In the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 to facilitate state-sanctioned and corporate-led resource extraction, the rights of Adivasis (indigenous peoples of India) are systematically violated by powerful state, military and corporate actors.

Despite laws passed to recognize Adivasi rights to their land and forests, Chhattisgarh’s Adivasi inhabitants have witnessed relentless land grabs, widespread displacement and environmental devastation. This has given rise to a decades-long conflict in the southern areas of Chhattisgarh, known as Bastar. Although the Indian state has acknowledged the socio-political roots of the conflict, its response has been largely militaristic. Flooded with police battalions and paramilitary forces, the region has become one of the most militarized zones in the world, with Adivasis subjected to extensive human rights violations.

India Justice Project and ECCHR’s work on Chhattisgarh examines the ways in which the law and trends in corporate takeover, militarization, and repression of civil society intersect to shrink space, both literally and metaphorically, for the state’s indigenous residents.

In March 2022, given the lack of in-depth engagement with the question of (indigenous) Adivasi rights by UN member states during India’s previous Universal Periodic Review (UPR) processes, India Justice Project and London Mining Network, together with a broad civil society coalition, filed a joint stakeholder submission to India’s upcoming 2022 UPR cycle. The submission presents insights into the ongoing assault of the Indian state and mega-corporations on the indigenous peoples of the country, particularly highlighting the legal and institutional means through which powerful state, military and corporate actors shrink space for Adivasi rights in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Based on the UPR submission, India Justice Project and ECCHR also published a report on the same topic, and together with Völkerrechtsblog, organized a blog symposium released ahead of India’s 10 November 2022 UPR review.

India is often referred to as the “world’s largest democracy,” yet minority protection has always been a field of fierce contestation in post-independence India. Adivasis (the indigenous peoples of India) and many other groups such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalits have historically been targets of violence at different times since India gained full independence from British colonial rule in 1947. In recent years, a phase of undermining minority rights has been (re-)emerging.

Located in central India, the state of Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000 to facilitate state-sanctioned and corporate-led resource extraction. Nearly a third of this relatively small state’s population is comprised of Adivasis, who account for 10% of India’s overall indigenous population. Although laws have been passed that recognize Adivasi rights to their land and forests, as well as that introduce environmental protections, their implementation has been negligible, while the populations in the areas in question have been subjected to illegal acquisition of indigenous lands, widespread displacement and environmental devastation. This environment of disempowerment, relentless land grabbing and dispossession, in tandem with a vibrant history of resistance against this subjugation, has resulted in an indigenous peoples’ rebellion in the southern areas of Chhattisgarh. The Indian state’s response has been overwhelmingly militaristic, invoking states of emergency and deploying counterinsurgency tactics and anti-terrorism measures.

Since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into power in 2014, state-sanctioned land grabs by corporations in Chhattisgarh have accelerated. The new government has introduced successive laws and policies that reverse existing constitutional and statutory guarantees of self-governance and tenure rights for indigenous peoples. There has also been a manifold increase in the deployment of security forces, exacerbating the conflict in Chhattisgarh’s southern areas and resulting in unprecedented levels of extrajudicial killings, false arrests, sexualized violence, illegal detentions, and torture of the Adivasis in the area. With increased militarization and corporatization of the state, attacks against human rights defenders and efforts to shrink civic space have intensified, particularly against those working to document or resist new extractive projects, displacement, sexualized violence and militarization.

Such violations of indigenous peoples’ rights are not limited to the state of Chhattisgarh but extend across India and other parts of the world, as impunity reigns for those involved in the violations stemming from state-corporate projects presented under the banner of development and progress. India Justice Project and ECCHR’s work on Adivasi rights in Chhattisgarh examines the ways in which the law and trends in corporate takeover, militarization, and repression of civil society intersect to shrink space, both literally and metaphorically, for Chhattisgarh’s indigenous residents.