On 6 May 2025, an international online briefing was held and statement released by International Solidarity for Academic Freedom in India (InSAF India), in collaboration with London Mining Network (UK), India Justice Project (Germany), Foundation the London Story (Netherlands) and Indian Alliance Paris, to spotlight the accelerating crisis of state repression in the Bastar region of the state of Chhattisgarh in central India.
The briefing included presentations from Bela Bhatia, a human rights defender and lawyer based in Bastar, Professor Haragopal, senior activist and Vice-Chair of the Peace Dialogues Committee, Binota Moy Dhamai, Asia expert member of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Ana Celestial, South-east Asia Regional Contact Point for the Yes to Life, No to Mining Network and Acting National Coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Philippines), Tarcila Rivera-Zea, founder and President of CHIRAPAQ (Centro de Culturas Indígenas del Perú), founder of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women of the Americas (ECMIA) and a former expert member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The event also saw the release of a statement launched by InSAF India, London Mining Network and other collaborating organisations and signed by over 50 human rights, climate justice and civil society organisations and 130 individuals worldwide and reiterated its demands, including: an immediate end to state violence with demilitarization of Bastar, enforcement of constitutional protections for Adivasi communities, halt to all land acquisition without FPIC, protection of Indigenous human rights defenders, and accountability for all human rights violations and International Law.
You can watch the recording of the webinar: