United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres commented on the divisive citizenship act passed recently by the Indian Parliament.
When asked if he was personally concerned about the rising discrimination against minorities in India, Mr Guterres exclaimed, “Of course!” as it is pertinent that whenever nationality laws are changed, efforts are taken to avoid statelessness and to ensure that every citizen of the world is also a citizen of a country.
In an exclusive interview to a private news reporting agency, the UN chief was asked about reports in the international media, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and recent fact-finding reports about Kashmir, regarding torture, sexual abuse and incarceration of children as young as seven by the Indian military forces.
But why doesn’t the UN take action?
He was eager to acknowledge that the current structure of the UN and veto power to only its five permanent member states were hampering the ability of the UN to deliver the very objective it was created for — conflict resolution. The rules-based system that came post-World War II was a result of a cohesion amongst western countries which is rapidly dissipating yet the top bureaucrat thought the UN was not threatened as much as it was challenged by this new reality.
“We lived in a bipolar world, the rules were relatively clear. Today it is no longer bipolar, not yet multipolar, it is a kind of a chaotic world. Power relations are unclear so we see situations of conflict to which many spoilers can do whatever they want because there is no way to create a minimum of order,” he also added.
To read more from ProperGaanda: Despite 14 deaths, Sindh Minister says no need to evacuate Keamari area