Baku, Azerbaijan: An international conference examining “Racism and Violence Against Sikhs and Other Minorities in India: The Reality on the Ground” is being held today in Baku, drawing participation from Sikh organizations across the global diaspora, human rights defenders, legal experts, scholars, journalists, and civil society representatives.

The conference is being organized by the Baku Initiative Group, which said the event aims to move beyond official narratives and focus on documented, ground-level realities faced by minorities in India.

According to a document issued by the organizers, accessed by the Sikh Siyasat News (SSN), India has, in recent decades, witnessed “a growing dominance of policies and practices by the government that directly harm religious, ethnic, and social minorities.” The document states that patterns of discrimination, hate speech, arbitrary repression, and violence are “not random events” but instead “point to deeper structural problems linked to political rhetoric, state institutions, and a rising culture of intolerance.”

Focus on Sikh community

The Sikh community features prominently in the conference discussions. The conference document highlights that Sikhs make up only “1.7–2% of India’s population (about 23–25 million people)” yet account for “nearly 6% of the armed forces, with one of the highest per-capita contributions to the army.” Punjab, India’s only Sikh-majority state, is described as “a leading agricultural region and a major contributor to the nation’s food supply.”

Despite these contributions, the Baku Initiative Group document stresses that Sikhs have faced “one of the most evident and enduring cases of systemic injustice in India.” Referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, the note states that “at least 3,000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone, and many more across the country,” calling it “one of the worst episodes of planned mass killing in independent India’s history.”

Almost four decades later, the organizers note that “almost no senior political leader or police officer responsible for organising or allowing the killings has been punished,” while survivors continue to face “official indifference, harassment, and the denial of justice.”

Contemporary repression and international concern

The conference also addresses what it describes as “new forms of repression,” including “arbitrary arrests of Sikh activists, deaths in police custody, long periods of detention without trial, and the labelling of peaceful political or religious speech as ‘extremism’ or ‘terrorism’.”

The Baku Initiative Group cites findings by international bodies, including the UN Human Rights Committee, which in its 2024 concluding observations expressed “serious concern over persistent discrimination and violence against Sikhs” and pointed to “widespread hate speech, arbitrary arrests, and institutional bias.”

Baku Initiative Group’s document also references a 2020 joint communication by UN Special Rapporteurs, which criticized India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for its “systematic misuse against minorities, including Sikhs,” and warned that its “excessively broad provisions” enable prolonged detention without due process.

“In their 2020 joint communication, nine UN Special Rapporteurs strongly criticized India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for its systematic misuse against minorities, including Sikhs, by arbitrarily labelling peaceful activism—such as advocacy for Khalistan self-determination—as terrorism, and highlighted the law’s excessively broad provisions that allow prolonged detention without due process, disproportionately affecting Sikh political dissidents”, reads the document.

A platform for marginalized voices, claim organizers

The organizers, Baku Initiative Group, emphasize that the conference is intended as more than a symbolic exercise. “This conference is not conceived as a symbolic exercise or a platform for rhetorical exchanges,” the document states. “Its purpose is to critically examine documented realities in India, expose patterns of systemic abuse affecting Sikhs and other minorities, and challenge narratives that normalize or conceal discrimination, violence, and impunity.”

Two panel sessions are scheduled: “Structural Roots of Racism and Violence Against Minorities in India” and “State Responsibility, Impunity, and Pathways to Accountability and Justice.”

With participation reported from diaspora Sikh organizations, the conference underscores the continued engagement of the global Sikh diaspora in seeking accountability for past atrocities and raising concerns about ongoing repression.

Baku Initiative Group say the discussions in Baku are intended to contribute to “sustained international scrutiny of the situation in India,” reinforce demands for accountability, and affirm “the obligation to protect the rights of communities subjected to repression and exclusion.”