on gender-based violence and the POSH Act. These frontline workers will share their learning with local communities. We trained officials of six police stations in and around Dattawadi on issues of gender-based violence and sexual harassment. Our team is also working on improving the implementation of central government guidelines on dealing with survivors of sexual violence in hospitals. We are collaborating with Centre for Enquiry Into Health and Allied (CEHAT), an organization working on medical and health care issues. We also trained doctors and nurses at the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune after studying existing challenges to the provision of medical and legal care to survivors of sexual violence. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 21 Interaction between Peenya police personnel and garment workers; Bengaluru residents and college students participate in ‘16 days of activism’. (Top left to bottom right)
  • 22. OTHER IMPACT We are partnering with the Mumbai Western Railways for a period of five years. In 2017, through our partnership, we reached 15,000 commuters at 10 stations in Mumbai, to raise awareness about sexual harassment and protection mechanisms. In April, we launched the ‘Transgender Rights are Human Rights’ campaign with a missed call petition to gather support for amendments to the highly flawed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016. The Bill was introduced in August 2016 and referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC). We had submitted our recommendations, which were supported by over 3000 people, to the PSC in December 2016. In July 2017, the PSC submitted a report to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, many of which reflected our recommendations. 22 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH A representative of the transgender community. Garment workers of the Peenya Industrial area, Bengaluru march for better enforcement of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (POSH Act), on International Women’s Day.
  • 23. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 23 VISION FOR 2018 Research conducted by Amnesty International in 2017 revealed the alarming impact that online violence and abuse have on women, with women around the world reporting stress, anxiety, or panic attacks as a result of these harmful online experiences. In 2018, we will launch a campaign to ensure that women in India are able to express themselves online freely, with- out fear of violence and abuse. We will continue to campaign for the rights of women garment workers in Bengaluru who face sexual harassment and violence, and seek better implementation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. 36% TOOK NO ACTION AT ALL 58% FACED SOME KIND OF ONLINE AGGRESSION IN THE FORM OF ABUSE OR HARASSMENT 28% REDUCED THEIR ONLINE PRESENCE 30% WERE UNAWARE OF LAWS TO PROTECT THEM FROM ONLINE HARASSMENT. Amnesty International India’s campaigners interact with Bengaluru citizens during the ‘16 days of activism’. Garment workers from the Peenya Industrial area, Bengaluru take a stand against sexual harassment at workplace. Source: Feminism in india; Survey of 500 survivors of Cyber violence in india
  • 24. HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN INDIA 24 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 25. I ndian educational institutions are rife with discrimination and abuse against children and young people, particularly those from marginalised communities. The forms of abuse that students face extend to corporal punishment and sexual abuse. These abuses can have a long term and severe impact on the lives of children and young people. Amnesty International set up the Human Rights Education (HRE) programme across several countries to create, promote and sustain rights- respecting societies by integrating human rights into educational systems. Amnesty India launched our HRE programe five years ago. We have established the largest network of schools under HRE, which is fitting considering the size of our population! HRE promotes a shared understanding of equality, non-discrimination, inclusion, respect, dignity and participation. Through this programme, we hope to prepare all young people, from all sections of society, for a life in the democratic and pluralistic society of India. While the Indian government is yet to incorporate human rights education into the educational system, we and our partners are working to lay the foundation for HRE in society. We hope this becomes a model for state and national governments to implement across the country. WRITE FOR RIGHTS RIGHT TO EXPRESS YOURSELF! OTHER IMPACT Over 23,600 students from Telanga- na, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh sent postcards to the President of Honduras, demanding that the government protect members of MILPAH, an Indigenous Peoples’ movement. ‘Your Right to Express Yourself!’ was an interactive theory and practice activity which introduced the concept of the right to freedom of expression in educational spaces, and addressed issues around exercising this right. In 2017, we set up three new student- led Amnesty College Clubs. They are in Sampurna Montfort College and Jyoti Nivas College in Bengaluru, and in the Madras School of Social Work, Chennai. There are now six Amnesty College Clubs in different cities. Our team reached out to several colleges across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi and interacted with students on subjects such as child sexual abuse, violence against women, human rights obligations and the role of NGOs. In March, Amnesty International India and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) launched the ‘Self- Learning Human Rights Certificate Course’ for over 4,000 community health workers in Bihar. The course is designed to promote human rights values and principles of equality, 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 25 IMPACT IN 2017 dignity, inclusion, non-discrimination and participation in the public through community health workers. Student participating in the ‘Your Right to Express Yourself!’ activity. Students take part in the Write for Rights programme in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Schools and colleges undertake activities as part of HRE clubs.
