South Asia State of Minorities Report 2020: Minorities and Shrinking Civic Space

Through this publication, The South Asia Collective (a network of human rights activists and organisations in the region) aims to document the status of minorities – religious, linguistic, ethnic, caste and others –  in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The report was published in November 2020.The report observes that the ‘civic spaces’ in these countries have reduced in the last decade. Civic spaces include social movements, national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the media, academics, activists and others. The status of civic space in a country depends on the rights of citizens to associate, assemble peacefully, and freely express views and opinions. These constitutional rights have been increasingly violated by governments in South Asia, says the report, and there have been further attacks on civil liberties since the Covid-19 pandemic began.The 349-page report contains eight chapters: Shrinking Civic Spaces for Human Rights Defenders in Afghanistan (Chapter 1); Bangladesh: Civic Space and Minority Rights (Chapter 2); Civic Space and Religious Minorities in Bhutan (Chapter 3); Closing Civic Space in India: Targeting Minorities Amid Democratic Backsliding (Chapter 4); Civic Space in Nepal (Chapter 5); Closing Civic Space in Pakistan (Chapter 6); Sri Lanka: Minority Rights within Shrinking Civic Space (Chapter 7) and State of South Asian Minorities 2020 (Chapter 8).