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| India asserts, calls UN a biased body | | Alleged Kashmir killings | | Early Times Report
Jammu, May 22: No one in India had ever expected that India would assert its authority and position and tell the United Nations in clear terms to not interfere in her internal affairs, but to the happiness of Indians, it has happened. New Delhi called the UN a "biased body".
Reacting to a report submitted by United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on allegations of human rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir, India has informed the international body that "it will no longer respond to any communication with the HRC's Special Rapporteurs". It's a major development and it indicates that India is no longer a soft state.
The current Special Rapporteurs on "Extrajudicial Executions, Torture, and Right to Health" include Agnes Callamard, Dainius Puras and Nils Melzer. They had referred to the "June 2018 report of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR)". They contacted the Indian government in March this year, asking about the "steps taken by the government to stop the alleged violations as pointed out by the report.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) the other day clarified that "India's stand of snapping communications with the Special Rapporteurs was only for those wishing to refer to the OHCHR report". India had rejected the June 2018 report, and accused the High Commissioner of Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein of "clear bias".
The Special Rapporteurs had also listed "13 cases of concern" from 2018 in which 8 people, including 4 children, were killed by security forces. The Indian Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva replied to the OHCHR on 23 April accusing the mandate-holders of "individual prejudice" and said that it does not intend to engage further with them.
It needs to be noted that the UNHRC has been bearing the "burden of accusations of bias". Last year, United States had pulled out of the council citing "its anti-Israel bias". Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the UN, called it a "hypocritical" body that "makes a mockery of human rights".
The UNHRC has also been criticized for its "disproportionate focus" on Israel-Palestine issue". In 2006, UNHRC made a review of alleged "human rights abuses by Israel a permanent feature of every council session, while none of its other items deals exclusively with a specific conflict.
The UNHRC suffered huge blow to its credibility with several nations with questionable record serving on it, like China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia. The world's worst violators of religious freedom according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, including China, Nigeria and Pakistan are serving on the council. Saudi Arabia, infamous for its "misogynistic laws", is currently occupying key positions on the UN's principal women's rights bodies. |
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