India’s constitutional commitment to equality highlighted at UN Human Rights Council

India’s constitutional commitment to equality and protection against discrimination was highlighted at the United Nations Human Rights Council as delegates and civil society representatives discussed racism, xenophobia and related intolerance during the Council’s 63rd session in Geneva.

The discussion came against the backdrop of the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the international framework adopted in 2001 to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Equality before law

During the session, Sambhali Trust, a Rajasthan-based civil society organisation, highlighted the Indian Constitution’s guarantee of equality before the law and protection against discrimination. It stressed that constitutional safeguards assume their full meaning when dignity and equality are experienced in everyday life.

The Constitution provides the central legal framework for equality in India. Article 14 guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the laws, while Article 15 prohibits discrimination by the State against citizens on grounds including religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, while Article 17 abolishes untouchability. Together, these provisions form the core of the Constitution’s Right to Equality framework.

Beyond written guarantees

The intervention at the UNHRC stressed that protection against discrimination could not remain confined to legal texts. Education, inclusion and participation were identified as essential to ensuring that equality became a lived reality.

The speaker said discrimination could manifest itself through seemingly ordinary experiences, including exclusion based on a person’s name, language, appearance or community.

The organisation also raised concerns about instances in which visible religious identity could become a basis for humiliation or exclusion. It called for impartial investigations, accountability and safeguards where discriminatory practices were alleged, particularly in relation to Muslim women.

These observations represented the civil society organisation’s intervention before the Council rather than findings or conclusions adopted by the UN Human Rights Council.

India invokes diversity

India, in its own intervention during the session, reiterated its opposition to racism and racial discrimination and highlighted the country’s multi-ethnic, multilingual and multi-religious character.

The Indian representative said the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration provided an opportunity not merely to reflect on progress but to renew the international community’s commitment to eliminating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

India also invoked the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — the idea that the world is one family — while arguing that racism was inconsistent with the country’s civilisational ethos.

The representative cited Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle against racial discrimination and said India remained committed to the principles underlying the Durban Declaration.

Concern over global racism

India also drew attention to what it described as a growing incidence of racist and xenophobic rhetoric targeting migrants and people of foreign origin around the world.

The Indian delegation argued that domestic measures alone would not be sufficient to tackle such trends and called for international cooperation alongside national action. It linked efforts to eliminate discrimination with the broader objective of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development without leaving vulnerable groups behind.

The intervention emphasised that diversity could serve as a source of strength rather than division and pointed to India’s social and cultural plurality in making that argument.

Durban framework at 25

The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action emerged from the 2001 World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. It provides an international framework for combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance.

Its 25th anniversary has prompted renewed discussion at the UN about the persistence of racial discrimination, hate speech and exclusion despite legal and institutional measures adopted across countries.

The framework places emphasis on both legal protection and broader measures involving education, participation, awareness and institutional accountability.

Rights and implementation

India has repeatedly maintained before international human rights bodies that its constitutional structure, legislation, judicial decisions and affirmative-action policies provide safeguards against discrimination and seek substantive equality for historically disadvantaged communities.

The constitutional framework also permits special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, alongside protections against discrimination.

The discussion in Geneva, however, also underlined the distinction between constitutional guarantees and their implementation. Civil society speakers argued that the effectiveness of equality protections ultimately depended on how institutions treated individuals in their daily interactions.

As the Human Rights Council concluded its 63rd session, the debate placed India’s constitutional commitment to equality alongside the continuing challenge of ensuring that formal guarantees translate into equal treatment, dignity and protection from discrimination in practice.