India rebukes Switzerland over minority remark at UNHRC: 'We can help address racism, xenophobia'

Indian diplomat Kshitij Tyagi at the 5th Meeting of the 60th Session of the UNHRC.

India issued a blistering rebuttal to Switzerland after it called on New Delhi to protect minorities and uphold the rights to freedom of expression and media at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

At the 5th Meeting of the 60th Session of the UNHRC, Indian diplomat Kshitij Tyagi said, "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."

"Instead, it 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 civilisational embrace of pluralism, India remains ready to help Switzerland address these concerns,” Tyagi said while rejecting the Swiss statement.

In remarks at the Council, the Swiss delegate had said his country calls on the Indian government to “take effective measures to protect minorities and uphold the rights to the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media.”

The exchange took place on Wednesday during the General Debate on the oral update by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the 60th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Switzerland currently holds the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council, making its observations carry additional diplomatic weight.

Parallel exchange with Pakistan

On the same day, India also delivered a separate and strongly worded Right of Reply to Pakistan, following remarks made by Islamabad during the debate.

Tyagi accused Pakistan of misusing the Council to advance political propaganda and reiterated India's longstanding position that Pakistan sponsors cross-border terrorism.

"We are compelled, once again, to address provocations from a country whose own leadership recently likened it to a 'dump truck', perhaps an inadvertently apt metaphor for a state that continues to deposit recycled falsehoods and stale propaganda before this distinguished Council," Tyagi told the chamber.

He referred to multiple terrorist attacks linked to terror groups based in Pakistan, citing incidents in Pulwama, Uri, Pathankot, Mumbai, and most recently the Pahalgam attack in April, which he described as turning "a meadow of joy into a killing field."

Drawing attention to global memory of terrorism, Tyagi reminded the Council of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, pointing out that Pakistan had sheltered Osama bin Laden until his death in a US Navy SEAL raid in Abbottabad.

"We need no lessons from a terror sponsor; no sermons from a persecutor of minorities; no advice from a state that has squandered its own credibility," Tyagi said.