20 May 2025. FORUM-ASIA and FIDH urge both India and Pakistan to maintain the ceasefire and uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights laws, ensuring the protection and assistance for all civilians, particularly those displaced or in LoC-adjacent areas.
The recent hostilities – airstrikes, drone attacks, shellings, and artillery fire – have resulted in civilian casualties, destruction of homes and infrastructure, and mass displacement, in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution under customary international humanitarian law.
"Amid renewed global focus, the voices of those most impacted must no longer be ignored. It is a critical opportunity to center the rights, agency, and participation of Kashmiris themselves. Instead, we continue to witness arbitrary arrests and the weaponization of law as systemic tools to suppress independent media and civil society organizations, many of which have been forced to shut down, and to obstruct their engagement in public discourse and political decision-making", said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.
Kashmir as a global concern
Over the past weeks, the international community’s response to the crisis has highlighted that the situation in Kashmir cannot be viewed solely as an "internal matter" as India maintains.
The United States has offered to mediate between Pakistan and India for a political "solution" for the Kashmir dispute, following their role in brokering a temporary ceasefire. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged maximum restraint and a diplomatic resolution. These reflect the international community’s continued obligation to address Kashmir as a protracted and unresolved conflict with serious human rights dimensions.
Kashmir’s international legal status is firmly grounded in UN Security Council Resolutions 47, 91, and 122, which reaffirm the territory’s disputed nature and call for the exercise of the right to self-determination through an impartial plebiscite. This was further reinforced by the 2018 and 2019 reports by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which documented the denial of civil and political rights in both Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir and called for independent international investigations.
"The question of Kashmir’s status remains unresolved, as neither India nor Pakistan has enabled the people of the region to freely exercise their right to self-determination. The UN Security Council has made clear through multiple resolutions that the people of Kashmir must be able to exercise their right to self-determination. Denying Kashmiris their right to self-determination is not merely a legal violation — it is a profound indictment of the global human rights system’s credibility", said Juliette Rousselot, Deputy Director for Asia at FIDH.
The recent developments and aforementioned international instruments invite a reconsideration of the narrative of sovereign exclusivity when fundamental human rights are at stake. They also reinforce the international community’s responsibility under international human rights and humanitarian laws to protect civilians, ensure accountability, and uphold the right to self-determination, as enshrined in Article 1 common to both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both of which have been ratified by India.
Furthermore, the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on Kosovo in 2010 affirms that international law does not prohibit expressions of political will, particularly in contexts of prolonged exclusion from meaningful representation. While it does not create a blanket right, the Opinion highlights that such aspirations cannot be dismissed solely through assertions of territorial sovereignty.
Human rights and democratic crisis
The human rights situation in Indian-administered Kashmir has deteriorated sharply since the abrogation of Article 370 of India’s Constitution in 2019. Arbitrary detentions under the Public Safety Act; the misuse of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act; prolonged internet shutdowns; suppression of peaceful dissent; and the criminalization of human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society actors have all become systematic. These measures continue to restrict the ability of Kashmiris to engage in political life, expression, and assembly, eroding the conditions for meaningful participation in the region’s future.
In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while direct state repression is less visible, consistent restrictions on political participation, freedom of expression, and local self-governance continue to undermine democratic rights. International observers – including the European Parliament and organizations such as Human Rights Watch – have raised concerns over constraints on independent media, political pluralism, and the marginalization of minority groups.
Border communities along the Line of Control live in constant fear — displaced, traumatized, and silenced by a conflict they did not choose.
"Kashmiris are not passive recipients of conflict management; they are rights-holders whose collective agency, political aspirations, and lived experiences have long been suppressed both by domestic repression and international neglect", said Bacalso.
"No solution to the Kashmir conflict can be considered legitimate, sustainable, or rights-compliant without the full, free, and informed participation of Kashmiris themselves", said Rousselot.
Call to action
FORUM-ASIA and FIDH call on the OHCHR and relevant Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council to urgently initiate a comprehensive, independent, and international investigation into ongoing violations in both Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, in line with recommendations made by the OHCHR in 2018 and 2019.
We further urge UN Member States to constructively engage with all parties. Likewise, we ask them to support a multilateral, rights-based peace process, centred on Kashmiri political agency and grounded in international legal obligations, including the right to self-determination.
We call on global civil society to reinforce solidarity with Kashmiris–particularly incarcerated human rights defenders, independent journalists, and local civil society organistions–who continue to face targeted repression.
We urge collective resistance to the ongoing abuse of legal frameworks, securitization, criminalization of dissent, censorship, and mass surveillance.