  • 26. BHARAT GYAN VIGYAN SAMITI (BGVS) PEOPLE’S ASSOCIATION FOR RURAL AWARENESS, (PARA), TELANGANA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL EDUCATION (ISE) AWARENESS Marginalized groups often have to face human rights violations. We believe that educating everyone about the human rights they inherently possess, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti strives to educate people about their rights through a focus on science and knowledge. We work with BGVS to integrate human rights values and principles in schools through ‘Bal Cabinets’ (Youth Parliaments). We have jointly initiated a pilot project to strengthen Bal Cabinets in 400 schools in Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh. PARA is a grassroots organisation which is a pioneer in Human Rights Education. It works with government schools in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In collaboration with PARA, we aim to set up HRE clubs in 60 government schools in the Rangareddy and Hyderabad districts of Telangana. We aim to set up a ‘junior’ and a ‘senior’ human rights club in every school. ISE is a Chennai-based organisation with 15 years of experience in HRE. They have worked with the Tamil Nadu government and teachers union and UNICEF’s Child Friendly Schools initiative. With ISE, we aim to set up HRE clubs in six districts of northern Tamil Nadu, including Chennai. 26 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH PARTNERSHIPS by virtue of their humanity, is key to fulfilling our goal to create a rights- respecting society. Since 2016, we have reached out to students from different marginalised communities through valuable partnerships with organisations who share our vision of empowerment through knowledge.
  • 27. TESTIMONIES “Through the workshop, I got to know about the right to education under the Constitution of India. The government school in my village, Gillaur, lacks basic facilities, so I decided to take action under the Right to Education Act. Together with members of the Gram Panchayat and the community, I drafted and sent a complaint to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan.” – Deepak Solanki, Participant at an HRE Teacher Workshop, Bhopal 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 27 VISION FOR 2018 Apart from increasing our engagement with marginalised communities, we want to engage students already in HRE clubs to participate in human rights campaigns relevant to them. We believe that doing so will provide them with a clearer understanding of the practical application of human rights principles. We intend to set up 20 Amnesty College Clubs in educational institutions, which will be run solely by students who initiate independent action.
  • 28. ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN KASHMIR Touseef Ahmad Malla, a teenager from Bandipora, Kashmir, was shot in the back with pellet shotguns. 28 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 29. H uman rights abuses continued with impunity in Jammu and Kashmir in 2017. In September, we released a briefing, “Losing Sight in Kashmir”, which called for an end to the use of pellet- firing shotguns - weapons that have been responsible for blinding, killing and traumatizing hundreds of people in Kashmir. Our briefing presented the cases of 88 people whose eyesight were damaged by metal pellets fired from pump-action shotguns by security forces between 2014 and 2017. The briefing was based on months of research and interviews and Right to Information applications. It showed how people injured by pellet-firing shotguns have faced serious physical and mental health issues, including symptoms of psychological trauma. School and university students who were hit in the eyes said that they continue to have learning difficulties. Several victims who were the primary breadwinners for their families fear they will not be able to work any longer. Between March and June 2017, we also published several statements on issues including cases of excessive use of force by security forces, the burning of schools, and the detention of children under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA). We successfully campaigned for the release of three children who were illegally detained under the PSA. We also continued to advocate for the repeal of the PSA and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act with political parties. “Authorities claim the pellet shotgun is not lethal, but the injuries and deaths caused by this cruel weapon bear testimony to how dangerous, inaccurate and indiscriminate it is. There is no proper way to use pellet- firing shotguns. It is irresponsible of authorities to continue the use of these shotguns despite being aware of the damage they do.” Aakar Patel, Executive Director at Amnesty International India Ishrat Javid, 18, Anantnag, Kashmir, was partially blinded in both eyes by pellets while she was looking for her brother during protest. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 29
