32 THE WEEK • AUGUST 4, 2019
COVER STORY
ASSAMn INTERVIEWFernand de Varennes
(UN special rapporteur on
minority issues)FERNAND DE VARENNES IS dean of
the Faculté de droit at the Université de
Moncton in Canada and extraordinary
professor at the Centre for Human Rights
of the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
He has been special rapporteur on
minority issues for the UN Human Rights
Council since August 2017. He is one of
the three members who presented the
report on NRC to the Council, criticising
the manner in which the Indian govern-
ment has handled the NRC process. In a
telephonic interaction with THE WEEK,
he spoke about the international legal
concerns regarding the NRC and his ex-
pectations from the Indian government.
Excerpts:What are your concerns regarding
NRC?
The prime concern is that the people will
become non-residents if the NRC pro-
cess is executed as it is being promised.
We have not made any determination or
conclusion, just an observation. We have
raised some issues and sought clari-
fications from the Indian government
through the country’s mission in Geneva.
We have told them that such an exercise
is discriminatory to a particular religious
group.
You said you got no response from
the Indian government.
We repeatedly sought clarifications
from the Indian government. The most
unfortunate thing is that it refused to give
any clarification. As a result, we have not
made any conclusions. If we do not get
any response, we may have to look at the
allegations and take steps accordingly.What are the allegations?
The allegations have dimensions related
to violation of human rights of religious
minorities. We are seeking clarifications
on the accuracy of those allegations. We
sought clarification because it raised se-
rious concerns for us and can potentially
damage the situation in Assam. There
could be denial of services for millions
who may end up stateless and lead to
serious human rights violations.
You called it one of the worst
possible human rights crises in the
world.
If millions of individuals are considered
non-citizens after the deadline, it would
be like that. An extremely large number
of people would be deprived of public
services, like children being deniedschool facilities and youth deprived of
employability. So, we wanted immediate
clarification from the government.
The NRC is a judiciary-driven exer-
cise, based on an internal agree-
ment between the Indian govern-
ment and rebels in Assam, which
started three decades ago.
In general, when governments adhere to
international human rights obligations,
that is also applicable to every layer of
government. In every sphere, the govern-
ments—Central, state or even municipal—
need to adhere to such standards while
deciding on policy-making exercises
such as the NRC.
What is your expectation from the
Indian government?
These are serious allegations and haveIndia must
adhere to
international
BY RABI BANERJEE standards
IDENTITY CHECK
People queue up to check their names at an NRC draft centre in Burgaon villageAP