Human Rights Watch (HRW) was founded by Robert Bernstein, Jeri Laber, and Aryeh Neier in 1978. It was founded under the name Helsinki Watch. Helsinki Watch was created to monitor government compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Similarly, various other “watches” were created such as Asia Watch, Middle East Watch, Africa Watch, etc. In 1988 all the “Watches” were merged and Human Rights Watch was created. CIA’s Ford Foundation helped create HRW.
Meenakshi Ganguly is the Deputy Asia Director of HRW. Prior to joining HRW, she worked as correspondent for The Times magazine and Press Trust of India (PTI). Other Indians or people of Indian origin associated with HRW are Jayshree Bajoria, Associate Director for Asia Division, Arvind Ganesan, Director for HRW’s Economic Justice and Rights Division, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Asia Advisory Council of HRW and currently UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Mallika Dutta, Asia Advisory Council of HRW, Krishen Mehta was previously on the Asia Advisory Council of HRW, and is currently a Trustee of the Japan Foundation of HRW in Tokyo, Kriti Sharma Disability Rights Vision and renowned Economist Jagdish Bhagwati was also Asia Advisory Council of HRW.
Interestingly, HRW has never produced a Religious Freedom report on the treatment of Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan, how Hindu women and girls are routinely abducted, raped and forcibly married to their much older abductors and rapists. HRW has produced reports on the treatment of Ahmadis, Shias, Hazaras and blasphemy laws. Whereas Religious Freedom report for India, is full of perceived human rights violation of Muslims and backsliding on Rights. In October 2021 HRW reported the first and the only report of deadly attacks on Hindu festival of Durg Pooja in Bangladesh.
In 2021, in a United States Congressional Briefing titled ‘Religious Freedom in India’, HRW’s Asia Advocacy Director, John Sifton said “Among India’s most pressing human rights concerns today is the worsening situation with respect to religious freedom.” Similar issues have never been raised by John Sifton for Pakistan where Hindu and Sikh girls are routinely abducted, raped and /or killed and forcibly converted to Islam, a fact accepted by former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Yet, HRW has never indulged in extensive international campaign to hold Pakistani establishment to account for serious and grave human rights violations of its minorities.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) was founded by Robert Bernstein, Jeri Laber, and Aryeh Neier in 1978. It was founded under the name Helsinki Watch. Helsinki Watch was created to monitor government compliance with the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Similarly, various other “watches” were created such as Asia Watch, Middle East Watch, Africa Watch, etc. In 1988 all the “Watches” were merged and Human Rights Watch was created. CIA’s Ford Foundation helped create HRW.
Ford Foundation, billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundation (OSF), Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, Oak Foundation, have funded and continue to fund HRW. According to NGO Monitor, from 2015-2021, HRW has received USD $5.9 million from the Ford Foundation, apart from giving $100 million in 2010, OSF continues to HRW ‘to support the Aryeh Neier Fellowship’. Oak Foundation has given USD $9 million to HRW.
Human Rights Watch partners with Hinduphobic, West-based ‘Dalit’ organisations. West -based ‘Dalit’ groups are run by Christians with the help from the Church or from West-based Human Rights groups.
HRW has constantly peddled the lie that India is ‘backsliding on rights’ because of ‘increasing violence against minorities’. HRW doesn’t do a similar propaganda against Pakistan where Hindus, Sikhs and Christians are in constant danger.
HRW in 2020 alleged Indian Police are biased when prosecuting people for Delhi violence. In their article “India: End Bias in Prosecuting Delhi Violence” say “Indian authorities should immediately drop politically-motivated charges against those peacefully protesting against citizenship policies that discriminate against Muslims and release them from custody”. They also came in support for the release of anti-Hindu Delhi riots accused and Aam Aadmi Party Councillor Tahir Hussain, who masterminded the riots. He confessed to the police saying he “wanted to teach Hindus a lesson“.
In another article “India: Biased Investigations 2 Years After Delhi Riot“, HRW accused Delhi police for biased investigations and called for a release of ‘peaceful protestors’ as the charges were ‘politically motivated’. Meenakshi Ganguly said “Indian authorities have been targeting activists for harassment and arrest instead of impartially investigating allegations that BJP leaders incited violence and police officials were complicit in attacks”.
In 2019 in an article for HRW India: Citizenship Bill Discriminates Against Muslims, Meenakshi Ganguly lied that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of “The Indian government is creating legal grounds to strip millions of Muslims of the fundamental right of equal access to citizenship. The government should demonstrate its expressed commitment to protecting refugees by passing a law that protects them irrespective of their religion.” Ganguly argues that “The Indian government’s claim that the citizenship law aims to protect religious minorities rings hollow by excluding Ahmadiyya from Pakistan and Rohingya from Myanmar,”. Point to note here the CAA is for persecuted minorities- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Zoroastrians-living in Muslim majority Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will be given speedy citizenship. Ahmadiyya’s were at the forefront of creating Pakistan in 1947. There is worry among Indian citizens that their return can spark Partition 2.0. Besides former Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Kanwal Sibal says “The Rohingyas have entered India illegally but no Ahmadi has fled Pakistan for safety in India. So, why is the Ahmadi red-herring being drawn? Why not include the Shias in Pakistan targeted by Sunni jihadi groups, the Yazidis and other victims of the Islamic State, or, further away, the victims of Boko Haram from North Africa to prove our secular credentials? Is the Opposition demanding that the Ahmadis who might enter India illegally at some future date should be eligible for Indian citizenship as well? How would this be possible when the cut-off date in the CAA is December 31, 2014? The Rohingyas, as Bengali-speaking Muslims, can be settled in Bangladesh as a fraternal Muslim country. Malaysia, which is fast becoming an Islamic state that feels concerned about Kashmiris, could accept them, just as it has accepted Zakir Naik.”
