India offers to help Switzerland combat racism

India has responded to Swiss criticism at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) about the treatment of its minorities, by offering to help the financially secretive Alpine country tackle its own problems with systematic discrimination and xenophobia.

At the 60th session of the UNHRC in Geneva on Wednesday, the Swiss delegation urged India to strengthen efforts to safeguard minority rights and to “implement effective measures to protect minorities and ensure the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of the media.”

India’s Counsellor at the Permanent Mission in Geneva Kshitij Tyagi responded to the “surprising, shallow, and ill-informed” comments.

”As it holds the UNHRC presidency, it is all the more important for Switzerland to avoid wasting the council's time with narratives that are blatantly false and do not do justice to the reality of India,” he said.

Switzerland, he added, “should focus on its own challenges such as racism, systematic discrimination and xenophobia. As the world's largest, most diverse and vibrant democracy, with a civilizational embrace of pluralism, India remains ready to help Switzerland address these concerns.”

Islam is India's second-largest religion, comprising 14.2% of the country's population - some 172.2 million people, according to the 2011 census data.

Earlier this year, a federal law in Switzerland, which prohibits face coverings in public and was backed by a 2021 referendum, took effect. The law, commonly referred to as the “burqa ban,” prohibits the wearing of face coverings in public, and applies to a range of items including burqas and niqabs worn by Muslim women, as well as masks and balaclavas often worn by protesters, sports fans, or others.