Obstacles to freedom of movement and subsequent deportation of Mr. Mukunda Raj Kattel

Obstacles tofreedom of movement

India

December 22,2017

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of theWorld Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in India.

Brief description of theinformation:

TheObservatory has been informed by reliable sources about obstacles to freedom ofmovement andsubsequent deportation of Mr. Mukunda RajKattel, Director of the Regional Secretariat of the AsianForum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia)[1],based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Accordingto the information received, on December 20, 2017, around 12am, Mr. Mukunda RajKattel was detainedby the immigration department upon his arrival at Trichirapalli International Airport,Tamil Nadu State, India. No reason was given for his detention.

Mr. Mukunda Raj Kattel was travelling toIndia to visit friends during his Christmas holidays, including Mr. Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director ofPeople’s Watch, member of OMCT’s Executive Committee and former Chairperson ofForum-Asia. It is worth mentioning that as a Nepali citizen, Mr. Kattel does not require a visa toenter India.

Mr.Kattel was subsequently informed that he wouldbe deported back to Thailand. During his detention, he was not allowed to meetwith a lawyer.

At around 10.30pm onDecember 20, 2017, Mr. Mukunda Raj Kattel was deported back to Thailandvia Malaysia after being detained for more than 18 hours by the immigration departmentat Trichirapalli International Airport.

The Observatory stronglycondemns Mr. Mukunda Kattel’s arbitrary arrest and subsequentdeportation, which seems to only aim at sanctioning his legitimate human rightsactivities in the region, and calls upon the Indianauthorities to guarantee in all circumstances the freedoms of movement,peaceful assembly and association of all humanrights defenders in India.

Actionsrequested:

Please write to the authorities in India, urging them to:

i. Guarantee,in all circumstances, the freedom of movement of Mr. Mukunda Raj Kattel and of all human rightsdefenders in India;

ii. Put anend to any harassment against all human rights defenders in India, and ensurein all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimateactivities without any hindrance and fear of reprisals;

iii.Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, inparticular with Articles 1, 5(b) and 12.2;

iv.Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedomsin accordance with international human rights standards and internationalinstruments ratified by India.

Addresses:

· Mr. Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi, Prime Minister of India, Fax: +91 11 2301 6857. E-mail: pmosb@pmo.nic.in / manmo@sansad.in

· Mr. Raj Nath Singh, Union Minister of Home Affairs of India, Fax:+91 11 2309 2979. Email: dirfcra-mha@gov.in

· Mr. Rajiv Gauba,Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs of India, Email: hshso@nic.in

· Justice Dipak Misra, ChiefJustice of India, Supreme Court, of India, Fax: +91 11 233 83792, Email: supremecourt@nic.in

· Justice Shri H.L. Dattu,Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of India, Fax +91 11 24651329. Email: chairnhrc@nic.in

· Mr. Srinivasa Kammath,Focal Point on Human Rights Defenders, National Human Rights Commission ofIndia, Email: hrd-nhrc@nic.in

· H.E. Mr. Rajiv Kumar Chander, Ambassador,Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Fax:+41 22 906 86 96, Email: mission.india@ties.itu.int

· H.E. Mr. Manjeev Singh Puri, Embassy of India to the EuropeanUnion, Belgium and Luxembourg in Brussels, Belgium, Fax: +32 2 6489638 / +32 26451869

Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassyof India located in your country.

***

Geneva-Paris,December 22, 2017

Kindlyinform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in yourreply.

The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programmeis to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rightsdefenders. OMCT and FIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, theEuropean Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by internationalcivil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergencyline:

• E-mail:Appeals@fidh-omct.org

• Tel andfax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29 • Tel and fax FIDH: + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 /+33 1 43 55 18 80

[1] FORUM-ASIAis a network of 58 NGOs in 19 countries across Asia. It works to promote andprotect human rights, including the right to development, through collaborationand cooperation among human rights organisations and defenders in Asia andbeyond. It was founded in 1991 in Manila, the Philippines. Its RegionalSecretariat was established in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1992. Since then, officeshave been opened in Geneva, Jakarta, and Kathmandu.