  • 30. M ore than 50,000 people fled their homes from Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in Uttar Pradesh, following the communal violence in 2013 which claimed 60 lives. Four years later, nearly 200 families continue to wait for the justice and compensation promised to them. They live in squalid conditions in resettlement colonies without proper access to basic amenities like drinking water, sanitation and electricity. In September 2017, Amnesty International India and AFKAR India Foundation released a briefing titled “Nowhere to go: the broken promises to the displaced of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli”. The report showed how hundreds of families displaced from their villages have been denied the compensation they were promised by the Uttar Pradesh government, for reasons ranging from clerical errors and corruption to inconsistent definitions of a ‘family’. The report was based on field research conducted in Muzaffarnagar between August 2016 and April 2017. During these visits, researchers met 65 families across 12 resettlement colonies, and analyzed the documentation of almost 200 families. An overwhelming majority of families in resettlement colonies lack access to basic services. About 82% of colonies in Muzaffarnagar and 97% of colonies in Shamli are estimated to not have safe and clean drinking water, while 61% of colonies in Muzaffarnagar and 70% of colonies in Shamli do not have drainage facilities. In colonies visited by Amnesty International India researchers, many families lived in unsanitary and dangerous conditions. Toilets, which invariably lacked proper drainage, were often shared by three or four households. We launched a campaign demanding that the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister ensure that families in resettlement colonies receive adequate compensation and rehabilitation, including immediate aid towards housing, water, sanitation and health care. “Our good times have been pushed back by 10 years to 15 years. We cannot provide for the future of our children.” Amjad Khan, survivor of the Muzaffarnagar riots; excerpt from “Nowhere to go: the broken promises to the displaced of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli” COMPENSATION FOR MUZAFFARNAGAR RIOT SURVIVORS The riot survivors of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli still wait for justice and compensation in a resettlement colony, Uttar Pradesh. 30 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 31. S ince 2015, over half a million people in India have supported our campaign for justice for the 1984 Sikh massacre. On the 33rd anniversary of the massacre in 2017, we released a photo digest giving a glimpse into the lives of survivors. We remain one of the few organizations that continue to campaign on this issue. We kept up pressure on the government through our briefings, advocacy, and campaigning to make the work of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) - set up in 2015 to reinvestigate closed cases related to the massacre - transparent and effective. When the SIT refused to disclose details about its functioning, we filed Right to Information applications. We took the concerns of the survivors of the massacre to the Supreme court when they told us that they were worried about the proceedings of the investigations. When the SIT declared that it had closed most of the cases it had been set up to investigate, we condemned their ineffectiveness. In January, the Supreme Court set up a new three-member team to reinvestigate 186 cases which were closed by the previous SIT – a move that vindicated our campaign for justice. This is a renewed hope for justice for the 1984 survivors, Amnesty International India, all the organizations who have fought for the survivors, and all our supporters who believed in us and the cause. “After years of relentless campaigning for justice for the survivors and victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre, our demand for reopening the related closed cases is closer to being met.” Sanam Sutirath Wazir, Senior Campaigner, Amnesty International India 1984 SIKH MASSACRE A boy prays in front of the pictures of those who perished during the 1984 massacre, at the 1984 martyrs museum in Tilak Vihar, New Delhi. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 31
  • 32. O ver 650,000 Rohingya refugees – most of them women and children – have fled for their lives from Myanmar since August 2017, in what is termed as the ‘world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis’ by the United Nations. Since August 2017, the Myanmar military has executed thousands of Rohingya women, men, and children; raped and perpetrated other forms of sexual violence on Rohingya women and girls; and carried out organized, targeted burning of entire Rohingya villages. Amnesty International’s report from the ground - ‘My World is Finished’ and ‘Caged Without a Roof’, used witness accounts, satellite imagery and data, and photo and video evidence to uncover evidence of ethnic cleansing and an institutionalized system of segregation and discrimination. In September 2017, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that all of the estimated 40,000 Rohingya in India were “illegal immigrants” and would be forcibly expelled - a decision that went against international human rights law and India’s own tradition of providing refuge to people in need. Following the government’s announcement, we launched a campaign, “#IWelcomeRohingya”, calling on people to help stop the #IWELCOMEROHINGYA “We are talking about a country of 1.2 billion people, the third largest economy in the world and we can’t give shelter to 40,000 hungry and destitute who knock on our doors looking for help?” Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala unlawful expulsion of Rohingya people from India. And over 600,000 people stepped forward to stand with us. Hundreds more participated in solidarity events we held in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Mumbai. Our supporters signed postcards and petitions to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh calling on the government to respect India’s humanitarian traditions and not forcibly expel Rohingya people from India. Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and historian Ramachandra Guha also came forward to support our campaign. We will keep up the pressure to make sure that Rohingya women, men and children are not forced to return to the horrors they have fled. 32 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 33. I ndia has one of the highest undertrial populations in the world, with two out of every three prisoners being held in pretrial detention. Our report Justice Under Trial: A Study of Pre-trial Detention in India showed how the lack of enforcement of existing laws and safeguards contributes to this problem, which disproportionately affects poor and marginalised people. The research report, released in June 2017, was based on responses to nearly 3,000 Right To Information (RTI) applications filed to every district and central jail in the country – about 500 in all – and various state government departments. In addition, researchers interviewed undertrial prisoners, legal aid lawyers, public prosecutors, academics, and civil society organizations. Our report found that safeguards under law to protect undertrials were regularly ignored across the country as only a few prisons appeared to know how to accurately determine which undertrials were eligible for release. The relatively low number of legal aid lawyers in many states as compared to the undertrial population, coupled with the low frequency of lawyer visits, also creates a situation where many undertrials are unable, and sometimes unwilling, to access legal aid. A shortage of police escorts leads to thousands of undertrials not being produced in court for their hearings, effectively prolonging their detentions. And Home Ministry guidelines are virtually ignored by many prisons. Our report made several recommendations to authorities at both the central and state levels, including standardising the remuneration paid to legal aid lawyers across India and establishing a database to alert prison authorities about undertrials eligible for release. The Law Commission of India, in a report released last year, also pointed out that many poor undertrials often languish in prison because of India’s unjust bail system. It said that “the existing system of bail in India is inadequate and inefficient to accomplish its purpose”, because poor people often did not get bail, and when they did, they were unable to get ‘sureties’, or people to vouch for them. The report made several progressive recommendations on bail reform, which can go a long way in reducing excessive pre-trial detention. We have launched a petition urging the Union Law Minister to amend the bail law, and ensure that alternatives to pre-trial detention are considered. India’s criminal justice system must stop punishing poverty. EXCESSIVE UNDERTRIAL DETENTION “Decisions about custody or release should not be influenced to the detriment of the person accused of an offence by factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, financial conditions or social status.” Excerpt from the 268th Law Commission Report Life of an undertrial waiting for justice by Arun Ferreira 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 33
  • 34. BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS 34 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH I ndia is the world’s third largest consumer of coal, and holds a fifth of its coal reserves. Despite making international commitments to increase renewable energy production, the Indian government plans to continue to rely on energy from coal as an important source of energy for many years to come. The government has further announced its intention to increase coal output to 1.5 billion tonnes per annum by 2020, of which 1 billion tonnes will be produced by the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) – the world’s largest coal miner. About 70% of India’s coal is located in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, which are home to over 26 million Adivasi people. Adivasis, or “Scheduled Tribes”, comprise 8.6% of India’s population. For decades, they have borne the brunt of development-induced displacement, including through state-run coal mines. A range of protective laws, including the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 (POA), which criminalises the dispossession of Adivasi land without consent, are rarely enforced. Adivasis who have been unlawfully dispossessed of their land often have limited access to justice. Amnesty International India worked with the Adivasi communities in the Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, who took up a legal battle over the alleged wrongful land dispossession against companies TRN Energy Ltd, Mahavir Energy and Jindal Steel Power Limited. These people say that they have been coerced, threatened and duped into selling their land to three private companies. In our journey, we witnessesed the struggles of Adivasi women and men who wanted to file a First Information Report with the police, and their persistence for justice. THE STRUGGLE TO HAVE A FIRST INFORMATION REPORT REGISTERED Amnesty, along with 200 individuals, accompanies and supports the mass- filing of 88 criminal complaints by Adivasis under the SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. We organise press conference about the mass-filing. The police accepts the complaints, but does not register First Information Reports (FIR) We organise two-day legal aid clinic with six lawyers, 150 Adivasis sought legal recourse against the alleged unlawful purchase of their lands by private companies. 9-10 JUNE 14 JUNE 15 JUNE JULY Kusmunda Open Cast Mines, Korba, Chhattisgarh.
