Terror gravest threat to rights agenda: EAM

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, February 23

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar pointed out at a high-level segment of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that most of the severe challenges the human rights agenda faces are from terrorism.

‘Realisation must’

Terrorism violates the right to life. There should be a clear realisation, including in bodies dealing with human rights, that terrorism can never be justified, nor its perpetrators equated with its victims. — S Jaishankar, EAM

High Commissioner of UN Human Rights office Michele Bachelet had been critical of the lockdowns and Internet shutdowns in Kashmir as also the application of force against anti-CAA and farmer protests.

A torture victim and former Chilean President, Bachelet’s comments have been on various occasions dismissed by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as ill-informed.

Jaishankar said human rights issues were best pursued through dialogue, consultation and cooperation among states as well as technical assistance and capacity building. The MEA has also, in the past, raised the absence of dialogue by Bachelet which, it says, has led to half-baked observations.

“Our approach to the UN Human Rights Council is guided by our spirit of engagement, dialogue and consultation,” Jaishankar said.

The minister pressed this point by stating that violation of and gaps in the implementation of human rights should be addressed with objectivity, transparency and with due respect to the principles of non-interference in internal affairs and national sovereignty.

But it is terrorism that violates the most fundamental human right — “the right to life”. “There should be a clear realisation, including in bodies dealing with human rights, that terrorism can never be justified, nor its perpetrators equated with its victims,” he said.