'India to continue balanced approach towards protecting human rights'

Few hours after India was elected to the United Nations' top human rights body on Friday, India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, said that New Delhi would continue its balance and moderate approach towards the protection of human rights across the world.

India was elected to the Human Rights Council at United Nations for a period of three years, beginning January 1, 2019, after obtaining 188 votes in the Asia-Pacific category.

Reflecting on the same, he told ANI, "India's victory today at the UN General Assembly during elections to human rights council is a reflection of high standing that our country enjoys globally. We are grateful to the many friends that we've across the globe who came out and voted in such large numbers to ensure that India got the highest number of votes among all the 18 candidates."

"We would like to assure them that India will continue its balance and moderate approach towards the promotion and protection of human rights globally," Akbaruddin added.

Earlier, when the results were declared, Akbaruddin had said that the victory is a reflection of India's position in the comity of nations.

"It's a reflection of India's position in the comity of nations, it's a testament that world community holds India in high esteem. There were 18 candidates and we got the highest votes. We feel grateful to all the friends in UN for their support and it is very reassuring. We will work in a balanced way to protect human rights of the world," the UN envoy had told.