  • 35. 2016: A YEAR FOR JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS 35 OTHER IMPACT We created a legal primer explaining how dispossession of the land of Dalit and Adivasi communities without their consent is a criminal offence under the Indian law. This was prepared in consultation with lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj. In 2017, we campaigned to ensure that the acquisition of Adivasi land without free prior and informed consent is widely recognized as a criminal offence and to build public support to amend the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act 1957 to require consultation with communities before land acquisition. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 35 IMPACT IN 2017 A copy of the NCST petition is also sent to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), Government of India, seeking a direction to the Raigarh police to register FIRs on the complaints. The NCST issues a notice to the Director and Inspector General of Police, Chhattisgarh to submit an action taken report in 30 days. We supported Adivasis in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh to file criminal complaints against the alleged unlawful dispossession of their land by agents acting on behalf of private companies. (See below) VISION FOR 2018 We will attempt to create an enabling environment for indigenous people to resist violations of their right to free, prior and informed consent on decisions that affect them. We will continue to support Adivasi communities in Raigarh and elsewhere to have their allegations of unlawful dispossession of land investigated by the police. We will also establish stronger collaborations with civil society organisations, lawyers, journalists and activists working on Adivasi rights. We help five Adivasis to file private complaints at a special court, challenging the decision of the police. 30 AUGUST21 AUGUST 10 OCTOBER THE WAIT CONTINUES... We help the Adivasis submit a petition to the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes (NCST) about the delay in the registration of the FIRs. 21 AUGUST
  • 36. HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS 36 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH Community meeting underway in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh. Human Rights Defenders in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.
  • 37. H uman Rights Defenders (HRDs) are people who promote and protect human rights by non- violent means. They include journalists, lawyers, and artists. Amnesty India seeks to ensure that HRDs in India are recognised, protected and able to function in a safe environment. In February, we organised a media sensitisation workshop for HRDs and journalists in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on issues relating to unlawful displacement of Adivasi people. We also contributed to Amnesty International’s Report, “Deadly but Preventable Attacks: Killings and Enforced Disappearances of Those who Defend Human Rights”. The report, published in December, found that India is amongst the deadliest countries in the world for human rights defenders, especially for journalists, land rights activists and environmental activists. Some brave Indian HRDs have also been featured on hrdmemorial.org. In October, we campaigned for Rajat Kalsan, a Dalit lawyer and human rights defender who faced fabricated charges and death threats due to his work defending the rights of Dalit communities in Haryana state. We published a press release and an urgent call to action for all politically motivated charges against him to be dropped and for an independent and impartial investigation to be conducted into the threats and attacks he had faced. VISION FOR 2018 We aim to highlight the work of Indian HRDs and highlight their work to promote greater recognition of the immense contribution they make to our society and challenge negative public perceptions about HRDs. We will campaign to stop the passage of the Whistleblower Protection (Amendment) Bill 2015, which is currently pending before the Rajya Sabha. The Amendment Bill dilutes the existing provisions that protect whistleblowers and increases the risks associated with disclosing certain information. We will recommend that the Bill be sent to a Select Committee in the Rajya Sabha for a thorough reexamination. Ordinary people with extraordinary courage who risked and lost their lives; for justice, for rights, for truth and transparency. For others. Defend their ideals. Uphold their work. And in doing so, remember the Brave. THE DETAINED JOURNALIST RELEASED ON BAIL Journalist Santosh Yadav was released from prison on 9 March 2017 after detention for over 1.5 years. It is believed that he was targeted for his work among indigenous Adivasi communities in Bastar district, Chhattisgarh. Speaking to Amnesty International India, Santosh Yadav said, “ I want to thank Amnesty from the bottom of my heart. No one supported me, or came to meet me in jail, like you did. The way journalists are being put in jail, it’s not very motivating to do this work right now.” Chandrakant Gaikwad Shahid Azmi Jailal Rathia T Purushottam 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 37
