United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes says human rights violations have risen dramatically in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir since 2019 when Indian government revoked the special status of the territory.

In a statement issued today, he said, by holding a G20 meeting of the working group on tourism on 22nd of this month, the government of India is seeking to normalize what some have described as a military occupation by instrumentalising a G20 meeting and portray an international ‘seal of approval’.

He said there have been reports of significant numbers of Hindus from outside the region moving into the region so that dramatic demographic changes are under way in IIOJK to overwhelm native Kashmiris in their own land.

The Special Rapporteur said the G20 is unwittingly providing a veneer of support to a facade of normalcy at a time when massive human rights violations, illegal and arbitrary arrests, political persecutions, restrictions and even suppression of free media and human rights defenders continue to escalate.

He said international human rights obligations and the UN Declaration of Human Rights should still be upheld by organisations such as the G20.

He said that the situation in IIOJK should be decried and condemned, not push under the rug and ignored with the holding of this meeting.