During the final three decades of colonial rule, anti-colonial women's interactions were framed by the need to assert nationalist legitimacy and undermine imperial domination. As independence became inevitable, there was notable continuity between this approach and the Indian state's engagement with the United Nations (UN). Central to Nehruvian foreign policy was the assumption of moral leadership in the global struggle against imperial-style domination. One manifestation of this was Hansa Mehta's work on the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that, although she operated as a state representative, also reflects her civil society connections. The measurable results of the CHR's lengthy, acrimonious proceedings were limited, amounting only to the very general, non-binding set of principles outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Nevertheless, Mehta's work on the CHR indicate that the UN's adoption of human rights was associated as much with civil society petitioners as it was with Western governments, who appropriated human rights for geopolitical gain.

(Soon-to-be) independent India and the United Nations

During the 1930s, Nehru had been wary of the League of Nations, which he viewed as an agent of the imperialist status quo. As Prime Minister of (soon-to-be) independent India, Nehru was not blind to the imperialist ambitions of the world's most powerful states, as his non-aligned foreign policy suggests. But he nevertheless saw the UN as an opportunity to advance Indian interests. Soon after assuming leadership of the Interim Government in September 1946, he appointed Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit as leader of the Indian delegation to the UN General Assembly. Her opening address announced India's ambitions to the world: