Abstract
The chapter examines the contrasting approaches of India and the European Union towards human rights and assesses the nature and outcome of the human rights dialogue. It analyses the role of India, the EU and Pakistan during the 1994 UN Human Rights Council and analyses the impact of the strategic partnership on human rights, the role of civil society and human rights, and the linkage between human rights and the Broad-based Investment and Trade Agreement. In conclusion, the chapter looks at the EU’s 2018 India Strategy approach towards human rights and trade and suggests a way forward.
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Notes
- 1.
On 25 June 1993, representatives of 171 States adopted by consensus the ‘Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action’ at the World Conference on Human Rights (1993). The Convention was a new watershed in the global recognition of a common definition of human rights. For the first time, it was agreed that all human rights, whether civil and political or economic, social and cultural, are indivisible, interdependent and inter-related. It also recognized the Right to Development.
- 2.
Swedish UN Secretary-General who was elected to office in April 1953 dedicated to reconciliation and peace in an emerging Cold War.
- 3.
A Western doctrine enshrining the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ when human rights are deemed to be in danger, intervening across national frontiers. It was later used by the West to bring about regime change in Libya.
- 4.
Headed by senior officials on both sides, the JWG on Counter-Terrorism was a very useful and practical mechanism for intelligence cooperation and sharing.
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Mukherjee, B. (2020). India and the European Union: A Dialectical Approach to Human Rights. In: Jain, R. (eds) India and the European Union in a Turbulent World. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3917-6_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3917-6_9
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