United Nations: India has asserted that human rights should not be used as an instrument of political pressure or selective targeting of countries, as it opposed attempts to turn allegations and incomplete statistics into a “negative characterisation” of the world’s largest democracy.
“India engages with international human rights mechanisms, but such engagement must be based on dialogue, consultation, cooperation with non-selectivity and transparency as guiding principles,” Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs Barkha Tamrakar said.
Tamrakar delivered India’s statement at the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee on the agenda item concerning the ‘Working Group on Enforced Disappearances’ here on Tuesday.
She underlined that human rights should not be used as an instrument of political pressure or selective targeting of countries.
“We call on delegations to cite the report faithfully, not to inflate a humanitarian communication into a verdict,” Tamrakar said.
India remains prepared to clarify specific, properly documented cases through established channels but it formally opposes any “attempt to convert unverified allegations, incomplete statistics or a report that contains no India country observation into a negative characterisation of the world’s largest democracy”, she said.
Tamrakar’s remarks came amid concerns raised by UN human rights experts over the recent youth-led protests in New Delhi.
On Tuesday, more than 20 UN human rights experts in Geneva expressed alarm over what they described as a “repeatedly heavy-handed police response” to peaceful youth-led demonstrations in the national capital.
They called on the authorities to ensure justice for reported human rights violations during the protests.
Last week also, India rejected as “hearsay” a report by a UN human rights expert that took note of a “satirical political movement” created by the country’s youth and alleged that they faced retaliation.
New Delhi had urged the expert to “verify” claims before vilifying issues based on unverified allegations.
The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner had expressed concern over “reports of mass detentions of demonstrators, protest leaders, members of civil society organisations, lawyers and journalists” before and during large-scale demonstrations in Delhi.
India had described the remarks by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the protests as “unwarranted” and an “unacceptable interference” in the country’s internal affairs.
