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Mr. President,
Let me express my delegation's gratitude to the President of the General Assembly for convening this important debate. This could not have come at a more opportune time.
A few months ago, the international community embarked on an ambitious sustainable development agenda that incorporates human rights as an indispensable component. And before the end of the year, the United Nations will get a new Secretary General to oversee its implementation across the world and deliver on its central promise of 'leaving no one behind'.
Our deliberations today should provide useful guidelines for the new Secretary General and for member states to pursue this agenda in an effective and holistic manner.
Mr. President,
The adoption of the historic covenants on 'Civil and Political Rights' and 'Economic, Social and Cultural Rights' generated much hope and optimism that the nations of the world would cooperate to realize fundamental human rights and freedoms for ALL of humanity, without any discrimination.
Yet half a century later, the promise of these landmark covenants is yet to translate into reality. Millions around the world face abject poverty and hunger, malnutrition and disease, ignorance and illiteracy, and lack the very basic amenities of life. At the same time, wars and conflicts have inflicted untold misery and suffering on people and unleashed the worst refugee crisis since the end of the Second World War.
Clearly, the failure of our collective efforts reflects fundamental flaws in our present approach. While the factors for this imperfect progress are varied and complex, a few conclusions can be drawn when we consider the drivers and dynamics of the evolving situation. Here, I would like to mention those that need to be addressed to rectify what is an unacceptable and untenable situation.
One, the agenda of human rights should be pursued in a balanced manner with equal focus on civil and political and economic and social rights. Experience indicates that these rights are inextricably linked and interdependent, and cannot be achieved in isolation.
Two, the human rights agenda needs to be effectively de-politicized. Human rights violations are taking place in all parts of the world. The tabling of country-specific resolutions without concurrence of the country concerned has often proven to be counterproductive. The UPR (universal periodic review) mechanism of the Human Rights Council is the most appropriate channel for promoting human rights and is designed for this very purpose.
Three, human rights violations cannot be delinked from the issues of poverty, illiteracy and under-development. The UN and the international community must accord top priority to address these challenges in implementing the 2030 development agenda.
Four, human rights cannot be guaranteed in situations of turmoil and conflict. Armed conflicts provide fertile ground for the most egregious forms human rights violations. Prevention of wars and conflicts, and political resolution of existing conflicts must therefore receive priority attention by the United Nations.
Finally, Mr. President, both the ICCPR and ICESCR, as well as the UN Charter acknowledge the fundamental importance of the inalienable right to self-determination. Self-determination enables the fulfillment of all other human rights in the political and socio economic spheres. Universal realization of the right to self-determination will help to resolve several conflicts and prevent the violation of human rights in different parts of the world.
In our region, the denial of self-determination to the people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir has resulted in some of the most atrocious human rights violations including rape, torture, arbitrary detentions and summary executions. Its most chilling recent example is the extra-judicial killing last week of a Kashmiri leader, Burhan Wani, shot to death by Indian forces along with dozens of other innocent Kashmiris.
The occupation forces in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir are resorting to these brutal acts to suppress the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people, promised to them by several UN Security Council resolutions. Despite Indian suppression, the Kashmi people are determined to continue their struggle for freedom from foreign occupation. Sixty-eight years after the UN Security Council first called for a UN conducted plebiscite to allow the Kashmiri people to exercise their right to self-determination, the fulfillment of this pledge remains the only way to resolve this long-standing dispute and establish durable peace and security in South Asia.
I thank you, Mr. President.