UNITED NATIONS, Feb 03 (APP):United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres underscores the need for respecting human rights in his interactions with world leaders, including the rights of Kashmiri people, a UN spokesman said Wednesday.
“The Secretary-General has always expressed, both publicly and privately, the need for all human rights to be fully respected and for the authorities to act in a way that each community feels that their identity is respected and that they belong to country as a whole,” Deputy Spokesman Farhan Aziz Haq said in response to a question whether the UN chief would bring up China’s human rights record when he meets the Chinese leaders in Beijing during the Winter Olympics, beginning Friday.
“This is something he (Guterres) does consistently,” Farhan Haq said at the regular noon briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.
A journalist followed up on the deputy spokesman’s reply about the principled position of the secretary’s general on human rights, and asked “Does this position apply squarely and unequivocally to the people of Kashmir, who are suffering under the Indian occupation?”
“Yes. It applies across the board,” Farhan Haq replied.
Guterres will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics tomorrow, despite a request by the United States to skip the event.
In a message, the secretary-general urged the world to “build a culture of peace” through the power of sport, calling for nations to observe the Olympic Truce, endorsed last week through a resolution of the UN General Assembly.
