Source: Amnesty International –
There has been much talk of late about the possibility of India joining the UN Security Council (UNSC) as a permanent member, while most of the current permanent members have expressed public support for expansion of the UNSC.
India has been falling far short of its domestic and international human rights obligations, and its desire to expand its role in the UN presents an opportunity to assess its record of engagement as a member of other UN political bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
It’s important to review India’s pattern of engagement with the human rights architecture as a whole, including with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UN human rights treaty bodies.
Such analysis, as presented below, indicates that India has not been a strong leader at the UNHRC, willing to take difficult and principled stands with consistent application of human rights values; nor has it engaged particularly constructively with Council mechanisms. There is much room for improvement on India’s engagement with the human rights system in relation to its own domestic human rights challenges.