Human Rights Challenges of the Ethnic Minorities of the North East India
Channel: BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt
Date: 30/06/2021

Babloo Loitongbam

The North East region of India is a unique melting pot of South, Southeast, and Far East Asian cultures. In 19th-century British India brought the region under its control and when they left in 1947, the indigenous peoples asserted their right to self-determination leading to widespread unrest, which the post-colonial Government of India (GoI) found it difficult to control and imposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 to contain the conflagration, giving armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas“ with impunity. 

The implementation of the Act left behind a trail of violence, with egregious human rights violation. 

The session will highlight how the victim communities organise themselves and leverage the human rights redress mechanisms, domestically and in the UN, to seek justice. 

Three main objectives
a. Give spotlight on the human rights struggle of a relatively unknown, but important, conflict region of Asia
b. Access the progress and pitfalls of achieving SDG 10 and 16 amongst the ehtnic minorities in an isolated location.
c. Innovative use of the human rights litigation in India and the use of UN human rights instruments to strengthen the victim's struggle for justice. 

This video was recorded, and it is of responsibility Babloo Loitongbam, as part of the program of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quant EDB - Equity, Diversity and Belonging Week 2020. All the content featured on - such as soundtrack, images, and other sources of content - are of responsibility of the creator / host of the session.