Permanent Mission of India, Geneva

27th Session of the Human Rights Council

(8-26 September 2014)

Consideration of Resolutions/Decisions under Agenda Item 3

(26 September 2014)

Explanation of vote after the vote

Mr. President

1. We take the floor to explain our position on certain concepts referred to in the resolutions L11/Rev.1 on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, L19/Rev.1 on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights and L23 on preventable mortality and morbidity of children under five years of age as a human rights concern.

2. We remain deeply concerned that despite the progress achieved, the global rates of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and under five-child mortality are unacceptably high and that we have a long way to go in achieving the Millennium Development Goals related to maternal and child health. We are also conscious of the huge challenges and obstacles faced by a number of countries, particularly developing nations, in the provision of essential services including water and sanitation to large sections of their population. For India, these challenges are as much a developmental issue as they are a human rights issue. We would like to recall that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which we all endorsed by consensus, reaffirmed the universal and inalienable right of every individual to right to development and recognized the right to development as a practical approach which enables the progressive realization of all human rights including civil and political, socio-economic and cultural rights.

3. The above-mentioned resolutions endorse an approach that does not fully appreciate the developmental challenges and priorities of Member States. Further, they attempt to selectively highlight certain principles over other principles and set human rights as a conditionality for the enjoyment of basic services and for achieving crucial progress on critical goals related to maternal and child health.

4. We regret to note that the constructive amendments proposed by our delegation were not considered by the co-sponsors of these resolutions. We are left with no choice but to dissociate from all those paragraphs in the above resolutions, in particular operational paragraph 9 of the resolution L11/Rev.1 on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, the preambular paragraph 4 and operational paragraphs 2 and 3 of the resolution L19/Rev.1 on preventable maternal mortality & morbidity and human rights and the preambular paragraph 6 and operational paragraph 3 of the resolution L23 on preventable mortality and morbidity of children under five years of age as a human rights concern that refer to “human rights-based approach”. We urge the co-sponsors not to resort in the future to notions that are open to wide interpretations and that could be resorted to qualify international developmental cooperation.

5. We, nonetheless, joined the consensus on the above mentioned resolutions with the full understanding and recognition that what is needed is a comprehensive approach, which recognizes the right to development, to create a conducive environment at both national and international level and give further impetus to the global efforts in reducing the burden of preventable maternal and child mortality and in the progressive realization of the right to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Thank you Mr. President.