Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi/Agencies
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that enabling the people of Palestine and Kashmir to exercise their right of self-determination must be the “priority objective” of the 15-member body.
“People are at the core of the world order envisaged in the UN Charter,” Pakistan’s permanent envoy to the UN, Ambassador Munir Akram, reminded delegates during a debate on ‘investing in people to enhance resilience against complex challenges in the context of building and sustaining peace. He said over the last seven decades, insufficient attention has been accorded to “the ‘peoples’ of our United Nations”.
Many still being prevented from exercising self-determination
The Pakistani envoy said that although most of the peoples of the 193 Member States of the UN had exercised their right to self-determination, there are several who were prevented from doing so due to foreign occupation and suppression, adding, “Two of the most intractable conflicts in the UNSC’s agenda – Palestine and Jammu & Kashmir – continue to fester, and threaten international peace and security, due to suppression of the right of self-determination through foreign occupation.”
Recognizing UN’s failure in ensuring universal respect for human rights due to double standards and political priorities of some of those who “champion” human rights, Ambassador Akram noted that the UN also did not succeed in promoting higher living conditions.
Inequality had increased and the division between the rich and the poor was growing, despite our world being vastly richer than it was 70 years ago, the envoy said, stressing that resilient development was required to build resilient peace and achieve the climate agenda. He said climate justice was mandatory to reach a durable peace.
He further said that in cooperation with its partners, Pakistan has formulated the resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework after the recent destructive floods.
