India
28.02.03
Urgent Interventions
India: violent attack against tribal peoples
Case IND 280203. ESCR
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Violent Attack/Forced Eviction of Tribal peoples/Destruction of Property
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in India.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the India Centre for Human Rights and the Law, two members of the OMCT network, of a violent attack, by the police and the forest protection staff, against more than 1’000 Adivasis that was launched in order to evict them from the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary located in Wayanad in the southern State of Kerala, India.
According to the information received, during the evening of February 19th 2003, the police and the forest protection staff launched a violent gunfire attack against more than 1’000 Adivasis (tribal peoples), including elderly persons, women and children, to evict them from the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary in Wayanad, a place that they had been occupying since January 4th 2003. The Adivasis, rallied under the banner of the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS), which is the apex organisation of about 35 indigenous communities in Kerala, reportedly resisted this violent move with bows and arrows and other rudimentary weapons.
It is reported that the police fired several rounds of rubber bullets in the morning to evict the Adivasis. Later in the evening, as the AGMS took two forest protection staff members as hostages, hoping to cause the advancing police force to retreat, the police reportedly opened fire indiscriminately against them.
According to the information received, 16 people (15 Adivasis and one policeman) were killed and more than 50 people were seriously injured by the shooting and fighting. A huge contingent of policemen reportedly beat up men, women and children and pulled down and set fire to their makeshift tents made of bamboo, grass and plastic sheets, even as the Adivasis tried to push back the attack with their bare hands and farm implements. It is also reported that the police has been using excavators to bury the dead in the area, which has been made off-limits to the public and the press since the shooting.
Background information
According to the information received, on Jan. 4, 2003, a total of 1,100 Adivasi families entered this area in protest against the failure of the Kerala government to implement its commitment that was based upon an agreement it had reached with the Adivasis on October 16th 2001. On this date, a committee headed by the chief minister agreed that (a) landless Adivasis and those having less than one acre of land would be given five acres of land each, (b) the state government would, by a cabinet resolution, declare all tribal habitations in Kerala as scheduled areas under Article 244, (c) the Supreme Court judgement on the 1999 act would be implemented and (d) a tribal mission would be constituted to implement the agreement.
On the basis of this agreement, the government reportedly identified 22’491 landless Adivasi families and 30’981 families with less than one acre of land. Thus, a total of 53’472 families were identified as being eligible to receive five acres of land each. However, as of January 1, 2002, only a total of 59’452 acres of land had been identified for being handed over to the Adivasis, which amounted to less than 2.2 percent of the total land required for allotment under the agreement.
On the basis of this identification, land allocation started on January 1st 2002. However, according to the information received, less than 600 families were allotted a total of 950 acres of land, meaning that the land they received was less than 30% of their entitlement. Overall, less than 1.6 percent of the land identified for allotment to the Adivasis was actually handed over to them, while land allotment stopped after the initial allotment to handful families.
After having given the government over a year to implement the agreement, the AGMS declared that the Adivasis would implement what the government agreed upon but failed to execute. It is in this context that the Adivasis entered in the Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary on January 4, 2003.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in India urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the afore-mentioned persons;
ii. guarantee adequate reparation to all injured people;
iii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances these arrests in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards.
Addresses
Mr. H.E. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India, South Block, Raisina Hill, New Delhi 110 011
India; Fax: +91 11 3016857/3019545 (O), +91 11 3019334 (R); E-mail: vajpayee@sansad.nic.in or http://pmindia.nic.in/writetous.htm
H.E. President Abdul Kalam, Office of the President, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi 110 004, INDIA Fax: 91-11-301 7290 / 7824; E-mail: Pressecy@Sansad.nic.in
Justice J. S. Verma, Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission (NHR), Sardar Patel Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 11001, India, Fax: 91-11-334 0016; E-mail: chairnhrc@nic.in
Shri Dilip Singh Bhuria, Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes, Floor 5, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi-110003, INDIA, Tel: 91-11-4623959, Fax: 91-11-4625378
Mr. Shri. A. K. Antony, Chief Minister of Kerala, Room No. 141, Third Floor
North Block, Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Tel: +91 471 333812 or +91 471 332184; Fax: +91 471 333489; E-mail: chiefminister@kerala.gov.in or cmkerala@vsnl.net
Shri Dilip Singh Judev, Minister of Environment and Forests, Paryavaran Bhavan, C.G.O.Complex, Lodhi Road Institutional Area, New Delhi, India
Tel: +91-11-4361748 or +91 4361727; E-mail: secy@menf.delhi.nic.in
Please also write to the embassies of India in your respective country.
Geneva, February 28, 2003
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Violent Attack/Forced Eviction of Tribal peoples/Destruction of Property
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in India.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the India Centre for Human Rights and the Law, two members of the OMCT network, of a violent attack, by the police and the forest protection staff, against more than 1’000 Adivasis that was launched in order to evict them from the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary located in Wayanad in the southern State of Kerala, India.
According to the information received, during the evening of February 19th 2003, the police and the forest protection staff launched a violent gunfire attack against more than 1’000 Adivasis (tribal peoples), including elderly persons, women and children, to evict them from the Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary in Wayanad, a place that they had been occupying since January 4th 2003. The Adivasis, rallied under the banner of the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS), which is the apex organisation of about 35 indigenous communities in Kerala, reportedly resisted this violent move with bows and arrows and other rudimentary weapons.
It is reported that the police fired several rounds of rubber bullets in the morning to evict the Adivasis. Later in the evening, as the AGMS took two forest protection staff members as hostages, hoping to cause the advancing police force to retreat, the police reportedly opened fire indiscriminately against them.
According to the information received, 16 people (15 Adivasis and one policeman) were killed and more than 50 people were seriously injured by the shooting and fighting. A huge contingent of policemen reportedly beat up men, women and children and pulled down and set fire to their makeshift tents made of bamboo, grass and plastic sheets, even as the Adivasis tried to push back the attack with their bare hands and farm implements. It is also reported that the police has been using excavators to bury the dead in the area, which has been made off-limits to the public and the press since the shooting.
Background information
According to the information received, on Jan. 4, 2003, a total of 1,100 Adivasi families entered this area in protest against the failure of the Kerala government to implement its commitment that was based upon an agreement it had reached with the Adivasis on October 16th 2001. On this date, a committee headed by the chief minister agreed that (a) landless Adivasis and those having less than one acre of land would be given five acres of land each, (b) the state government would, by a cabinet resolution, declare all tribal habitations in Kerala as scheduled areas under Article 244, (c) the Supreme Court judgement on the 1999 act would be implemented and (d) a tribal mission would be constituted to implement the agreement.
On the basis of this agreement, the government reportedly identified 22’491 landless Adivasi families and 30’981 families with less than one acre of land. Thus, a total of 53’472 families were identified as being eligible to receive five acres of land each. However, as of January 1, 2002, only a total of 59’452 acres of land had been identified for being handed over to the Adivasis, which amounted to less than 2.2 percent of the total land required for allotment under the agreement.
On the basis of this identification, land allocation started on January 1st 2002. However, according to the information received, less than 600 families were allotted a total of 950 acres of land, meaning that the land they received was less than 30% of their entitlement. Overall, less than 1.6 percent of the land identified for allotment to the Adivasis was actually handed over to them, while land allotment stopped after the initial allotment to handful families.
After having given the government over a year to implement the agreement, the AGMS declared that the Adivasis would implement what the government agreed upon but failed to execute. It is in this context that the Adivasis entered in the Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary on January 4, 2003.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in India urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of the afore-mentioned persons;
ii. guarantee adequate reparation to all injured people;
iii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances these arrests in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights standards.
Addresses
Mr. H.E. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India, South Block, Raisina Hill, New Delhi 110 011
India; Fax: +91 11 3016857/3019545 (O), +91 11 3019334 (R); E-mail: vajpayee@sansad.nic.in or http://pmindia.nic.in/writetous.htm
H.E. President Abdul Kalam, Office of the President, Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi 110 004, INDIA Fax: 91-11-301 7290 / 7824; E-mail: Pressecy@Sansad.nic.in
Justice J. S. Verma, Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission (NHR), Sardar Patel Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 11001, India, Fax: 91-11-334 0016; E-mail: chairnhrc@nic.in
Shri Dilip Singh Bhuria, Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes, Floor 5, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi-110003, INDIA, Tel: 91-11-4623959, Fax: 91-11-4625378
Mr. Shri. A. K. Antony, Chief Minister of Kerala, Room No. 141, Third Floor
North Block, Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Tel: +91 471 333812 or +91 471 332184; Fax: +91 471 333489; E-mail: chiefminister@kerala.gov.in or cmkerala@vsnl.net
Shri Dilip Singh Judev, Minister of Environment and Forests, Paryavaran Bhavan, C.G.O.Complex, Lodhi Road Institutional Area, New Delhi, India
Tel: +91-11-4361748 or +91 4361727; E-mail: secy@menf.delhi.nic.in
Please also write to the embassies of India in your respective country.
Geneva, February 28, 2003
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
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