While batting for illegal Rohingyas in India, in “India: Rohingya Deported to Myanmar Face Danger” Meenakshi Ganguly opines “The government’s decision to expel Rohingya refugees despite mountains of evidence that their lives and freedoms would be at risk in Myanmar shows cruel disregard for human life and international law.” blamed ultra-Hindu nationalists and Hindu majoritarianism for discriminatory policies against religious minorities especially Rohingyas and that government policies smacks of bigotry. Firstly, India is not a signatory to The Refugee Convention 1951, so India is not obligated to take in refugees from other countries. Secondly, Indian security agencies have raised serious issues with Rohingyas some of whom are connected to Pakistan based terror organisations. Bangladesh that houses millions of Rohingyas have also raised the same concerns saying “refugees are a terror risk”. Thirdly, in 2017 Rohingya armed groups massacred 99 Hindu men, women and children. Some women and children who were spared were forcefully converted to Islam. Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) killed Hindus execution-style starting with the men. Given Rohingyas hate for Hindus, India is not obligated under any “international” law to taken in Rohingya refugees. Fourthly, illegal Rohingyas and Bangladeshi’s are indulging in crimes against Hindus in India. From stone-pelting Hindu religious processions, to changing demographics, to human trafficking, to claiming Indian resources using fake Hindu identities. None of these issues has been raised by HRW.
On the hijab issue “Hijab Ban in India Sparks Outrage, Protests” HRW’s Jayshree Bajoria argues that the ban violates India’s obligations under international human rights law, which guarantees the rights to freely manifest one’s religious beliefs, to freedom of expression, and to education without discrimination. She further says “ban is the latest example of Indian authorities increasingly seeking to marginalize Muslims, exposing them to heightened violence.” We argued in our piece on the hijab ban why hijabs should not be allowed. Also, India is run by Indian laws not foreign laws.
In 2023, Meenakshi Ganguly in “India’s Hindu Festivals Bring Increasing Anti-Muslim Violence” blamed Hindu festival of Ramanavami (birthday of Bhagwan Shri Ram) for violence insinuating that India’s BJP is using “Hindu majoritarianism” to attack Indian Muslims. Nowhere in the article does Ganguly mention that Indian Muslims have always instigated violence for passing through what they perceive as “Muslim area”. Hindus do not take any mention of “Muslim area” lightly as India was partitioned on religious lines in 1947 into Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Republic of India. It brings back old memories of violence, rape and slaughter of Hindus for creation of Pakistan.
Below are some videos of Muslims in India pelting stones at Hindus during Hindu festivals. Some Indian news portals have covered the stone-pelting incidents. You can read it here and here.
Videos credit: Twitter and You Tube
In their articles on Kahsmir, HRW never mentions the words terrorists or terrorism. Terrorists are often called gunmen or militants. They call UN designated terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba as “Islamist armed group“. Pakistan-backed LeT is also banned in India, the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, and the European Union. LeT has advocated jihad to take back countries once ruled by Muslims, non-Muslims to pay jizya, and declared India as an enemy of Islam. LeT are also responsible for 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, majority Indians, 1998 Wandhama massacre of Kashmiri Hindus, 2002 Kaluchak massacre of Hindus, 2003 Nadimarg massacre of Hindus, 2005 Delhi bombings during Deepavali, 2006 Doda massacre, Varanasi bombings and Mumbai train bombings among others.
While HRW is happy to term Kashmir a “Muslim-majority state” which needs to be protected even though Islamic terrorists raped and massacred Hindus in the 1990’s, but blames “Hindu majoritarianism” for attacks on minorities in the rest of the country. HRW doesn’t show the same concern for minorities in Pakistan as much as it shows for minorities in India.
In July 2023, HRW’s Meenakshi Gangluy defended and justified Islamic attack of Hindus in Nuh, Mewat by blaming perceived “discriminatory policies” by Hindu majoritarian government. Ganguly writes “”Incidents like this are the unfortunate and obvious outcome of the BJP government’s Hindu majoritarian politics, including the adoption of laws and policies that systematically discriminate against minorities and stigmatize critics of the government. The continued vilification of Muslims has resulted in an increase in hate crimes.” In the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Haryana Police state how Muslims incited violence against Hindus using social media, while in another FIR Police detailed how Muslims chanting “Allah ho Akbar” and “Pakistan Zindabad” attacked a #Hindu temple with over 2,500 devotees.
In the below video, you can see here a Hindu man detailing how Muslims burned vehicles and were attacking Hindus from the hills, and were planning to attack Malhar Mandir were more than 2,500 devotees were assembled.
Recently during PM Modi’s state visit to the United States, HRW’s Washington Director, Sarah Yager was seen sharing a stage with Jamat-e-Islami’s Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).
Below are some of their social media posts.
STOP HINDU HATE ADVOCACY NETWORK 