  • 38. FALLEN JOURNALISTS AND THE SHRINKING SPACE FOR DISSENT Candlelight vigil demanding thorough investigation in the case of the slain journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru, Karnataka. 38 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 39. T he year 2017 was a particularly bad year for journalists and press freedom. In September, journalist Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken critic of Hindu nationalism and the caste system, was shot outside her home in Bengaluru by unidentified gunmen. The same month, Shantanu Bhowmick, a television reporter, was beaten to death near Agartala while covering violent political clashes. Photojournalist Kamran Yousuf was arrested in J&K for allegedly instigating people to throw stones at security forces, under a law which does not meet international human rights standards. In November, journalist Sudip Datta Bhowmik was shot dead, allegedly by a paramilitary force member, at a paramilitary camp near Agartala. In December, a French filmmaker conducting research for a documentary on the Kashmir conflict was detained for three days in J&K, allegedly for violating visa regulations. Journalists continued to face criminal defamation cases filed by politicians and companies. In March, the Central Bureau of Investigation raided the homes and offices of the promoters of television news channel NDTV, on the basis of a complaint that they had caused a financial loss to a private bank. In June, the Karnataka legislature sentenced two journalists to a year’s imprisonment for allegedly writing defamatory articles about members of the state assembly. Attacks on journalists are a direct assault on the right to freedom of expression, including the public’s right to receive information. A free press is critical to building a culture of transparency and promoting active participation in public affairs and; it is essential that authorities take effective steps towards protecting journalists and press freedom. Ending impunity for attacks, and ensuring the implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005 and the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, are important steps that governments must take. “A free press is critical to building a culture of transparency and promoting active participation in public affairs, and it is essential that authorities take effective steps to protecting journalists and press freedom.” Asmita Basu, Programme Director, Amnesty International India RTI activists from across India at the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information convention in Bhubaneswar, Odisha show solidarity for the brave RTI activists who have lost their lives fighting corruption and standing up against human rights violations. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 39
  • 40. A mnesty International launched one of the first social networks of activists in the world. Letters crossed the world demanding justice - from teleprinters, photocopiers, fax machines to radio, television and telephone. Today, Facebook, Twitter and e-mail are how we reach out to people to take action. In 2017, nearly 800,000 actions were taken through our website, social media and mobile phones. ACTIVISM Online actions can have real impact and bring new supporters into the movement, which will help us to grow over the coming years. In 2017, over 800,000 actions were taken through our website, social media and mobile phones. By the end of the year, we also launched a new website to provide a better user experience. TOP FACEBOOK POST RELENTLESS CAMPAIGNING FOR JUSTICE FOR THE SURVIVORS AND VICTIMS OF THE 1984 ANTI-SIKH MASSACRE LIKES 4,916 MOBILE ACTIONS NUMBER OF MOBILE ACTIONS IN 2017.7,66,571 ON FACEBOOK TOTAL SUPPORTERS 1,24,285 OUR REACH 33,23,361 ON TWITTER THE WEBSITE FOLLOWERS 89,036 NEW VISITORS IN 2017 2,51,761 ENGAGEMENT 82,188 RETURNING VISITORS IN 2017 48,489 BUILDING THE MOVEMENT 40 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 41. FUNDRAISING In the past few years, financial stability has become a major component of development work. Individual support of the people of India is what helps us take a stand for the vulnerable and marginalised people without any outside bias. By 2020, we will be an organisation of over three million activists and 51,000 members who will help us stand for human rights in India. In 2017, 150 of our front-line campaigners actively interacted with over 2,60,000 people in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad. At present we are supported by 10,789 individual supporters. These supporters, through regular monthly contributions, help us to do human rights work. In addition, we received large philanthropic gifts from those who wish to see a sustainable human rights movement in India. PARTNERSHIPS Our team builds relationships with corporates, IT Parks, malls, events and even residential complexes to