The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN-CERD) has raised serious concerns over the ill-treatment of Rohingya refugees and Bengali-speaking Muslims in India, as well as severe discrimination against Dalits, tribal and indigenous people, as well as non-citizens. The committee’s concerns are based on reports of racial profiling, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, ill-treatment, excessive use of force, hate speech and the deportation or forcible return of people in need of international protection.
The concerns were outlined in the Committee’s assessment of India’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The report was released on August 25, after an Indian delegation led by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared before the Committee in Geneva in the first week of August this year.
The Committee called on the Government of India to take urgent measures to protect Rohingyas, Bengali-speaking Muslims, migrants and asylum-seekers from discrimination and human rights violations, and stressed that those responsible for abuses must be held accountable. It also recommended that India make legislative changes in its domestic laws on the lines of that given in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and conduct awareness campaigns among members of the judiciary, administration, police and law enforcement agencies to tackle the issue urgently. It also urged India to strengthen its legal framework for combating racist (read: communal and casteistin Indian context) hate speech and hate crimes.
However, India’s External Affairs Ministry strongly rejected the report, saying that it was ‘baseless’ and ‘politically motivated’.
Intensified Operations against Rohingyas
A central concern raised by the Committee was the reported increase in law-enforcement operations targeting Rohingyas.The Committee linked the escalation to the 8 August 2017 order of India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, under which Rohingyas were treated as ‘illegal immigrants’, as well as developments following the April 2025 Pahalgam attack in Kashmir.
New Delhi has been indulging in forcible deportation of Rohingya refugees on the ground that India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Refugee Protocol. The Government of India’s stand is that it does not have a national ‘refugee law’ governing the status and rights of refugees. But legal experts say that India is a signatory to other instruments which give rise to non-refoulement obligations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. According to them, Article 21 of the Constitution of India allows even non-citizens the right to life and to receive a long-term visa to stay in India. Hence, any asylum seeker cannot be deported to a country where he fears that his life would be in danger if he is sent back there.
The UN report says that the police stop and conduct identity checks targeting Rohingyas and Bengali-speaking Muslims simply because of their looks, their perceived ethnicity, language, religion, or place of origin, rather than because there was specific evidence that they had committed an offence. According to the report, this amounted to racial profiling of Rohingyas and Bengali-speaking Muslims. According to the Committee, such operations have, in some cases, resulted in arbitrary arrests and detention without due process, as well as allegations of torture and ill-treatment.
The Committee’s findings raise particular concern because many Rohingyas in India are refugees who fled persecution and violence in Myanmar. It says that the Government of India must keep in mind the international protection obligations while considering actions against them.
Concern over Forcible Deportation
One of the most significant issues identified by the Committee was the deportation and forcible return of Rohingyas and other migrants and asylum-seekers who may need international protection.The Committee warned that such deportations could violate the principle of non-refoulement, a fundamental principle of international refugee and human rights law that prohibits returning a person to a country or territory where they face a real risk of persecution, torture or other serious violations. According to Human Rights Watch(HRW), India unlawfully deported hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims to Bangladesh as well as Rohingya refugees in the last two to three years. While the Government of India did not provide official data to HRW on the number of people expelled, Border Guard Bangladesh, HRW says, has reported that India expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, 2025. HRW has alleged that Indian authorities also expelled about 100 Rohingya refugees from a detention centre in Assam across the Bangladesh border. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that the authorities forced another 40 Rohingya refugees into the sea near Myanmar, giving them life jackets and making them swim to shore.
The UN Committee, therefore, urged India to refrain from collective expulsions and to provide access to its territory and protection procedures for people seeking international protection.
The Committee specifically identified Rohingyas among those at risk and called for their rights to be protected regardless of their immigration status.
Bengali-Speaking Muslims Face Discrimination
The Committee also highlighted serious allegations involving Bengali-speaking Muslims, particularly in the context of law-enforcement operations.It cited reports of racial discrimination, systematic racial profiling, arbitrary detention, excessive and racially motivated use of force, torture and ill-treatment. It further expressed concern about allegations of unlawful killings and other serious human rights abuses.
The Committee said that a lack of effective investigations, prosecutions and convictions in cases involving alleged abuses by law-enforcement officials had contributed to concerns about impunity.It called for thorough, independent and impartial investigations into all such allegations and urged India to ensure that victims have access to effective remedies and accountability.
Hate Speech Targeting Rohingyas and Bengali-Speaking Muslims
The UN body also expressed concern over what it described as the widespread use of racist hate speech and negative stereotypes targeting Rohingyas, Bengali-speaking Muslims, migrants and asylum-seekers.According to the Committee, such rhetoric has been used by politicians and other influential public figures and has also spread extensively online, particularly through social media platforms.It warned that racist rhetoric can contribute to an atmosphere of intolerance and discrimination and may encourage hate crimes and other abuses against vulnerable communities.
The Committee urged the Indian authorities to publicly condemn racist hate speech, including statements made by politicians and influential figures. It also called for cooperation with media organisations, internet service providers and social-media platforms to monitor and address the spread of racist hate speech and negative stereotypes online.
Calls for Stronger Laws against Racist Hate Crimes
The Committee also examined India’s legal framework for addressing hate speech and hate crimes.Although it acknowledged provisions in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with offences such as promoting enmity between groups and acts intended to outrage religious feelings, it concluded that India’s legal framework does not explicitly address all forms of racist hate speech and hate crimes covered by the Convention.
It recommended that India review the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant information-technology rules to explicitly criminalise racist hate speech and hate crimes and to cover all forms of discrimination recognised under the Convention.
Importantly, the Committee also recommended that racist motivation be recognised as an aggravating circumstance when determining the seriousness of an offence.
To read the article in full, click here.