Henri Tiphagne at a lecture in his home country. Photo: Oliver Wolff
„People’s Watch – Henri Tiphagne’s commitment in India
Indian lawyer Henri Tiphagne’s organisation People’s Watch is one of the most important human rights organisations in his country.
Since 2010, People’s Watch has systematically built up a network of committed people in India who are campaigning against corruption, for the protection of minorities, for justice, environmental protection and sexual self-determination. So far, over 1,000 human rights defenders have been trained. The organisation also helps quickly and efficiently when these people are under threat and need to be included in a protection programme, for example.
Here too – as is so often the case – the government’s response to the human rights defenders‘ commitment has been Pressure and harassment. Accounts were frozen, employees had to be dismissed and programmes discontinued. Amnesty International itself has also been affected by such reprisals: In September 2020, the Indian section of Amnesty was forced to suspend its work for the time being after the organisation’s accounts were frozen by the authorities.
For more than 20 years, Henri Tiphagne has been a tireless campaigner for human rights, who has set up school programmes with his organisation and is said to have already reached 500,000 children in 18 states. No wonder the government is fighting and harassing him. But this intrepid man responds with perhaps the most endearing sentence imaginable in this context: „Violence, torture, oppression. It’s a privilege to be able to help.“
Pupils in the People’s Watch programme. The organisation focuses on education in order to stop human rights violations. Their vision: a society without caste-based discrimination and human rights violations. Photo: Oliver Wolff
People’s Watch meetings: Together they track down disappeared people, document police assaults and killings, torture in prisons and police stations and defend activists in court. Foto: Amnesty
In cooperation with Amnesty International, the Human Rights Foundation invited Henri Tiphagne to Germany to give him the opportunity to publicise his work. In particular, we have organised meetings with companies doing business in India to develop ways in which they can effectively support the work of People’s Watch.
Police operation in Thoothukudi, the scene of numerous human rights violations. The Indian government’s attempts to obstruct the work of human rights organisations such as People’s Watch are symptomatic of a global trend. For more than ten years, civil society has been coming under increasing pressure worldwide. Foto: Amnesty
Website of the organization People’s Watch
Video on Youtube: “Henri Tiphagne and People’s Watch: Für die Menschrechte in Indien”, Amnesty International