‘Find Equitable Solutions’: UN Human Rights Org on Farmer Protests

The rights to peaceful assembly and expression should be protected both offline and online.

Farmers staging a protest at the Singhu Border during their ‘Dilli Chalo’ march against the Centre’s new farm laws, in New Delhi. Image used for representation.

(Photo: PTI/Ravi Choudhary)

As international attention around the farmers’ protests in India continue, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights or OHCHR commented on the agitations by saying that it was "crucial to find equitable solutions with due respect to Human Rights for all”.

Farmers have been protesting in India against laws that they believe serve the interest of private buyers. They have been demanding a complete repeal of the laws that were introduced in September 2020.

The farmers say the laws mean the end of long-standing support prices for their crops and will leave them vulnerable to the whims of big buyers.

The government has said that the reforms will help farmers get new opportunities and while they are willing to make some concessions, in the various round of talks that the farmers and central government have had, they have said they will not withdraw the laws. The deadlock between the two have contributed to a two-month-long protest on the borders of Delhi.

During this time, the protests have been largely peaceful. However, on 26 January, as the farmers decided to hold a tractor rally that would reach the Red Fort, there were clashes between policemen and farmers. One person died, hundreds were injured and some farmers continue to be missing.