More than 400 days since the start of ethnic violence between the dominant Meitei community and the minority Kuki and other tribal hill communities, the BJP-led central government and Manipur state government have utterly failed to end the violence and displacement and protect human rights in the state, said Amnesty International.
Since 3 May 2023, at least 200 people have been killed and more than 60,000 displaced, while homes, business, villages and places of worship have been burnt down, attacked, looted and vandalised. Authorities have continued to crackdown on those who have dared to speak out against this.
\Vigilante groups such as Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Lippun that support the dominant Meitei community in Manipur have gained notoriety due to the authorities failing to end the violence by the groups and bring those suspected to be involved to justice.
Since the start of the conflict, Amnesty International found at least 32 reported incidents of members of Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Lippun committing gender-based violence against those belonging to the ethnic tribal communities and at least two incidents of abducting Manipur police personnel. Yet, neither Arambai Tenggol’s nor Meitei Lippun’s members have faced prosecution in the past year.
Since the beginning of the violence, the Manipur state authorities have resorted to various methods to suppress the civil society including harassing human rights activists and journalists by filing bogus criminal cases and refusing to investigate cases of intimidation by vigilante groups in a timely manner.
Amnesty International documented at least three instances of members of tribal communities facing barriers in getting their complaints officially registered by Manipur police since November 2023. In all three cases, the Kuki groups were either assaulted or intimidated or had their belongings confiscated without protocol by Meitei members of the Manipur police.
After the conflict began, most of the tribal students either relocated out of the state or moved to the hill areas whereas the Meitei students moved to the valley region. In November 2023, the Manipur University administration selectively debarred the displaced Kuki medical students from writing their exams leading to protests from the students.
Reports of a lack of adequate relief and rehabilitation measures, including adequate shelter, sanitation, food, water, medical care and access to education opportunities suggest that authorities’ efforts to respect and protect the human rights of internally displaced persons do not conform to standards contained in the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.
Amnesty International is calling on the central and state authorities to coordinate with each other and with local groups to respond adequately to the situation’s scale and gravity. Authorities must facilitate the rights of those displaced to voluntarily return to their homes and rebuild their lives by ensuring safe resettlement,
