The role of the UNHRC and India's historical association with the Council

(in light of India getting elected to the UNHRC last week)

On 12th October 2018, the 193-member UN General Assembly held elections for 18 new
members to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The members were elected via
absolute majority with countries needing at least 97 votes to be elected.
India was pitted against Bahrain, Bangladesh, Fiji and Philippines for a spot in the Asia-
Pacific category and India’s claim to the seat was all but certain. Winning the voting with
highest nominations, with 188 out of 193 members voting for the nation, India was followed
by Fiji with 187 votes, Bangladesh with 178, and Bahrain and Philippines with 165 each.
Starting January 1st, 2019, it will join China, Nepal and Pakistan, which were elected in the
previous years, in the Council.
This comes after India’s public rejection of the UN’s first-ever report on Kashmir, 1 published
under the presidency of Jordanian diplomat Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, in June.

Over the years, India has had its share of run-ins with the organ of United Nations in concern
and herein we attempt to sketch brief overview of the same.

The UNHRC’s primary objective is to “promote and protect human rights around the
world.”2 Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it was established by UN General Assembly
on March 15, 2006. It presently concluded its 38th session, and has 47 members in the council
elected on three-year terms on a regional group basis. It is currently presided by a Slovanian,
Mr. Vojislav Suc. The Council investigates and addresses thematic human rights violation
issues like LGBTQ rights, racial and ethnic minorities’ rights, rights of refugees, amongst
others. It was actively involved most famously in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, 3 2006
Lebanon Conflict, hosting of Hamas members controversy, and the Eritrea report.4

India was a part of the first cadre of 47 nations elected to the UNHRC in 2006. 5 India
received an initial one-year term to facilitate a rotating roster of vacancies every year. It has
been a three-year member of the Council three times in the past, winning elections in 2007,
2011 and 2014 Since no country can be a member for more than two times in a row, this
nomination comes after a year’s break from 2017.

The UNHRC got involved with the Government of India with a specific objective of securing
rights of refugees and asylum seekers. The country still sees refugees, economic migrants and
others seeking to cross the borders of India in thousands, every day. 6 UNHRC works out of
its headquarters in Delhi and a field office in Chennai.
1
http://www.ptinews.com/news/9801430_India-rejects-UN-report-on-rights-violation-as---
fallacious--
2
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/AboutCouncil.aspx "; About the Human
Rights Council". Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
3
https://www.hrw.org/legacy/english/docs/2006/06/30/global13685.htm, U.N.: Mixed Start
for New Human Rights Council Human Rights Watch, 30 6 2006
4
Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea -
A/HRC/29/CRP.1.
5
https://www.mea.gov.in/pressreleases.htm?
dtl/4512/India+elected+to+the+first+UN+Human+Rights+Council
6
http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/migrations.aspx
Even though India has yet to become a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967
Refugee Protocol, and further does not have a standing national refugee protection
framework, it continues to grant asylums to a large number of refugees, mainly from the
neighbouring States. It, however, has accepted and respected the principle of non-refoulement
for the people holding UNHRC papers.
In 1971, India was the ground for the single largest influx of refugees and migrants since the
World War II.7 Approximately 10 million migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees crossed
over from East Pakistan to India, into West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra and Assam. The
sheer number of humanity involved in this entire operation was of such magnitude that it led
Sydney Schanberg of the New York Times, describe the situation in Barasat, one of the cities
in Kolkata (then Calcutta), which welcomed the refugees, as “swarming with refugees, so
thick in the streets that cars can only inch through.” 8Against the backdrop of this
demographic-changing event that India finally got involved with UNHRC in 1981. There,
therefore, exists a paradoxical situation in India wherein the government has refused to accept
any direct international mandates by not signing the 1951 Convention, however does provide
limited ground-access to the UNHRC, upholding its obligations.

The previous major stint that India had with the UNHRC came in September 2018 for the
report on human rights published by the Council under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
UPR is a process that UNHRC undertakes every four to five years peer-reviewing human
rights records of each of 193 members of the UN. The world community made some 250
recommendations to India to improve its HR record. India accepted 152 of the 250
recommendations while noted the rest. The recommendations are not binding and most
pertain towards developmental goals of eliminating poverty, access to civil amenities like
potable water, sanitation and abolition of AFSPA. The procedure does not allow for the
recommendations to be rejected. The Indian delegation, lead by Attorney General Mukul
Rohatgi, made a key promise under scrutiny- that of ratifying the UN Convention Against
Torture which it signed 20 years ago.

Presently, with Yasuko Shimizu as the chief of mission, UNHRC is heavily involved with the
GoI and various civil societies in India working towards the betterment of refugees and
asylum-seekers. India provides direct assistance to some 200,000 refugees every day.
Between 2002 and 2013, over 12,000 Afghan and Sri Lankan refugees were repatriated by
India with UNHCR’s assistance.9 It has partnered with the neighbor State of Afghanistan to
run the ‘Ilham’ project which seeks to rehabilitate Afghan refugee women by involving them
in catering services.
Apart from conducting extensive Refugee Status Determination(RSD) procedures, it seeks
towards sensitization of the Indian legal community towards refugee law promoting academic
research by partnering with the Indian Society of International Law (ISIL) in India. It also has
a Chair on Refugee Law at the NLSIU Bangalore.

7
UNHCR. “The State of The World’s Refugees 2000: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action.” Geneva, 2000.
8
The Statesman. “214,000 Refugees Have Come to W. Bengal So Far.” The Statesman, 21 April 1971.
9
https://www.unhcr.org.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=130