World Muslim Congress calls for formal platform against foreign occupation
Wani urges UNHRC to revive self-determination agenda
Geneva: The World Muslim Congress has urged the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to revive a separate agenda item on the right to self-determination, saying such a mechanism would give peoples under foreign occupation, including the people of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, a formal platform to raise their concerns before the Council.
According to Kashmir Media Service, World Muslim Congress representative Altaf Hussain Wani made the call during an interactive dialogue with the UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order at the 63rd session of the UNHRC in Geneva.
Wani welcomed the Independent Expert’s report A/HRC/63/24 and said it rightly highlighted the dangers posed by unilateralism, coercive economic measures and the weaponisation of interdependence, which undermine sovereign equality and principles enshrined in the UN Charter.
He said the emerging multipolar international order could strengthen the multilateral system if anchored in international law, cooperation and respect for the rights of all peoples.
Recalling a recommendation made by former UN Independent Expert Alfred de Zayas, Wani urged the Council to consider the right to self-determination as a separate agenda item.
He said reviving the proposal would provide peoples living under foreign occupation with a sustained platform within the UNHRC to voice their concerns and seek international attention to unresolved questions concerning their political future.
Drawing particular attention to IIOJK, Wani said the Kashmiri people continue to be denied their right to self-determination despite relevant UN Security Council resolutions providing for a free and impartial plebiscite.
He stressed that the credibility of the multilateral system depends on its ability to protect peoples who remain excluded from decisions concerning their future.
“Multilateralism can fulfil its promise only when it safeguards the fundamental right of peoples to self-determination and remains responsive to those living under foreign occupation,” he said.
The World Muslim Congress urged the Independent Expert to support revival of de Zayas’s proposal and examine how emerging multipolar governance could help address protracted conflicts, uphold international law and strengthen human rights protection.
At the conclusion of his intervention, Wani asked the Independent Expert whether he supported reviving a separate UNHRC agenda item on self-determination to ensure that peoples under foreign occupation, including those in IIOJK, have their voices heard by the Council.
