Hindu Human Rights Report
Hindu Human Rights Report
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF), the leading U.S. based Hindu human rights group, has released its 8th annual report on the discrimination against Hindus in countries across the world. The report entitled, Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A Survey of Human Rights, 2011 was released in March 2012 at the foundation's Washington, D.C. area offices. Although the human rights survey was conducted in 2011, this may be referred to as the Hindu Human Rights Report 2012 based on the year of its publication since this is the only annual Hindu human rights report in the US that highlights the atrocities Hindus face as minority populations in various regions of the world.
Hindus across the Diaspora
Hindus in South Asia, and many of the twenty million Hindus living outside of India, are subject to discrimination, terror, murder sexual violence, forced conversions, ethnic cleansing, temple destruction, socio-political ostracization, and disenfranchisement. In some countries, fundamentalists from other religions advance a discriminatory and non-inclusive agenda, and promote hatred of religious and ethnic minorities in league with politicians and other government officials.
The HAF Report of 2012
Hindu Human Rights Report 2012 documents human rights violations against Hindus in the following eight countries and regions around the world
It also summarizes the situation facing the small Hindu populations in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. According to the Foundation, Hindu minorities continue to be subjected to violent attacks, restrictions on religious freedom, discriminatory laws, and economic and social marginalization in many of these nations.
Source: The Hindu American Foundation (HAF)
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
The following pages include excerpts from the latest report by HAF.
Hinduism in Bangladesh
Bangladesh passed the Vested Properties Return (Amendment) Bill 2011, which enables Hindus to reclaim land and property confiscated by the government or looted and occupied by Muslims. However, Hindu owned land continues to be illegally confiscated with the tacit or active support of government actors.
Human rights activists and journalists continue to be harassed and intimidated. Hindus of Bangladesh continue to be victims of ethnic cleansing waged by Islamic fundamentalists that include daily acts of murder, rape, kidnapping, forced conversions, temple destruction, and physical intimidation.
It is estimated that there will be no Hindus left in Bangladesh in about 25 years.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Bhutan
Bhutan is a multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-lingual society. The country received 99 recommendations from the Human Rights Council when it presented its report on the human rights situation in the country. The government accepted a majority of the recommendations. Bhutan evicted over 100,000 Hindu minority and Nyingmapa Buddhists from southern and eastern Bhutan in the early 1990s.
HAF recommends that donors, UN agencies, and Bhutan's other partners should insist on measures to eliminate discrimination against the Hindu Lhotshampas and ensure the protection of their fundamental human rights and their rights to participate as full citizens of Bhutan.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Fiji
In Fiji, Hindus constitute approximately 34% of the Christian majority state. Fijian Hindus faced hate speech, and Hindu temples were targets of attack until 2008. Such attacks seemed to end in 2009. In 2011, Hindus continued to enjoy respite from religious/criminal attacks. The Methodist Church of Fiji has repeatedly called for the creation of a Christian State. It is encouraging that the interim government of Prime Minister Bainamirama has committed itself to the protection of minorities, especially the large Hindu minority.
The Bainarmirama regime has been accused of violating the fundamental rights of its citizens and suppressing political dissent.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Jammu & Kashmir
The Maharaja of Kashmir legally ceded his kingdom to India in 1947 when Pakistan invaded Kashmir in order to conquer the kingdom. Pakistan occupies about 35% of the region, India governs approximately half, and China occupies the remainder of the region, including a portion ceded to it by Pakistan. India and Pakistan have fought major wars over Kashmir.
Since the mid to late 1980s, Islamist terrorists, supported and trained by Pakistan, have targeted Kashmir and are guilty of the large-scale ethnic cleansing of Hindus from India's Kashmir Valley.
More than 300,000 Kashmiri Hindus are refugees in their own country, sheltered in temporary camps in Jammu and other parts of India.
2011 did not see any significant resolution to the plight of Hindu refugees from Kashmir. The few attempts to redress the situation by the Central and State Governments seem desultory in nature, and Kashmiri Pandits continue to live in abject conditions in "refugee camps."
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Malaysia
Malaysia is a self-declared Islamic Republic, and minorities struggle to maintain and practice their religions. The Hindu population faces discrimination and intimidation, including the destruction of its temples and places of worship. The government continues to treat pre-independence era Hindu temples differently than mosques from the same era, and gives preference to mosques in the allocation of public funds and lands.
