The view from the outside: on India's human rights record

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Human Rights
Mains level: Highlights of the Indian’s human rights record

Context

•  The role that India can and should play on the world stage is a topic that elicits much excitement and, of late, hyper-nationalism.
•  It is often stated that it is time for India, as the world’s largest democracy, to take on an increasingly significant mantle in the international realm.
•  Aspects such as economic and military power have been the usual focus of this debate.
•  An important component of this enhanced stature necessarily relates to the safeguarding and protecting of human rights.
•  In India, there is a blind spot in relation to rights and the intersection with foreign relations and policy discussions, and ignoring this has its perils.

Track record on human rights

•  India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations expressed concern over the “politicisation of human rights as a foreign policy tool”, while addressing the work of the UN and the Human Rights Council.
•  India seeks to make is that it is a torchbearer of democracy and should therefore have a greater say, including on issues such as UN reform, an integral part of the case to be made relates to upholding international laws and standards pertaining to human rights.

So, how does this stand up to scrutiny?

•  Within the country, many lawyers, activists, academics and human rights organisations have pointed to the deteriorating climate in relation to human rights.
•  It is instructive to assess the record of UN independent experts towards India.
•  For clarity, this assessment excludes the Human Rights Council, made of a group of states which can run the risk of allegations of partisanship based on membership.
•  Instead, only statements of UN Independent Experts or Special Rapporteurs are examined, being thematic or subject matter experts on specific aspects of law (such as freedom of expression, extrajudicial executions, human rights defenders, etc.).

Negative statements

•  These statements indicate a few things.
•  First, there has been enhanced scrutiny by international experts of the deteriorating human rights environment in India, particularly in 2018.
•  Second, the magnification of domestic rights violations in the international sphere is inevitable.
•  Third, the metric of human rights and compliance with international law cannot be dismissed.

Way forward

•  There will be the counterarguments, many of which can be addressed.
•  This is not a comparison to other countries, but based on self-made claims of enhanced stature in the international arena so how we fare in the eyes of international experts is important.
•  This is not a question of external interference which can be dismissed out of hand these statements are extremely serious, not issued lightly and are an integral part of the machinery of accountability for human rights violations in the international realm and will be a part of India’s human rights record for posterity.
•  India’s record of upholding human rights is abysmal; it must do better.
•  The primary consideration should be the welfare and rights of individuals within the purview of the state.
•  The secondary consideration should be perception and the place that India wants for itself in terms of stature and prestige.
•  From both perspectives, the respect of the rights of individuals must be non-negotiable.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Which of the following broadband initiative provides 1 Gbps to Gram Panchayats upgradeable to 10 Gbps?
A. JanWiFi
B. BharatNet
C. GramNet
D. NagarNet

Answer: B

Mains Questions:
Q.1) How is the track record on human rights perceived outside the country, particularly by international law and human rights experts appointed as part of the UN human rights machinery?