CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING: FATF and India's Use of Counterterrorism Laws to Target Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders

This roundtable aims to illuminate the misuse of anti-terror laws by India, specifically highlighting their use to suppress civil society, purportedly in the name of Financial Action Task Force compliance. These international recommendations meant to protect countries from threats of terrorism can be used by oppressive regimes to justify their assault on the activities of civil society. Within India, these recommendations have encouraged the creation and abuse of the draconian UAPA, or “Unlawful Activities Prevention Act”. This law, which can be implemented very broadly to imprison political dissenters, is the method by which many of the Indian men and women on the Freedom of Religion and Belief Victims List have been detained.