JACOB PEENIKAPARAMBIL: The recently held virtual summit of QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) involving India, Japan, Australia and the United States has widened the horizon of the forum of the four countries in the Indo-Pacific region, and thereby expanded the scope of peace and security.  Leaders of the four countries- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morisson, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden participated in the meeting. Though the original purpose of the forum is to counter the military clout of China in the Indo-Pacific region, the leaders of the four countries did not give the impression that it is a military alliance or an anti-China coalition. They declared that QUAD is a “flexible group of like-minded partners dedicated to advancing a common vision and to ensuring peace and prosperity”.

The most significant decision at the summit was to produce a billion doses of COVID 19 vaccine for distribution in the Indo-Pacific region by pooling the resources of the four countries: American technology, Japanese finance, Indian production capacity and Australia’s logistics capability. They have set up a working group on the vaccine partnership that will report on the progress to the four leaders. The summit also announced setting up two more working groups, one on critical technologies and another on climate changes. Both are very crucial for peace and security in the fast changing global scenario.

The message sent to the world by the summit is that peace and security cannot be ensured in the world only by military alliances. There has to be joint efforts among the world nations to solve the crucial problems related to health, food security, climate change etc.

Peace and security are also closely related to human rights. Human rights are those basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity as human beings. If people do not get justice when their fundamental rights are violated, there cannot be peace in any country. For example, in Myanmar, the military seized power on February 1, 2021 by suspending the democratically elected government and jailing the democratically elected political leaders and killing the citizens who protest against the military taking over of the government. Rampant human rights violations are taking place Myanmar. Human rights are universal and human rights violations in any part of the world are to be condemned.

When leaders make alliances in the name of peace and security they have to introspect whether human rights are protected within their own county. When international organizations or leaders of other countries point out violations of human rights and civil rights in a particular country, the rulers of that country have to introspect and take corrective measures instead of accusing them of interfering in its internal affairs.

India as a member can be proud of QUAD expanding the scope of peace security by including fight against Covid 19, critical technologies and climate change. The QUAD summit reminds India that as a democratic country and a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it has a great responsibility to protect the human rights of all its citizens.