Hindu activists and leaders have been systematically persecuted by government officials, and public dissent has been brutally repressed through the use of draconian internal security laws. There have been several recent cases forcing Hindus and other minorities to deal with the Islamic Sharia courts where they face severe disadvantages.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Pakistan
In 1947, Hindus were approximately 25% of the population of Pakistan. Now, Hindus constitute less than 1.6% of the population. Pakistan officially and routinely discriminates against non-Muslims through a variety of discriminatory laws, such as blasphemy laws.
On March 24, 2005, Pakistan restored the discriminatory practice of mandating the inclusion of religious identity of individuals in all new passports.
School textbooks continue to promote Islam and hatred and intolerance towards non-Muslims, including Hindus. Islamists continue to extend their influence throughout the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and other parts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa Province, where they are increasingly enforcing Islamic law.
Recurring reports point to an alarming trend of Hindu girls being kidnapped, raped, held in madrassas (Islamic seminaries), and forcibly converted to Islam. Poor Hindus continue to be subjected to inhumane conditions through the bonded labor system.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious nation that was plagued by years of ethnic conflict between the Sinhala-majority Sri Lankan government and the Tamil groups. Not all Tamils are Hindus and the LTTE, the primary Tamil-terrorist outfit, was not a Hindu organization. The prolonged conflict was detrimental to all Sri Lankans, especially the large Hindu minority population, which experienced an undue share of violence and displacement.
There are major concerns for Hindu institutions and Tamil culture in Sri Lanka that have been severely threatened over the past few decades. The government should hasten to protect Hindu institutions from harm, says the report.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
The country is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious island nation with Hindu Indo-Trinidadians and Afro-Trinidadians accounting for the majority of the population. Roman Catholics and Hindus make up the largest religious groups. Hindus are frequently subjected to discrimination, hate speech, and acts of violence.
Indo-Trinidadians have been systematically denied government benefits and employment in public sector jobs.
Hindu institutions and festivals are subject to acts of violence and are denied equal access to public funds. A new government, headed by Kamla Persad Bissessar of Indian descent, took office in May 2010. It is expected that nearly six decades of discrimination against Indo-Caribbeans will come to an end.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF), the leading U.S. based Hindu human rights group, has released its 8th annual report on the discrimination against Hindus in countries across the world. The report entitled, Hindus in South Asia and the Diaspora: A Survey of Human Rights, 2011 was released in March 2012 at the foundation's Washington, D.C. area offices. Although the human rights survey was conducted in 2011, this may be referred to as the Hindu Human Rights Report 2012 based on the year of its publication since this is the only annual Hindu human rights report in the US that highlights the atrocities Hindus face as minority populations in various regions of the world.
Hindus across the Diaspora
Hindus in South Asia, and many of the twenty million Hindus living outside of India, are subject to discrimination, terror, murder sexual violence, forced conversions, ethnic cleansing, temple destruction, socio-political ostracization, and disenfranchisement. In some countries, fundamentalists from other religions advance a discriminatory and non-inclusive agenda, and promote hatred of religious and ethnic minorities in league with politicians and other government officials.
The HAF Report of 2012
Hindu Human Rights Report 2012 documents human rights violations against Hindus in the following eight countries and regions around the world
It also summarizes the situation facing the small Hindu populations in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. According to the Foundation, Hindu minorities continue to be subjected to violent attacks, restrictions on religious freedom, discriminatory laws, and economic and social marginalization in many of these nations.
Source: The Hindu American Foundation (HAF)
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
The following pages include excerpts from the latest report by HAF.
Hinduism in Bangladesh
Bangladesh passed the Vested Properties Return (Amendment) Bill 2011, which enables Hindus to reclaim land and property confiscated by the government or looted and occupied by Muslims. However, Hindu owned land continues to be illegally confiscated with the tacit or active support of government actors.
Human rights activists and journalists continue to be harassed and intimidated. Hindus of Bangladesh continue to be victims of ethnic cleansing waged by Islamic fundamentalists that include daily acts of murder, rape, kidnapping, forced conversions, temple destruction, and physical intimidation.
It is estimated that there will be no Hindus left in Bangladesh in about 25 years.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Bhutan
Bhutan is a multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-lingual society. The country received 99 recommendations from the Human Rights Council when it presented its report on the human rights situation in the country. The government accepted a majority of the recommendations. Bhutan evicted over 100,000 Hindu minority and Nyingmapa Buddhists from southern and eastern Bhutan in the early 1990s.
