Seeking to ensure protection of rights of vulnerable groups, India to UNHRC

NEW DELHI: India has asserted that it protects the rights of vulnerable groups and is strengthening laws for their protection and welfare dismissing criticism from certain quarters that transgenders and women in the country face challenges.

“In all its policies, India seeks to ensure inclusive development and the protection of rights of vulnerable groups,” Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said on Thursday speaking at the Third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of India at the UN Human Rights Council ( UNHRC) in Geneva.

“We have enacted a range of laws to address sexual assault and other gender based crimes. We have overhauled the legal framework for dealing with child sexual assault,” Rohatgi said. The UPR is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN member states and was created through the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006, by resolution 60/251, which established the UNHRC itself.

“To better protect children from exploitative conditions and to ensure that they have freedom, dignity and opportunity, the National Child Policy, 2013 has put in place a rights-based policy framework for addressing children's needs,”

Rohatgi said on India’s child protection measures. Putting across stand on rights of minorities, he said, "Safeguarding the rights of minorities forms an essential core of our polity. The Indian Constitution enshrines various provisions for the protection of the rights and interest of the minorities."