{"id":848449,"date":"2026-08-06T18:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/848449\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T18:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:06:08","slug":"un-special-rapporteurs-call-for-urgent-measures-to-protect-surrey-man-and-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/848449\/","title":{"rendered":"UN special rapporteurs call for urgent measures to protect Surrey man and family"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five independent experts appointed by the United Nations are calling on the Canadian government to ensure the safety of Surrey resident and Sikh activist Moninder Singh, who has received several threats to his life.<\/p>\n

Singh is a Canadian citizen activist who lives in Surrey with his family and has received four \u201cduty to warn\u201d notices from police about \u201ccredible and imminent threats to his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh is known for his advocacy work in the Sikh community. He is the chairperson for the Sikh Federation Canada and is involved in various other community organizations. He is also a supporter of Khalistan, which is the movement to create a separate sovereign Sikh state in the Punjab region of India to serve as a homeland for people of the religious faith.<\/p>\n

The special rapporteurs \u2014 Ben Saul, Gina Romero, Andrea Bolan\u0303os Vargas, George Katrougalos and Nazila Ghanea \u2014 sent a letter to the federal government on June 3 highlighting concerns about Singh\u2019s safety, asking for further information about police investigations into the threats Singh has received.<\/p>\n

Singh received the first \u201cduty to warn\u201d in July 2022 by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, which is led by the RCMP. Slain Surrey Gurdwara president Hardeep Singh Nijjar and two others received a similar warning on the same day, which was 11 months before Nijjar\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

Nijjar, 45, was shot to death on June 18, 2023, in the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, in the 7000-block of Scott Road in Newton. He was found in his truck.<\/p>\n

Amandeep Singh, Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh, and Karanpreet Singh are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. None of these allegations have been proven in court as the case slowly makes its way through B.C. Supreme Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Singh received a second \u201cduty to warn\u201d in Aug. 2023. <\/p>\n

The following month, former prime minister Justin Trudeau claimed in a Sept. 18, 2023, speech to the House of Commons that \u201cCanadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thanksgiving Monday in October 2024, Trudeau held a news conference after the RCMP announced the \u201cextraordinary\u201d step of warning the public about safety threats to Canadians linked to Indian government officials. Trudeau said India had fundamentally violated Canada\u2019s sovereignty and international law by targeting Canadians with murder, extortion and coercion.<\/p>\n

A letter sent to the Canadian and Indian governments in Nov. 2024<\/a> by several of the same UN special rapporteurs expressed concern that Nijjar had been killed in relation to his \u201cpolitical and human rights advocacy for the Sikh community.\u201d <\/p>\n

Singh received the third warning on March 17, 2025, almost immediately after he returned from the 58th session of the Human Rights Council. From March 2025 to March 2026, Singh continued to raise the alarm for the targeting of Sikhs \u201cby Indian authorities\u201d at the United Nations minorities forum and the World Congress on Enforced Disappearances. <\/p>\n

He received the fourth \u201cduty to warn\u201d on Feb 22, 2026, but this warning was different, as it was not just for him; it was a \u201ccredible and imminent threat to his life\u201d and his family. This was the first time that the warning included his family, and it was so \u201cserious\u201d that officers delivered the notification to Singh at his home. This was two days before he was scheduled to attend the Human Rights Council\u2019s 61st session in Geneva.<\/p>\n

The Sikh Federation, in a news release<\/a>, expressed its concern about the timing of the threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe repeated escalation of threats alongside this work reflects a sustained pattern of repression rather than an isolated criminal threat. The timing, nature, and severity of the threat raise serious concerns that Indian authorities seek to obstruct Sikh political expression and engagement with United Nations mechanisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moninder Singh stated in a Sikh Federation Canada news release Tuesday (Aug. 4) that, \u201cThe United Nations has again placed on the international record that India continues to threaten and target Sikh activists around the world. Canada cannot continue to pursue political normalization without a shred of transparency or accountability while India continues to plot assassinations in this country. Every official that minimizes India\u2019s activities is responsible for enabling the ongoing threats against Sikh activists.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rapporteurs note that since the last duty to warn, there is \u201cno publicly available evidence that any further protective and monitoring measures have been taken\u201d to protect Singh and his family. <\/p>\n

In a statement to the Now-Leader, the B.C. federal RCMP said they cannot comment on \u201cspecific instances\u201d where duty-to-warns were issued. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can confirm that duty-to-warns have been conducted by law enforcement across the country with members of the South Asian community,\u201d they said. \u201cThe safety and security of Canadians, regardless of their background or beliefs, remains a top priority for the RCMP. We will not tolerate any form of intimidation, harassment, or harmful targeting of communities or individuals in Canada. Law enforcement and security agencies have a duty to warn persons who are subjects of a clear, serious, and imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. The information received is assessed on a case-by-case basis; the duty to warn will depend on the information received, origin, credibility, and caveats attached. As part of this assessment, the RCMP investigates each threat to obtain the appropriate evidence to determine the facts and support any necessary enforcement actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police did not comment on whether any measures have been taken to protect Singh after the warnings were issued. <\/p>\n

The rapporteurs asked the government for additional information on several items, including providing information about the investigation into the individuals who are threatening Singh and his family and the steps the police have taken and are taking to protect them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five independent experts appointed by the United Nations are calling on the Canadian government to ensure the safety…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-848449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}