India at the crossroads? Civil society, human rights and religious freedom: Critical analysis of CSOs’ third cycle universal periodic review discourse 2012-2017

Chaney, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2110-0436 2020. India at the crossroads? Civil society, human rights and religious freedom: Critical analysis of CSOs’ third cycle universal periodic review discourse 2012-2017. International Journal of Human Rights 24 (5) , pp. 531-562. 10.1080/13642987.2019.1656610

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Abstract

In order to provide a timely assessment of India’s fulfilment of international obligations on religious freedom this article explores the nature and ‘issue-salience’ of different human rights ‘pathologies’. It uses critical frame analysis of the corpus of civil society organisations’ (CSOs) submissions to the third cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The findings reveal CSOs’ concerns over the weakening of rule of law institutions and restrictions on civil society during the period under study. This has impacted upon the ability of individual actors to protect religious freedom. The civil society discourse also highlights a broad range of failings; including communal violence, police malpractice/ judicial shortcomings, discrimination, oppression and incitement. In contrast, the Government’s UPR submission fails to acknowledge these issues. In conceptual terms, this disconnect suggests performativity and legitimation are a feature of the post-2014 NDA administration’s framing of human rights. It appears to embrace civil society engagement and the promotion of religious freedom in a way that advances political legitimacy, whereas civil society accounts suggest otherwise and point to ‘legitimation’ - or a disjuncture between rhetoric and reality.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	1364-2987
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 September 2019
Date of Acceptance:	12 August 2019
Last Modified:	02 May 2023 21:43
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/124931

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