UN discrimination watchdog rebukes India for ‘targeting’ Rohingya refugees, Bengali-speaking Muslims

The Union Nations’ watchdog on racial discrimination on Tuesday expressed “grave concern” about Indian law enforcement officers allegedly targeting Rohingya refugees and Bengali-speaking Muslims.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said that there had been an “increase in law enforcement operations targeting Rohingya, Bengali-speaking Muslims, migrants and asylum-seekers”, particularly following an order by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in 2017 and the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack.

The panel also said that it was concerned about violations allegedly perpetrated by the law enforcement authorities against the Scheduled Tribes, the Scheduled Castes and other groups.

The comments were made as part of the committee’s findings on India, Finland, Honduras and Kuwait after reviewing the four countries at a recent session of the panel.

The committee of 18 independent rights experts monitors adherence to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by signatory countries. This was the first time since 2007 that India appeared for review before the panel, AFP reported.

The 2017 order was an apparent reference to a directive issued by New Delhi that year detailing instructions for the deportation of undocumented migrants, including Rohingyas.

Weeks after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April 2025, the Union home ministry had directed the states and Union Territories to verify the...

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