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Mr. Chairman,
On behalf of Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, China, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Gabon, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, UAE, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Zimbabwe as well as on its own behalf, the Pakistan delegation has the privilege to introduce the draft resolution “Universal Realization of the Right of Peoples to Self-determination” contained in document A/C.3/66/L.30.
Contained in its very first Article, the right of self-determination is a cardinal principle in the UN Charter. The most basic collective right of peoples and nations is the indispensable foundation of all individuals’ human rights.
International law accords centrality to the universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination. It signifies that the realization of this right is a sine qua non for the enjoyment of all, civil, political and economic, social and cultural rights. The right to self-determination, therefore, is included as Article 1 of the two Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The 1993 World Conference on Human rights in Vienna, the 1994 Social Summit in Copenhagen, the Millennium Summit 2000 and the UN World Summit 2005 have all affirmed the right of peoples to self-determination in situations of foreign occupation and alien domination.
The exercise of this right has enabled millions of peoples suppressed and disenfranchised by racist regimes to achieve equality before law, in society, and state politics. The realization of the right to self-determination helped millions of people across the world seeking liberation from colonialism, apartheid, foreign occupation and alien domination.
Mr. Chairman,
The draft resolution A/C.3/66/L.30 is similar to the one adopted by consensus during the 65th Session with two technical updates. In its operative paragraph 1, the resolutions reaffirms that the universal realization of the right of all peoples, including those under colonial, foreign and alien domination, to self-determination is a fundamental condition for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights and for the preservation and promotion of such rights.
Since the submission of L.30 South Africa and Swaziland have joined as co-sponsors, we encourage other delegations to join the growing number of co-sponsors of this important resolution.
Due to the universal character of this right and its continued and wide applicability to numerous situations in the world, the resolution on universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination has traditionally been a consensus resolution. We hope that this year too, we would reaffirm our position to the principle of self-determination by adopting this resolution by consensus.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.