New Delhi: In a tweet on Friday, the United Nations Human Rights office called on Indian authorities and farmers protesting against the three farm laws to exercise maximum restraint and to arrive at “equitable solutions” with due respect for human rights for all.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) tweeted, “#India: We call on the authorities and protesters to exercise maximum restraint in ongoing #FarmersProtests. The rights to peaceful assembly & expression should be protected both offline & online. It’s crucial to find equitable solutions with due respect to #HumanRights for all”.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting against the three farm laws for almost 70 days now. The protests have received a lot of International attention as well.
The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement said that the government has passed the laws “after a full debate and discussion” and “has initiated a series of talks” to address the issues. After 11 failed rounds of talks, the farmers are continuing with the protests.
In the first public comment by the Biden administration on the farmers’ protest, the US has called for a dialogue to address the farmers’ issue and backed peaceful protest and freedom of expression.
It also offered support for reforms that open up India’s markets and being in private investment.
Popstar Rihanna also tweeted a CNN story on the internet shutdown in several districts after clashes broke out between the police and protestors on January 26th. Greta Thunberg also tweeted in support of the farmers’ protest.
The MEA condemned this and called these internal matters and called the comments “neither accurate nor responsible”.