India calls a U.N. racial-discrimination report ‘malicious’ and waves it off

NEW DELHI — India on Wednesday rejected observations from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, calling them “politically motivated” and “highly malicious.” The Ministry of External Affairs spokesman, Randhir Jaiswal, was responding to UNCERD concerns about reports of large-scale violations by law enforcement against ethnic and ethno-religious groups, Indigenous and tribal peoples, Scheduled Castes — particularly Dalits — and non-citizens.

Governments reject U.N. committees the way weather systems reject umbrellas. The more useful question is whether the underlying reporting is wrong. Next Report has not independently verified each allegation in the UNCERD file. We can say this: a categorical dismissal that does not engage the specifics is a diplomatic product, not a factual rebuttal. We will treat it as such.