A UN General Assembly committee has unanimously passed a Pakistan-sponsored resolution reaffirming that the universal realisation of people’s right of self-determination was a fundamental condition for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights.
The resolution, co-sponsored by 72 countries, was adopted without a vote in the 193-member Assembly’s Third Committee.
The Committee deals with Social, humanitarian, and cultural issues.
Political observers say the resolution, which Pakistan has been tabling since 1981, serves to focus the world’s attention on the struggle by peoples for their inalienable right to self-determination, including those in Kashmir and Palestine.
The resolution is expected to come up for General Assembly’s endorsement next month.
The text also declared the 193-member body’s firm opposition to acts of foreign military intervention, aggression and occupation, since these have resulted in the suppression of the right of peoples to self-determination and other human rights in certain parts of the world.
The resolution also called on those States responsible to immediately cease their military intervention in and occupation of foreign countries and territories, as well as all acts of repression, discrimination, exploitation and maltreatment.
Presenting the draft, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said the right to self-determination was a fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter and international law.