impact75 and driven multiple people in Assam to suicide.76 There have also been reports of land evictions.34 Women from rural areas, who are illiterate, married young, and from marginalised communities are disproportionately impacted as they do not have equal access to documentation, and are thus more likely to be excluded. Several statements coming from highest positions of power indicate rampant Islamophobia at work,35 reflected by the introduction of restrictions imposed on beef consumption, selling and trade in bovine animals. 42. As the NRC appeals process in Assam has not commenced for over two and half years, the legal limbo of those excluded from the 2019 list has heightened, as their access to rights has been in effect suspended. They also face societal stigma, and access to legal aid has been disrupted. 43. Stateless communities, such as, the Chakma and Hajong communities, have few resources and have been affected by the loss of employment due to the pandemic. It was only with intervention of the Ministry of Development of the northeastern region that the state government included them in COVID-19 response, and they were given access to food.77 Recommendations 44. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following recommendations to India: a. Protect everyone’s right to a nationality, and ensure that national laws comply with international obligations as consolidated in the Principles on Deprivation of Nationality, which prohibit the arbitrary and discriminatory deprivation of nationality, require the avoidance of statelessness and adherence to procedural safeguards and fair trial rights. b. Immediately stop the national registration of citizens process, the detention of those declared ‘foreigners’, burdensome police reporting procedures for released detainees and take steps to remove barriers to their inclusion in social welfare and relief programmes. c. Ensure that its treatment of stateless persons, including those in immigration detention fully complies with its international obligations, that alternatives to detention are implemented to protect against arbitrary detention in all circumstances, and that those arbitrarily detained are immediately released and compensated. d. Amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to abolish all provisions that are discriminatory on the basis of ethnicity and religion, to remove barriers for Indian-born children of alleged foreigners to be citizens by birth, and to enable children of doubtful voters and declared foreigners to be registered as citizens of India. 75 National Campaign Against Torture, Survey Finds : 89% Of People Excluded From Assam NRC Suffering From Mental Punishment, 24 August, 2019, http://www.uncat.org/in-media/survey-finds-89-of-people-excluded-from-assam-nrc-sufferingfrom-mental-punishment/. 76 Citizens for Justice and Peace, NRC Suicides, https://cjp.org.in/tag/nrc-suicides/ 77 The Federal, Before COVID, Chakma, Hajong tribes of Arunachal battled stormy migration, May 2020, www.thefederal.com/covid-19/before-covid-19-chakma-hajong-tribes-of-arunachal-battled-a-stormy-migration/. 14