October 13, 2018:

The Largest Democracy in the World, India has won a seat at Human Rights Council at United Nations (UN) with the highest votes among all candidates.

On Friday, India was elected with the highest number of votes by the General Assembly to the influential Human Rights Council with a pledge to battle intolerance.

India received 188 votes which were the highest polled by any of the 18 countries elected in the voting.

This is the fifth time India has been elected to the Geneva-based Council, the main body of the UN charged with promoting & monitoring Human Rights.

India's presence on the Council will be important because the previous UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein asked the body to facilitate an international commission of enquiry into allegations of Human Rights Violation in Kashmir.

His successor Michelle Bachelet & Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have backed Zeid's recommendation, which Pakistan who is a member of the Council is campaigning for.

No other country so far has backed Zeid's call for the investigation.

Bangladesh, which is at the front lines of dealing with the Rohingya Crisis, was also elected with 178 votes to the Council to fill one of the 5 vacancies for 3 year terms from the Asia-Pacific region.

Regional group endorsed 5 countries, which matched the number of seats open for election this year, and they were the only countries on the ballot. The other regional candidates were Bahrain, Fiji & the Philippines.

13 other countries representing the other 4 regions were also elected to the Council.

INDIA AND THE COUNCIL

In January India will join China and Nepal, besides Pakistan, which were elected to the 47-member Council in previous years to serve three-year terms.

India showcased its position as "the World's Largest Democracy (and) India's secular polity", when it nominated itself for the Council.

It pledged that it will continue to support 'international efforts to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance'.

In the nomination pledge, India also presented a broader approach to Human Rights, emphasizing Climate Justice, Health & Poverty Alleviation.

India was among the first batch of 47 countries elected to the Council in 2006 soon after it was set up and received an initial one-year term instead of three to facilitate a rotating roster of vacancies each year.

tweeted that India won the seat with the highest number of votes among all candidates.

It was again elected in 2007, 2011 and 2014 to three-year-terms.

Countries can be elected for only two consecutive terms and India took a year's break when its term ended in 2017.

LOST LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

The United States withdrew from the Council earlier this year after its Permanent Representative Nikki Haley questioned its legitimacy because of the presence of several dictatorial regimes violating human rights on it.

Source:India Today

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