Revelations of Indian disinformation campaign create ripples amongst freedom rights supporters

Rights defender Andy Vermaut says all fake organisations must lose their recognition from the United Nations

Shocking revelations by EU Disinfo Lab of an Indian clandestine operation to use fake media houses to malign Pakistan and China has attracted a strong reaction from freedom rights supporters, demanding of the United Nations to immediately remove all such organistaions.

Andy Vermaut, an official member of The International Alliance for the Defence of Rights and Freedoms (AIDL), constituted by the United Nations (ECOSOC), and President of PostVersa, Human Rights and Fundamental Rights chapter said he was astonished to hear about the research of the EU Disinfo Lab.

He said it was surprising to note how the Indian Srivastava group, resurrected ten UN recognised NGOs, to spread disinformation and fake news about Pakistan.

“I repeat my plea today for a total screening of all human rights organisations that are consulted by the United Nations on human rights and that spread fake news, purely to put a state or a people in a bad daylight,” he said in a video message.

He said the evidence from the Indian Chronicles clearly shows how members of the European Parliament, through the fake news “were abused and used mostly without their knowledge” to present false information as real information.

He pointed that the resurrection of the Commission to Study the Organization of Peace (CSOP) even uses Professor Louis B Sohn, who died in 2006, but the fake media portrayed as if he participated in activities on human rights in Washington DC even a year after his death.

“That organisation was re-established in order to put Pakistan in a bad light. Just like the International Club for Peace Research (ICPR), which was used to put Pakistan in a bad light at the United Nations Human Rights Council,” he said.

He also mentioned the World Environment and Resources Council (WERC) which , he said, was re-established to oppose the construction of a dam in Pakistan.

“These NGOs were mostly represented by students at the UNHRC. These students were paid 186 euro in cash to put Pakistan in a bad light,” he said.

Vermaut said he believes that the international community has a responsibility to act, before the United Nations Human Rights Council. He said all this has severe consequences for the authentic human rights agenda as, unfortunately, it may be considered nothing more than a big joke.

“We cannot and [will] never accept this,” he said.

As an another example, he mentioned the Canners Permanent International Committee - an organisation specialised in promoting canned foods which ceased to exist in 2007 – which was paying students in cash to criticise Pakistan with fake news at the United Nations, even in 2020.

He said the operation in which Pakistan was being damaged, through nine NGOs constituted by the United Nations on human rights, should be immediately removed as recognised organisations of the United Nations. He said the alarming thing was that this was being done for the past 15 years “with total impunity.”

“All fake organisations with a hidden propaganda and fake agenda must lose their recognition from the United Nations.”

“It is my plea – the credibility of the United Nations and the European Union itself is at stake here,” Andy Vermaut said.