India re-elected to UN Human Rights Council

In a sign of its growing global stature, India has been re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council for 2015-17 term, with the country’s envoy to the UN stressing that New Delhi will be proactively engaged in making the UN human rights system more effective.

India is currently a member of the 47-nation UNHRC.

The elections for the UN chief human rights body were held in the UN October 21. India, which was competing in the Asia-Pacific group, garnered 162 votes, the highest number in the Asia-Pacific group. Bangladesh, Qatar and Indonesia also made it to the UNHRC for 2015-2017.

After the results were announced in the UN General Assembly, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke Mukerji said the re-election showed “what India stands for in the international community is not only a perception of India but is backed-up by a vast majority of the UN membership.” The Indian envoy stressed that India’s focus was to ensure that the “idea behind creating the Human Rights Council is actually implemented in practice.” Calling for an end to polarised discourse, he underlined that India wants to “build constructively and have space for dialogue” to find ways to address issues of human rights.

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