help raise awareness regarding all of our programmes. In the year 2017, we engaged with 74 corporates, 47 tech-parks, 15 malls and 31 residential locations. Our flagship project is a long term partnership with the Mumbai Western Railways till May 2022. Through the next five years, our team will conduct 25 workshops, the first of which was held in June and attended by 55 railway employees. Women travellers are being provided with numbers of helplines, police stations and complaint points through personal interaction and posters at stations. We have conducted several gender sensitivity workshops for front-line railway staff on dealing with women passengers, who file a complaint or report an incidents of sexual violence and harassment. SUPPORTERS WHO ENROLLED TO BECOME MEMBERS OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA TELEPHONE CALLS TO SUPPORTERS ON HUMAN RIGHTS 28,670 3,17,483 We are proud that financial contributions for our work comes from different sections of our society - from the rickshaw driver to the head of a business. They have found value in what we do. This has provided us with a strong start in reaching out to new audiences online and offline. These personal donations allow us to maintain our independence from governments, political ideologies, economic interests and religions. We neither seek nor accept any funds for human rights research or campaigns from governments or political parties, and we accept support only from businesses that have been carefully vetted. 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 41 MUMBAI 1,205 PUNE 1,875 CHENNAI 3,052 HYDERABAD 2,379 BENGALURU 2,278 ACTIVE INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERS OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA 10,789
  • 42. 23% 68% 9%WHERE OUR MONEY COMES FROM Year ended 31 December 2017 WHAT WE SPEND OUR MONEY ON The overwhelming majority of our income comes from individuals. These personal and unrestricted donations allow Amnesty International to maintain full independence. The money that Amnesty International India receives goes towards research and action that aim to prevent and end human rights abuse. Most of it - 70% - is spent directly on our human rights work: research, campaigns, human rights education and encouraging more people to join and continue supporting our work. The remaining 30% is used to provide strategic direction and administrative support to implement our long and short-term plans. Individual fundraising - Single gifts Major donor programme Individual fundraising - Regular gifts * Funds received from Indian citizens. On-ground campaigning and membership development Research, Campaigns and Advocacy Operations, Human Resources, IT and Finance 30% INCOME 30% 45% 25% EXPENSES FINANCIAL REPORT 42 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH
  • 43. HOW WE SPEND MONEY ON PROGRAMME WORK Our actions for human rights are based on high-quality research, evidence and legal analysis. This is accompanied by effective campaigning and relentless local, national and global pressure to insist that the central and state govern- ments live up to the commitments made in the Indian con- stitution and international human rights law and standards. Donations received by Amnesty International India are used to fund a mix of human rights work that combat discrimination, violence, inequality and impunity. The chart on the left shows a breakdown of our expenses by the issues we work on. 8% 8% 18% 16% 14% Access to Justice in Jammu and Kashmir Defending the Rights of Adivasis 1984 Sikh Massacre Human Rights Education Violence Against Women Responding to Immediate Threats Undertrial Detention HOW WE MEASURE IMPACT AI India uses tested change methodologies and captures qualitative and quantitative data to accurately report on human rights impact. Four interrelated dimensions of change have been identified to outline the broad areas of change expected from our work; these are: changes in people’s lives; in accountability; in activism and mobilisation. A ‘theory of change’ approach is used to outline changes at different levels in each dimension. Reports are published regularly for our Board and other supporters. Securing justice – and offering hope to those whose rights are violated – is hard to measure than, for example, development aid. Nor is impact always immediate. Long term systemic change takes years but has a larger multiplier effect, often a result from many factors and many actions. There are many stories of change where we know our contribution was significant. 25% 11% 2017: PURSUING JUSTICE AND TRUTH 43
  • 44. WILL YOU JOIN US? With your support, we will work to protect the rights of women and girls, and fight for justice for Adivasi families, forced out of their lands and livelihoods. Take injustice personally. Invest in our life saving work to protect human rights today. Like Us /AIIndia /AIIndia AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDIA #235, 13th Cross, Indira Nagar, 2nd Stage, Bengaluru – 560038. Karnataka, India T: +91 080 4938 8000 www.amnesty.org.in