Modi, Biden must not sweep human rights concerns under the rug, says Amnesty International

United States President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi must address “grave human rights concerns” in both countries when they meet later this week, non-governmental organisation Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

Modi on Tuesday morning left New Delhi for a three-day visit to the United States. He is slated to meet Biden on June 22.

Aakar Patel, the chair of board at Amnesty International India, said that the two leaders “must hold each other to account for their human rights commitments, rather than sweep human rights issues in their respective countries under the rug”.

Patel added: “While the red carpet has been rolled out for Prime Minister Modi, people in India continue to experience grave human rights abuses.”

Amanda Klasing, national director of government relations and advocacy at Amnesty International USA, said that Modi has presided over a period of rapid deterioration of human rights protections in India, including increasing violence against religious minorities, shrinking civil society space and the criminalisation of dissent.

The organisation said that many state governments in India “have passed laws to criminalise consensual inter-faith marriages and undertaken punitive demolitions targeting Muslim-owned properties”.

Amnesty International noted that the targeting of religious minorities in India has been well-documented, including by the US Department of State. The organisation referred to...

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