UN files intervention application in SC over CAA; India says it is internal matter

NEW DELHI: United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHRC) has filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

"MEA: Our Permanent Mission in Geneva was informed yesterday evening by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that her Office had filed an Intervention Application in the Supreme Court of India with respect to the Citizenship Amendment Act,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "We strongly believe that no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India's sovereignty…We are clear that the CAA is constitutionally valid and complies with all requirements of our constitutional values. It is reflective of our long standing national commitment in respect of human rights issues arising from the tragedy of the Partition of India.”

The United Nations has been closely monitoring the implications of India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, the passing of which has led to widespread violent protests in the country’s northeast region.

Just after the Bill was passed, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq had said, “We’re aware that the Lower and Upper Houses of the Indian Parliament have passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, and we’re also aware of the concerns that have been publicly expressed. The United Nations is closely analyzing the possible consequences of the law.”

Haq also said that some of “human rights mechanisms, including our rapporteurs, have already been expressing their concerns about the nature of this law.”

Various protests broke out throughout the country post the passage of this bill.

CAA aims to protect religiously persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan by giving them Indian Citizenship. The cut-off date for those to be given citizenship in India has been fixed at, on or before 31st December 2014.

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