New Delhi: India and the European Union (EU) held the 11th edition of the bilateral human rights dialogue on Wednesday (January 8).
At the meeting held in New Delhi, the two sides in a joint statement said they agreed on the need to protect the “freedom, independence and diversity” of civil society as well as journalists, and also discussed “issues” relating to “countering religious hatred” and free expression, among various other things.
“India and the EU reiterated their commitment to the shared principles and values of democracy, freedom, rule of law and to the promotion and protection of all human rights,” the joint statement read.
While the EU reiterated its stance against the death penalty, India said the right to development is a “distinct, universal, inalienable and fundamental human right”. Both sides had made these points during the 2022 edition of the dialogue as well.
India retains the death penalty whereas the EU countries have abolished it.
Other issues discussed included those related to the “elimination of discrimination in all its manifestations”; the “freedom of expression and opinion, both online and offline”; gender, LGBTQIA+ and children’s rights; women’s empowerment as well as human rights and technology.
They also discussed the rights of migrants.
Both sides underscored the importance of improving cooperation in multilateral fora such as the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council, and “committed to closer cooperation and more regular exchanges” between each other’s permanent missions in Geneva.
Joint secretary (Europe West) of the external affairs ministry Piyush Srivastava and the EU’s ambassador to India Herve Delphin co-chaired the dialogue.
A joint statement released last year by five rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said that while there was a bilateral dialogue scheduled for August 20, it had been “postponed indefinitely”.
Writing in The Wire, Aisling Lynch-Kelly and Ritumbra Manuvie wrote that civil society groups in December were “unofficially advised the dialogue has been rescheduled to January”.
Calling the India-EU bilateral dialogue “an important though insufficient” opportunity for either side to articulate their human rights-related concerns, the five organisations said the EU ought to call on New Delhi to “uphold the rights to freedom of speech, assembly and religion”, and India raise concerns with Brussels over racism and xenophobia against migrants and minorities.
Noting, among other things, the continuing ethnic violence in Manipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s communal remarks during the general elections, India’s internet shutdown track record and allegations of transnational repression against New Delhi, the statement said the EU must urge India to “end serious human rights violations”.
It also recalled that the EU’s parliament in January last year adopted a text whereby it recommended that the European Council “condemn acts of violence, increasing nationalistic rhetoric and divisive policies” in India.
When the EU’s parliament in 2023 adopted a resolution calling on Indian authorities to take “all necessary” measures to stop the Manipur violence and protect religious minorities, New Delhi reacted by saying this was “unacceptable” and the reflection of a “colonial mindset”.
