Geneva, (Unib Rashid) __ International Action for Peace and Sustainable Development today convened a seminar titled “Shrinking Spaces” on the sidelines of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council to expose and condemn the sustained erosion of civic space in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

The event, presided and moderated by Sardar Amjad Yousaf, President of International Action for Peace and Sustainable Development, brought together experts and representatives to reveal the scale and method of rights restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir and to demand concrete international and corporate accountability.

Key messages and revelations

​•​Systematic legal repression: Speakers documented how a suite of laws and emergency powers — including the Public Safety Act (PSA), the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) — have been used to detain people without trial, shield security forces from accountability, and criminalize dissent and peaceful political activity.
​•​Digital siege: The seminar highlighted that Kashmir endured one of the longest communications blackouts in recent memory (including a 552-day internet shutdown), followed by sustained throttling to 2G speeds, restrictions on VPNs and amplified social media surveillance. These measures were described not as collateral effects but as deliberate tactics to suffocate modern forms of assembly, journalism, and civic mobilization.
​•​Media under pressure: Organizers documented forced closures of media institutions, advisories functioning as prior restraint, restricted international media access requiring military escorts, and arrests of local journalists — all of which have gravely weakened independent reporting and accountability.
​•​Targeting of human rights defenders and political leaders: The seminar highlighted the detention and prosecution of human rights defenders and political leaders — cited examples included Khurram Parvez and others — who have been criminalized for documenting disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and peaceful dissent.
​•​A testing ground for repressive technologies: Presenters warned that biometric linkages, facial recognition, AI-driven social monitoring and other surveillance tools trialed in Kashmir risk becoming templates for civic-space suppression in other illiberal contexts around the world.
​•​Broader erosion of multilateral safeguards: The panel connected these practices to a wider weakening of international law and multilateral institutions, warning that selective enforcement and unilateral measures by powerful states have normalized impunity and undermined protections enshrined in the UDHR and the ICCPR.

Speaker

​•​Dr. Blerim Mustafa, Advisory Vice-Rector, Geneva Nations Institute; expert on post-Cold War self-determination and author of Remedial Secession after the Cold War, delivered an analysis of the legal architecture used to justify long-term emergency measures and called the situation a “laboratory” for techniques that hollow out universal rights.
​•​Mr. Altaf Hussain Wani, Permanent Representative, World Muslim Conference to UN Geneva, addressed the humanitarian and political consequences for the Kashmiri population.
​•​Advocate Parvez Ahmed Shah, Secretary General, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), detailed the criminalization of political dissent and the impact on civil society and political representation.

Demands and calls to action

​•​Unfettered access: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights must be granted immediate, independent, and sustained access to Jammu and Kashmir to assess human rights conditions.
​•​Release and review: Immediate review and, where appropriate, release of individuals detained under broadly defined security laws for engaging in peaceful dissent; repeal or fundamental reform of provisions that permit indefinite detention without trial and blanket immunities.
​•​Technology accountability: Technology companies and vendors must suspend the provision of surveillance infrastructure and biometric linkages that enable widescale rights violations until robust safeguards and independent oversight are in place.
​•​Uphold international law: UN member states should recommit to multilateral human-rights frameworks, resist normalizing “permanent emergency” governance, and support accountability measures consistent with international obligations under the UDHR and ICCPR.
​•​Monitor and report: The international community and UN mechanisms should establish independent monitoring and reporting on civic space in Kashmir and similar contexts to prevent export and replication of repressive methods.

Event context

“Shrinking Spaces” was organized by International Action for Peace and Sustainable Development on the sidelines of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to ensure the plight of Kashmiri civic space is heard where international human-rights policymaking is centered.