Podcast: Four human-rights defenders describe challenges and concerns raised by India’s coronavirus lockdown

A policewoman enforces social distancing at a shelter for stranded migrants and the homeless in Delhi. In India as across the world, responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have heightened the dangers to human rights. ISHAN TANKHA

02 May, 2020

Government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have heightened the dangers to human rights across the world. In this podcast, four human-rights defenders active in various parts of India share the challenges and concerns they have confronted since the start of the country-wide lockdown. The four are Gayatri Kandhadai, the Asia policy coordinator at the Association for Progressive Communications; Anindya Hajra, from the Pratyay Gender Trust in Kolkata; Sadam Hanjabam, from Ya All, an LGBT organisation in Manipur; and a human-rights defender in Kashmir who asked to remain anonymous for reasons of security.

This podcast episode is part of an international series by Front Line Defenders focused on human-rights defenders working amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The series is available at www.frontlinedefenders.org/podcast.