India rejects comments by UN's top human rights official on foreign influence laws
India has rejected a comment by the UN's top human rights official on foreign influence laws, saying principles of «transparency and accountability cannot be applied selectively.»
India's Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva Ambassador Arindam Bagchi, said he «humbly disagrees» with the brief reference to India made by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in his Global Update 56th session of the Human Rights Council this week.
Turk had said in his global update that a «worrying trend in terms of civic space is the consideration or adoption of so-called „transparency“ or „foreign influence“ laws in over 50 countries, including in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, India, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Slovakia and Turkiye. These laws risk having serious chilling effects on the work of civil society, freedom of expression and of association.»
Bagchi said democratic nations across the world, including India, have had regulations for many decades to guard against legitimate concerns about the misuse of foreign funds.
«Principles of transparency and accountability cannot be applied selectively. Portraying a dependence on the crutches of opaque or illegal foreign funding is also a disservice to India's vibrant civil society,» he said.
Bagchi added that ongoing global conflicts have «unfortunately» divided the Human Rights Council further.
«It is more important than ever for the Office of High