HAF recommends that donors, UN agencies, and Bhutan's other partners should insist on measures to eliminate discrimination against the Hindu Lhotshampas and ensure the protection of their fundamental human rights and their rights to participate as full citizens of Bhutan.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Fiji
In Fiji, Hindus constitute approximately 34% of the Christian majority state. Fijian Hindus faced hate speech, and Hindu temples were targets of attack until 2008. Such attacks seemed to end in 2009. In 2011, Hindus continued to enjoy respite from religious/criminal attacks. The Methodist Church of Fiji has repeatedly called for the creation of a Christian State. It is encouraging that the interim government of Prime Minister Bainamirama has committed itself to the protection of minorities, especially the large Hindu minority.
The Bainarmirama regime has been accused of violating the fundamental rights of its citizens and suppressing political dissent.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Jammu & Kashmir
The Maharaja of Kashmir legally ceded his kingdom to India in 1947 when Pakistan invaded Kashmir in order to conquer the kingdom. Pakistan occupies about 35% of the region, India governs approximately half, and China occupies the remainder of the region, including a portion ceded to it by Pakistan. India and Pakistan have fought major wars over Kashmir.
Since the mid to late 1980s, Islamist terrorists, supported and trained by Pakistan, have targeted Kashmir and are guilty of the large-scale ethnic cleansing of Hindus from India's Kashmir Valley.
More than 300,000 Kashmiri Hindus are refugees in their own country, sheltered in temporary camps in Jammu and other parts of India.
2011 did not see any significant resolution to the plight of Hindu refugees from Kashmir. The few attempts to redress the situation by the Central and State Governments seem desultory in nature, and Kashmiri Pandits continue to live in abject conditions in "refugee camps."
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Malaysia
Malaysia is a self-declared Islamic Republic, and minorities struggle to maintain and practice their religions. The Hindu population faces discrimination and intimidation, including the destruction of its temples and places of worship. The government continues to treat pre-independence era Hindu temples differently than mosques from the same era, and gives preference to mosques in the allocation of public funds and lands.
Hindu activists and leaders have been systematically persecuted by government officials, and public dissent has been brutally repressed through the use of draconian internal security laws. There have been several recent cases forcing Hindus and other minorities to deal with the Islamic Sharia courts where they face severe disadvantages.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Hinduism in Pakistan
In 1947, Hindus were approximately 25% of the population of Pakistan. Now, Hindus constitute less than 1.6% of the population. Pakistan officially and routinely discriminates against non-Muslims through a variety of discriminatory laws, such as blasphemy laws.
On March 24, 2005, Pakistan restored the discriminatory practice of mandating the inclusion of religious identity of individuals in all new passports.
School textbooks continue to promote Islam and hatred and intolerance towards non-Muslims, including Hindus. Islamists continue to extend their influence throughout the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and other parts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa Province, where they are increasingly enforcing Islamic law.
Recurring reports point to an alarming trend of Hindu girls being kidnapped, raped, held in madrassas (Islamic seminaries), and forcibly converted to Islam. Poor Hindus continue to be subjected to inhumane conditions through the bonded labor system.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious nation that was plagued by years of ethnic conflict between the Sinhala-majority Sri Lankan government and the Tamil groups. Not all Tamils are Hindus and the LTTE, the primary Tamil-terrorist outfit, was not a Hindu organization. The prolonged conflict was detrimental to all Sri Lankans, especially the large Hindu minority population, which experienced an undue share of violence and displacement.
There are major concerns for Hindu institutions and Tamil culture in Sri Lanka that have been severely threatened over the past few decades. The government should hasten to protect Hindu institutions from harm, says the report.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
The country is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious island nation with Hindu Indo-Trinidadians and Afro-Trinidadians accounting for the majority of the population. Roman Catholics and Hindus make up the largest religious groups. Hindus are frequently subjected to discrimination, hate speech, and acts of violence.
Indo-Trinidadians have been systematically denied government benefits and employment in public sector jobs.
Hindu institutions and festivals are subject to acts of violence and are denied equal access to public funds. A new government, headed by Kamla Persad Bissessar of Indian descent, took office in May 2010. It is expected that nearly six decades of discrimination against Indo-Caribbeans will come to an end.
Read more: The Hindu Human Rights Report
Download the HAF Hindu Human Rights Report (March 2012)
Full Report (PDF) | Executive Summary (PDF)
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