Organized by the Baku Initiative Group (BIG), an international conference titled “June 1984, Amritsar Events: India’s Transnational Repression Against Ethnic Minorities in the Context of Genocide,” commenced in Azerbaijan on June 3.

Axar.az informs that representatives of the Dalit community, who has been affected by systemic discrimination and repressive policies in India, are participating for the first time in events held in Azerbaijan.

The event brings together prominent Sikh representatives from Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, and the United States, along with heads of think tanks, experts on human rights and ethnic minority issues, and individuals who are direct victims of repression, discrimination, and persecution.

The conference will address ways to keep the issue of transnational repression and systemic persecution by the Indian government against ethnic and religious minorities—especially Sikh and Dalit diaspora representatives and their families—consistently on the agenda of international organizations. It will also focus on strengthening coordinated cooperation among diaspora groups affected by such repression, reinforcing shared legal protection mechanisms against transnational targeting, and exchanging views on joint action within international platforms.

The conference will also discuss calls for an international legal assessment of the June 1984 Amritsar events and reported violence against the Sikh community, which resulted in significant civilian casualties, as well as India’s obligations under international frameworks on minority rights.

It will further address the 1984 operation at the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar, described in various sources as a state-led act affecting the Sikh community’s religious and cultural heritage, with some reports estimating up to 8,000 civilian deaths in Amritsar and surrounding areas.

A joint report titled "Beyond Borders: India’s Transnational Repression against the Sikh Diaspora," developed in March this year by the Baku Initiative Group and the Sikh Federation International, reflects facts regarding the Indian government's policy against diaspora representatives living abroad and the 1984 Amritsar events.