India re-elected to key UN committee

United Nations, Dec 1: Adding yet another feather to its cap, India has been re-elected to a key UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination, more than a week after securing membership of the powerful Joint Inspection Unit, the only external oversight body of the United Nations.

India's nominee Ambassador Dilip Lahiri was re-elected to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a body under the UN Human Rights system, for a three-year term beginning January 20, 2012. He secured 147 votes out of 167 cast in the elections held at the UN headquarters here yesterday. The win comes over a week after India won a key election to the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) defeating China in a direct fight and returning to the UN's powerful external oversight body after a gap of 35 years.

India's Ambassador to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said he was "very pleased" at the CERD win, adding that "we had a good candidate." The win is part of a "series of elections that we have won. What is important is to not only win but to win in style," Puri told PTI, referring to Lahiri securing nearly 90 per cent of the votes in the election. He said there was very little time between the JIU and CERD elections and he is pleased that India could still manage an "impressive" result. The CERD election is the latest in a series of wins that India has been registering at various UN bodies in recent times.

PTI