Amnesty International has joined seven other organizations in calling on the Indian government to withdraw recent amendments to the country’s Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules (FCRA) granting the authorities sweeping new powers to police non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive foreign funding.
In a public statement, the organizations document how the rules, adopted on 22 June, facilitate a range of new ways to silence peaceful dissent, restrict human rights, and obstruct independent human rights work in the country. Among other new powers, the changes force NGOs to comply with a restrictive list of “reasonable activities”, tie their funding to specific Indian states and purposes, subjectively / indeterminately expand the categories of people with compliance responsibilities and impose a minimum spending threshold on NGOs to remain eligible for receiving further funding.
Under international human rights law, the right to freedom of association includes the right of associations to seek, receive and use resources, including funding from foreign sources.
“These repressive amendments are in breach of international human rights law and we urge the Indian authorities to immediately withdraw them.”
Aakar Patel, Chair of Board at Amnesty International India
“Since being introduced in 2010, the FCRA has been cynically weaponized against foreign-funded NGOs and their Indian beneficiaries, the very organizations holding power to account, while political parties, the law’s original target, have been quietly exempted and left free to receive foreign money without scrutiny. These amendments take things further still, granting India’s authorities a sweeping power and extensive say over what these NGOs can do, how they are run, and even who they can employ,” said Aakar Patel, Chair of Board at Amnesty International India.
“The overly broad language of these amendments, coupled with an ever-expanding list of reporting requirements, is clearly open to abuse, effectively handing authorities unchecked discretionary power to delay, deny or cancel an organization’s access to funding with no safeguards or independent oversight. The result is a chilling effect across India’s already beleaguered civil society, where organizations are forced to self-censor simply to survive.”
“These repressive amendments are in breach of international human rights law and we urge the Indian authorities to immediately withdraw them.”
The list of “reasonable activities” effectively excludes any form of human rights advocacy, policy research, campaigning, strategic litigation and accountability. Organizations carrying out this type of work in India are now effectively barred from receiving foreign funds.
The new rules apply to nearly 14,500 organizations that currently hold an FCRA license, and to all non-profits who may want to apply in the future. The changes come amid the Ministry of Home Affairs’ cancellation of 22,498 FCRA registrations over the past decade, many of them targeted because of their human rights work and while an FCRA amendment bill remains pending in the Indian Parliament.
Background
The amendments significantly expand an already restrictive legal framework established under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010. Since 2010, successive governments have amended the Act three times, most significantly in 2020, when the law was expanded to ban the transfer of foreign funds between organizations, to cap administrative expenditure and to require funds to be routed through a single designated bank account. The Act has faced repeated warnings from UN human rights experts that it fails to meet international standards.
Signed by:
- Amnesty International
- CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
- Front Line Defenders
- Human Rights Watch
- International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 10 million people who take injustice personally. We are campaigning for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all – and we can only do it with your support.
Act now or learn more about our human rights work.
