UN panel okays Pakistan sponsored resolution

A key UN panel Monday approved by consensus a resolution renewing the global commitment to the principle of self-determination for peoples still subjected to colonial, foreign and alien occupation, with Pakistan saying that its focus was on creating a world where everyone could live in "dignity, free from oppression".

Co-sponsored by 65 countries, the resolution, submitted by Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram, was adopted without a vote in the General Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues.

The resolution, which Pakistan has been sponsoring since 1981, serves to focus the world's attention on the peoples still struggling for their inalienable right to self-determination, including those in Palestine and Kashmir. The text is expected to come up for General Assembly's endorsement next month.

Under its terms, the 193-member assembly would declare its firm opposition to acts of foreign military intervention and occupation suppressing the right to self-determination of peoples and nations, calling upon those states responsible to cease them.

Introducing the resolution, Ambassador Akram, Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN, said that it was aimed at "creating a world where every nation, every community, and every individual can live in dignity, free from oppression, and with the ability to shape their destiny."

The right of self-determination, as a fundamental principle enshrined in the UN Charter, has been codified in many international documents, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Social and Cultural Rights, the Pakistani envoy said.

Over the decades, he said, millions of people have exercised this right, liberating themselves from colonial domination and foreign subjugation, creating numerous sovereign states which are now equal members of this assembly.

"However," Ambassador Akram added, "those of us who have been freed through the exercise of right of self-determination cannot ignore the plight of those whose right to self-determination and freedom has been denied brutally.

"In certain situations of foreign occupation, we witness a systematic denial of self-determination through military oppression, demographic manipulation, and the suppression of basic freedoms," he said, pointing out that those actions violate international law and pose a threat to international peace and security.