Statement by India at the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council (18 June to 06 July, 2018) on Agenda Item 3: Clustered ID with SR on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and SR on Internally Displaced Persons, delivered by Dr. Arun Kumar Yumnam, Deputy Secretary. [21 June 2018, Geneva]
Mr. President,
We thank both SRs for presentation of their reports. Our statement is restricted to the report on 'Extreme Poverty and Human Rights’.
2. We believe that sustainable economic development can only resonate with overall development of the citizens when their human rights are respected. We appreciate the special significance given in the report of the SR to eliminate poverty while highlighting the gamut of specific instances that shows the ways for redressing this issue. We firmly believe in articulating specific policies, including macroeconomic and financial policies that would be pursued to establish social as well as economic protection.
3. We note the evolution of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the report from purely a monetary organization that tackles financial crisis to an institution that formulates macro-criticality of human rights, military expenditure, corruption, inequality and gender equality. We, therefore, believe that the IMF is much more than a monetary agency. It, as a part of the UN system, can play an instrumental role in achieving Goal 1 of the SDGs where special focus is on elimination of poverty in all its forms. We reiterate that the human rights framework — including rights of workers and women, right to education, health and housing — is a fundamental pillar as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These obligations have been reemphasized in a number of treaties, agreements, and mechanisms.
4. We are, however, of the view that SR's recommendation of having an underlying ethical framework and rectifying the amorphous nature in the IMF functioning needs further discussion.
Thank you, Mr. President
