World Desk. During the 81st session of the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, India has taken a strong stand towards the United Nations Human Rights Mechanism and has bluntly said that the institutions should work completely free from any kind of political influence and bias. India clarified that while reviewing human rights issues, it is extremely important to take into account the specific cultural and historical backgrounds of the countries concerned.
Main objective of the session and India’s side
In this session organized to consider the report of the Human Rights Council, Anuj Swarup, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of India, presented the country’s official statement. He said that India is always committed to furthering the spirit of mutual trust and cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. At the same time, it was also hoped that human rights institutions would rise above political turmoil and the tendency to focus on selected issues and play the role of an impartial and moral guide at the global level.
Disagree with the comment on Delhi demonstrations
This strong diplomatic statement has come at a time when India had expressed strong objection to a comment by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the context of the protests in New Delhi a few days ago. The Indian government termed that comment as inappropriate and unacceptable interference in the country’s internal affairs. In fact, the said office had expressed concern over the news of detention of some people and lawyers etc. during the protests in the capital, after which India had expressed displeasure over external statements in matters of its sovereignty.
India’s socio-economic development model
The Indian representative highlighted the country’s ancient civilizational traditions, respect for diversity and the spirit of peaceful co-existence. He said that as the world’s largest democracy, India is fully determined to protect the dignity of every citizen. Referring to the country’s developmental achievements in the last decade, it was said that during this period more than 25 crore people have come out of multidimensional poverty. Additionally, more than a billion people are being benefitted by various social security schemes, including the provision of free food grains to about 80 crore citizens and free health care to about 60 crore people. About 32 crore bank accounts have also been opened towards the empowerment of women.
New term of Human Rights Council and objection on tribal rights
The United Nations General Assembly has selected 15 new member countries for the new term of the Human Rights Council from 2027 to 2029, which include many countries including Brazil, Germany, Japan, Nepal and Ukraine. Meanwhile, India also lodged a strong objection to the country’s reference to another report on the rights of tribal communities. India clarified that the Forest Rights Act recognizes individual and collective rights, and including a claim in the report based on information from only one person without any concrete official data raises serious questions about its impartiality and seriousness.
