News Analysis India

Tag: UNHRC

  • UNHRC working group reviews India’s national report on human rights

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta is leading a Universal Periodic Review working group delegation at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

    The 41st session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) working group began on Monday and India’s national report was reviewed on Thursday, the ministry said in a release.

    The event will conclude on November 18.

    The delegation includes senior officials from various ministries and the NITI Aaayog, along with the vice-chancellor of the National Law University.

    India’s national report, outlining the steps taken to protect and promote human rights, was submitted on August 5, the ministry said.

    Under UPR, member states review the human rights performance of fellow members, it said.

    Besides reinforcing the centrality of member states in fulfilling their human rights obligations, the UPR places importance on dialogue and cooperation and has emerged as one of the most successful human rights mechanisms, it added.

    “India has actively participated in the review of other states and we welcome the fact that 133 member states have registered to engage in our peer review,” the ministry said in its statement.

    NEW DELHI: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta is leading a Universal Periodic Review working group delegation at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

    The 41st session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) working group began on Monday and India’s national report was reviewed on Thursday, the ministry said in a release.

    The event will conclude on November 18.

    The delegation includes senior officials from various ministries and the NITI Aaayog, along with the vice-chancellor of the National Law University.

    India’s national report, outlining the steps taken to protect and promote human rights, was submitted on August 5, the ministry said.

    Under UPR, member states review the human rights performance of fellow members, it said.

    Besides reinforcing the centrality of member states in fulfilling their human rights obligations, the UPR places importance on dialogue and cooperation and has emerged as one of the most successful human rights mechanisms, it added.

    “India has actively participated in the review of other states and we welcome the fact that 133 member states have registered to engage in our peer review,” the ministry said in its statement.

  • India’s position not new: MEA on abstention at UNHRC on Gaza resolution

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India on Thursday defended its abstention during the voting at the UNHRC on a resolution to probe Gaza violence, saying its position is not new and it has abstained on previous occasions also.

    Asked about the Palestinian foreign minister writing to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on India abstaining during the voting in the United Nations Human Rights Council on the issue, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said a similar letter has been written to all countries who abstained.

    “Palestine wrote similar letters to all countries who abstained. The position that we took is not a new position.

    And we have abstained on previous occasions. I think that explains our position quite clearly and addresses these questions,” the spokesperson said during a media briefing.

    Expressing “concern”, Palestine’s Foreign minister Riad Malki in a letter to Jaishankar said that India “missed an opportunity to join international community at this turning point, both crucial and long overdue, on the path to accountability, justice and peace”.

    Both Israel and Palestinian group Hamas agreed on a ceasefire that came into effect last month after days of intense fighting in which around 230 people were killed in Gaza and 12 in Israel.

    Last week, India along with 13 other countries abstained from voting on the resolution at UNHRC to launch an investigation into alleged violations and crimes during the 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

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    The resolution was adopted as 24 countries voted in favour of it while nine opposed it at the end of an all-day special session of the 47-member UN body at its headquarters in Geneva.

    The special session of the Council was called to discuss the “grave human rights situation” in the Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem.

    India’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva Indra Mani Pandey had said at the special session that New Delhi welcomes the diplomatic efforts of the international community and regional countries that have resulted in bringing ceasefire between Israel and armed groups in Gaza.

    “India calls on all parties to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that aggravate tensions and refrain from any further attempts to unilaterally change the existing status-quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhoods,” he said.

    Pandey said India was firmly convinced that dialogue remains the only viable option that can effectively address the issues confronting the region and its people.

  • New agri laws violate UN declaration on farmers’ rights signed by India: SKM to UNHRC

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Darshan Pal on Monday informed the UNHRC that the three farm laws of the central government “violated” the UN declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas which has been signed by India.

    A memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was handed over to officials on Monday to mark the 110th day of the agitation at Delhi borders which was observed as ‘anti-privatisation, anti-corporatisation day’, a statement released by the SKM, which is leading the anti-farm law protests, said.

    Pal addressed the video message to the 46th session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council.

    Apart from dharnas organised by trade union activists at railway stations, a memorandum addressed to Modi was submitted to officials, it said.

    The memorandum demanded that the policy moves to privatise public sector enterprises and to corporatise Indian agriculture be stopped, and that the prices of diesel, petrol and cooking gas be reduced immediately.