Marco Rubio called “UN experts” an “oxymoron” when asked about India’s protests.
He described the issue as domestic politics and declined to comment further.
Rubio distinguished peaceful demonstrations from riots involving vandalism and destruction of property.
US State Secy Rubio Calls UN Experts 'Oxymoron', Says Protest In India Is 'Domestic Political Matter'
Rubio's remarks followed concerns raised by UN experts over alleged restrictions on peaceful assembly, excessive force against demonstrators in India
Summary
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday called the term “UN experts” an “oxymoron” when asked about their criticism of India’s handling of protests against the Election Commission. He described the issue as a "domestic political matter" for Indians to decide.
Responding to a question about demonstrations by opposition parties and students, and allegations of a crackdown, Rubio said he would not comment on India’s internal politics.
“Well the UN experts, my favourite. The UN experts is an oxymororn,” he said.
“No, it's a domestic political matter. This is a democracy, they have elections here. I am not going to opine on their political matters,” Rubio added.
Rubio said the ability to express differing political views was an important part of democracy, while drawing a distinction between peaceful demonstrations and violence involving damage to property.
“I am not talking about the riots, what you see in Europe. They are vandalizing and breaking and burning down buildings. I am not talking about that,” he said.
His remarks followed concerns raised by UN experts over alleged restrictions on peaceful assembly, excessive force against demonstrators in India.
India Rejects Allegations At UN
India rejected the criticism at the United Nations on Tuesday, saying unverified claims and incomplete statistics were being used to portray the country negatively.
Indian diplomat Barkha Tamrakar cited constitutional safeguards, including Article 21, saying they protected human rights and ensured due process.
“India firmly opposes any attempt to convert unverified allegations, incomplete statistics, or a report that contains no India country observation into a negative characterization of the world's largest democracy,” she said.
“Human rights should not be used as an instrument of political pressure or selective country targeting,” Tamrakar added.
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India called for impartial, evidence-based engagement on human rights and opposed what it described as selective scrutiny of countries.
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