New Delhi: Amidst strained relations, India urged Canada during the review of its human rights record at the UNHRC to boost its legal framework to stop the “misuse” of freedom of expression to incite violence and prevent activities of extremist groups.
This call by India was presented as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, under which member states of the United Nations undergo a periodic evaluation of their human rights records conducted by the 47 members of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
On November 10, Canada underwent the UPR process for the fourth time, receiving evaluations from the UPR working group, consisting of all UNHRC members. Canada was among the 14 countries reviewed during the current session.
India offered three suggestions to Canada “in the spirit of constructive dialogue”.
“One, further strengthen the domestic framework to prevent misuse of freedom of expression for inciting violence and disallow activities of groups which are promoting extremism,” said Indian diplomat Mohammed Hussain K.S.
He also called on Canada to “effectively prevent attacks on places of worships of religious and racial minorities” and “strengthen legislative and other measures to address hate crimes and hate speech”.
“Third, put an end to structural discrimination against children belonging to indigenous groups. And address disparities in access to services by all children,” added the Indian representative.
Since Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused India of being involved in the killing of a Sikh Canadian citizen, relations have gone into deep freeze. Both countries expelled a diplomat in a tit-for-tat move, with India taking additional measures of halting visa services for all Canadian nationals. New Delhi further insisted on diplomatic parity, resulting in the departure of 41 Canadian diplomats from India.
India has vehemently rejected the allegations as “absurd” and asked for Canada to share the evidence. Indian officials have also complained that Canada does not take New Delhi’s concerns about activities of Khalistani separatists seriously.
In a recent interview with a Canadian newspaper, India’s high commissioner to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Varma said that there had been no action taken on 26 requests made to Canada to extradite people to India.
India had especially umbrage at the posters and banners put up by Khalistani groups in Canada that specifically targeted Indian diplomats. Canadian officials had, however, expressed their inability to put charges because the language used in those posters had been within the legal threshold of permissibility.
On November 10, Indian foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra claimed that India had “core security concerns” after the United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken again asked New Delhi to join the Canadian investigation.
During the previous UPR cycle that Canada underwent in 2018, India put forth six recommendations, which had also included calling for prevention of “misuse of freedom of expression” and “glorify[ing] terrorists as martyrs”.