The U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is visiting India at a crucial time. His proposals for reform of the United Nations remain high on the international agenda, and their fate rests on the support given by key parties in the global community. India is among these. It also has a big stake in the proposed changes, as it wishes to become a permanent member of the Security Council.
Both India and the United Nations are faced with a number of important challenges on human rights and security in Asia, including the crisis in Nepal, entrenched caste-based discrimination, and conflicts in and around several parts of India. The rule of law has also virtually collapsed in some states of India, notably in Bihar and Orissa, and it is being seriously undermined elsewhere. Torture is the most common method of criminal investigation throughout the country. It engenders deep corruption and an all-pervading sense of insecurity among the people of India.
The U.N. is rightly concerned about eradicating poverty in India; however, it has yet to adequately draw the connections between poverty, human rights and security. The country’s economic growth in recent times has only aggravated the historical gap between rich and poor. Over millennia extreme poverty and powerlessness have been imposed on many millions through the infamous caste system and other forms of structural discrimination conceived and implemented by fanatics. India must overcome this heritage if it is to become a truly great power.
Under these circumstances, the Asian Human Rights Commission calls on the U.N. Secretary General to raise the following issues with the Indian authorities.
India must participate fully in an effective plan to resolve the crisis in Nepal. To its credit, the country took a lead role against the king’s takeover on February 1. Its efforts, together with those of other countries, were expressed in a resolution adopted by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights this April. The effect of these interventions has been to keep open some avenues through which to resolve the conflict. However, the danger ahead is enormous, and threatens not only Nepal but also the stability of the whole region. The Nepalese military–which was behind the schemes that led to the February 1 coup–will not be restrained for long. Both India and the United Nations must play key roles in working hard and fast to rescue Nepal from oblivion. It is in the interests of both to do so.
India must place human rights at home at the forefront of its agenda for a greater role in the United Nations. It has not yet ratified the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is a key instrument in international law. No one takes seriously its excuses for non-ratification, such as that it already has laws capable of addressing the endemic torture that persists throughout the country. By ratifying the convention and making torture a crime it will bring enormous benefits to its people as well as its democratic process. India is often boasted of as the world’s largest democracy. While policing in the country is so primitive that torture is its main form of inquiry, this claim will be fraudulent.
The present government of India is to be congratulated for not opposing the resolution at this year’s Commission on Human Rights officially recognising Dalits, so-called ‘untouchables’. The secretary general should pick up on this resolution and encourage the government to examine why programmes to eradicate caste and uplift millions of Dalits and millions of other downtrodden people have so far failed. A rigorous review of the actual strategies for eradication of caste-based discrimination is needed, with sufficient opportunities for outsiders to contribute. In this respect, the secretary general should offer friendly advice to the government on encouraging closer cooperation between international and local human rights groups. At present, India’s doors are closed to outsiders. Persons wishing to attend programmes or organise meetings on human rights are denied visas on security grounds. However, as the secretary general has said on many occasions, there cannot be security without human rights.
Finally, the secretary general should also raise his suggested reforms for the United Nations itself with the Indian government. Among these is his proposal for a Human Rights Council instead of the existing commission, which would have a more permanent and routine presence. Both this and his proposals for reform of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and treaty bodies need support from India. The country has in the past contributed many experts to these bodies, and has much experience and expertise on hand with which to make a valuable contribution, for the benefit both of its own people and those abroad.
