Statement at the General Debate on Agenda Item 3 - Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, 19 June 2014 Statement at the General Debate on Agenda Item 3 - Promotion and protection of all human rights, ci..

Statement at the General Debate on Agenda Item 3 - Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, 19 June 2014

PERMANENT MISSION OF INDIA, GENEVA

26th SESSION OF HUMAN RIGHT COUNCIL

Item 3: General Debate

(19 June 2014)

Statement by India

 

Mr. President,

1.India’s approach to the promotion and protection of human rights is based on the belief that the objectives of the Human Rights Council can be best pursued through dialogue and cooperation.  We, therefore, believe that the Council must work towards building a consensual understanding of important human rights issues and themes that it seeks to address.  We have with dismay observed recent tendency in the Human Rights Council to move forward a particular perception despite there being diverse opinion on the issue. The Human Rights Council cannot afford to ignore such opinions whether it is by a small minority or group as it would, in the long run, be counter-productive to our common endeavour and is bound to produce protection gaps in the future.  This will allow the Council the moral and material authority to move forward on issues of common concern.

 

2. We have also noticed the propensity to focus on manifestations of human rights abuses and problems rather than their root causes. In dealing with human rights issues, the Council must adopt a holistic and integrated approach that emphasizes the inter-dependence, inter-relatedness, indivisibility and universality of human rights.  For this, the inter-relationship between development, human rights, democracy and international cooperation needs to be reinforced.  The focus of the Council must also be balanced between economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights. 

 

3. International cooperation in tackling the root causes of some of the worst forms of violations of human rights need to be strengthened, including through the sharing of best practices, exchange of information and financial and capacity-building assistance.  It, of course, goes without saying that such cooperation needs to be done through a dialogue where the country concerned is fully involved and its priorities are taken into account.

 

I thank you Mr. President

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