“I urge the authorities to respond to the situation quickly, including by investigating and addressing root causes of the violence in line with their international human rights obligations”, said United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
TFM Report
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urges authorities to probe root causes of ethnic violence in Manipur. Addressing a press conference at the UN at Geneva, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Wednesday said in a number of situations, “we see the consequences when different groups incite and stoke hatred and division between communities”.
Referring to the ongoing tension and recent violence in Manipur, Northeast India, Volker Türk said these incidents revealed the “underlying tensions between different ethnic and indigenous groups”. “I urge the authorities to respond to the situation quickly, including by investigating and addressing root causes of the violence in line with their international human rights obligations”.
While the Volker Türk’s reference to Manipur has been more or less appreciated, there are other political observers who feel that he should have addressed the entire gamut of political violence that has rocked the entire Northeast region in a broader sense and deal with even the different demands made by the indigenous communities since the advent of post-British colonial rule in India.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/05/turk-there-should-be-un-human-rights-office-everywhere
A political commentator on condition of anonymity said, “While we do not expect the UN to offer us the terms of reference for the probe into the ethnic violence, it would have been wise to include even the chronology of events that have unfolded in the last few weeks and also wider issue of misinformation and disinformation campaigns launched by parties in conflict”.
The good side of the UN statement is that it has acknowledged that the prevailing tension and violence as the consequences ethnic groups inciting and stoking “hatred and division between communities”, observed the commentator.