United Nations, March 4
India has called for a non-ideological and open dialogue among religions and civilisations to promote and strengthen human rights around the world.

â€œAn open and constructive dialogue among and within religions, cultures and civilisations, taking into account different national circumstances, facilitates the promotion of a culture of understanding, tolerance, moderation and respect for diversity,â€ B. N. Reddy, India\'s Acting Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, told the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday,

â€œThis pragmatic and non-ideological approachâ€, he said, â€œcan contribute greatly to the enhancement of international cooperation for the promotion of human rights.\"

Reddy was speaking on behalf of India and 27 other â€œlike-minded groupâ€ of countries at the UNHRC meeting on â€œEnhancing International Cooperation in the field of Human Rightsâ€. The group included Pakistan and countries as diverse as Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Laying out a holistic approach to human rights, Reddy said the challenge in a world riven by â€œpersistent poverty and staggering inequalitiesâ€ called for an approach based on the Right To Development.

â€œSecurity, development and human rights are mutually dependent and interrelatedâ€ and they should not be treated in separate silos, according to Reddy.

â€œGlobal community\'s collective response to human rights challenges has been limited in scope and priorities, often driven by narrow objectives that tend to ignore the underlying causes,â€ he added.

â€œAn approach based on the Right To Development, which is an inalienable universal human right, can provide the right framework to promote international cooperation and to comprehensively address human rights challenges and simultaneously strengthen the three pillars of the UN system.â€

The Right to Development Declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1986 declared that everyone is \"entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realised.â€

Suggesting that the UNHRC should take the lead in giving the declaration priority, Reddy said its concepts should be mainstreamed â€œin the work of all UN system organisations, including in the areas of finance and tradeâ€.

Martin Kohor, the executive director of the South Centre, noted that basic needs were now considered basic human rights. He cited the right to food, which he said had achieved constitutional status in India.

India was re-elected to a second three-year term on the UNHRC last October, earning 162 votes in the General Assembly in New York, the highest for an Asian nation.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in)

\'Non-ideological, open dialogue among religions needed to promote human rights\'