The country that doesn’t exist that managed to slip into two UN events

The United States of Kailasa participated in sessions of two debates at the United Nations (UN).

At first glance, the information appears to be nothing new, as this is what is expected of the member states of the international organisation. The problem is that Kailasa is not part of the UN and It’s not even a real state.

The fact has caused an uproar and forced the UN to ensure that they will ignore the statements made by the representatives of the fictional country before two of its agencies in Geneva (Switzerland).

An official assured that the participation was from Kailasa’s representatives “irrelevant” And “tangential” on the topics being discussed.

The country and its founder follow

Self-proclaimed Hindu guru Nithyananda Paramashivam claims to have founded the United States of Kailasa in 2019.

Where? Presumably on an island that he would have bought from Ecuador, according to Paramashivam himself in 2019. That year it was denied from Ecuador that it was the guru on their territory or whether they had been granted asylum.

According to the Kailasa website, the so-called state, named after a mountain in the Himalayas believed to be the abode of the Hindu god Shiva, claims “Two Billion Practicing Hindus” among its population.

It also claims to have a flag, a constitution, a central bank, a passport and an emblem.

Last January, the imaginary country also claimed to have signed an agreement with the authorities of the US city of Denver, a fact it presents as acknowledgment of its existence.

But as if the above were not enough, the alleged founder of the “first sovereign state of the Hindus” is wanted by the Indian judiciary on charges of rape and assault.

A disciple of the alleged religious leader accused him of rape in 2010, after which he was briefly arrested by police before being released on bail. In 2018, he was charged in court.

Days before departure from India, another complaint was made known kidnap and imprison children in his ashram (monastery), located in the state of Gujarat, in the West Asian country.

Nithyananda, whose whereabouts are unknown, has rejected the allegations against him.

explain the incident

The non-existent country’s appearance at two sessions of the UN commission in late February did not go unnoticed in India, where it was reported by the media and went viral on social media. The New Delhi government has not commented on the incident.

A UN official admitted to the BBC via email that “representatives from Kailasa attended two public sessions in Geneva,” Meryl Sebastian reported.

The first event that officials from the nonexistent state managed to sneak into was a debate on women’s representation in decision-making systems, organized by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on February 22.

Two days later, the alleged diplomats also took part in a discussion on sustainable development organized by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).

Vivian Kwok, a media official at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, attributed the incident to the fact that these types of dialogues are public gatherings and open to any interested person.

The UN consists of 193 member states, although it also allows the participation of some peoples who do not have their own state, but with the approval of the majority of its members, such as the case of the Palestinian territories.

However, the fact represents an embarrassing incident that has called into question the strictness of United Nations protocols.

“not everyone can enter to witness a conference, a session or a discussion of a UN body and much less to take part in it. You have to register in advance,” Mercedes De Freitas, director of the Transparencia Venezuela organization and who has led the various bodies of the United Nations system to present issues about the Latin American country, told BBC Mundo.

“The registration process is not easy. For example, for civil society organisations, an organization already registered with the UN is obliged to support you,” he explains.

Taking advantage of the podium

A video on the UN website of the second session shows that when attendees are invited to ask questions and a woman introduces herself as Vijayapriya Nithyananda, “the permanent US ambassador to Kailasa” and says she is asking about “Indigenous rights and sustainable development”.

The intervener described Kailasa as the “First sovereign state for Hindus” founded by Nithyananda, the “supreme pope of Hinduism”. He also stated that the country “has been successful with sustainable development” as it provided basic necessities such as food, housing and healthcare to all its citizens free of charge.

The alleged ambassador used her turn to ask for measures “stop the persecution” against Nithyananda and the people of Kailasarated Meryl Sebastian.

Without a trace

Nithyananda has not appeared in public for three years, although videos of his sermons are regularly posted on his social media channels.

London newspaper The Guardian reported last year that Nithyananda’s British representative attended “a glamorous Diwali party at the House of Lords” at the invitation of two members of the ruling Conservative Party.

The solicited guru posted on Twitter the photo of his alleged ambassador participating in the UN event and then presented through the same social network the diplomatic representatives of his alleged state in various parts of the world, including the United Kingdom, Canada and the Caribbean .