*Geneva:* Shameful countries list, PM Modi brings a big disgrace for Indiaat the international forum of United Nations.
The UN listed 38 “shameful” countries including India on Wednesday which itsaid had carried out reprisals or intimidation against people cooperatingwith it on human rights, through killings, torture and arbitrary arrests.
The annual report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also includedallegations of ill-treatment, surveillance, criminalisation and publicstigmatisation campaigns targeting victims and human rights defenders.
“The world owes it to those brave people standing up for human rights, whohave responded to requests to provide information to and engage with theUnited Nations, to ensure their right to participate is respected,”Guterres wrote. “Punishing individuals for cooperating with the UnitedNations is a shameful practice that everyone must do more to stamp out.”
The 38 countries included 29 countries with new cases, and 19 with ongoingor continuing cases.
The new cases were in Bahrain, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Cuba, DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary,India, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Myanmar, Philippines,Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Thailand, Trinidadand Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
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Governments frequently charged human rights activists with terrorism orblamed them for cooperating with foreign entities or damaging the state’sreputation or security, it said.
“(There is a) disturbing trend in the use of national security argumentsand counter-terrorism strategies by states as justification for blockingaccess by communities and civil society organisations to the UnitedNations,” the report said.
Women cooperating with the UN had reported threats of rape and beingsubject to online smear campaigns, and UN staff often encountered peoplewho were too afraid to speak to them, even at UN headquarters in New Yorkand Geneva.
