“On the matter of origins of COVID-19 and ease of doing business rankings, global governance institutions have damaged their credibility built on decades of hard work. The UN needs to be alert towards global order, global laws and global values,” PM Modi said.
“We have seen such questions being raised, related to the climate crisis and during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said the United Nations “has not lived up to expectations in maintaining peace and stability and during the pandemic,” adding that reforms of the UN are necessary.
Modi’s comment comes in the backdrop of India’s rejection of “unwarranted remarks” made by the UN human rights body on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. UN Human Rights Council Bachelet had criticised restrictions on public assembly and frequent communication blackouts in Jammu and Kashmir. The Secretary (West) in Ministry of External Affairs Reenat Sandhu expressed disappointment and said her remarks on the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, do not reflect the ground reality. “India’s approach to global promotion and protection of human rights is based on “our own experience as a pluralistic and inclusive society and vibrant democracy,” the official statement said.
In June, UN special rapporteurs had also criticised India’s new IT rules relating to social media. The Rapporteurs said the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 did not adhere to international human rights norms and warned against restrictions on freedom of expression and muzzling of any advocacy of multiparty democracy.
India in a strong-worded response had said the criticism stating the concerns are “highly misplaced” asserting that the rules are “designed to empower ordinary users” of social media. The enactment of these rules had become necessary following widespread concerns about increasing instances of abuse of social media and digital platforms, India’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva said.
The World Health Organisation, the UN’s health agency, has faced criticism since the Covid-19 outbreak first surfaced in China in December 2019. WHO faced criticism for mishandling the crisis.
Former US president Donald Trump slammed the WHO as a “puppet” of China and accused it of covering up the start of the outbreak and allowing the virus to spread around the entire world.
The World Bank recently said it is discontinuing its flagship Doing Business publication, citing data irregularities in recent editions of the global business climate index. The decision was taken after a probe of data irregularities allegedly due to pressure by some top bank officials to boost China’s ranking in 2017 came to light.
(With PTI inputs)
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