Daily Times

Pakistan Thursday called United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ efforts to outline a new agenda for peace as “bold”, emphasizing that it must reaffirm the UN Charter, Security Council resolutions and international law.

“The current threats to peace and security emanate mainly from violations of the UN Charter’s fundamental principles – especially the non-use or threat of use of force, and the denial of the right of peoples to self-determination,” Senator Farooq Naek told the Annual Parliamentary Hearing, a joint initiative between the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

“Festering conflicts, great power rivalries, and a new arms race are manifestations of these violations,” the Pakistani representative said.

UNGA President Dennis Francis and IPU President Tulia Ackson are hosting some 300 participants, including parliamentarians, speakers of parliament, advisers and experts, from more than 70 countries at the UN Headquarters in New York. Organizers said the theme of the joint IPU-UN hearing would align with the IPU’s primary focus in 2024 on peace and international security, which was also one of the priorities of the current presidency of the UN General Assembly.

On Wednesday, the UN chief laid out his critical priorities for 2024 amid a global landscape roiled by conflict, inequity and intensifying interlocking crises. Presenting his Report on the work of the Organization, the Secretary-General stressed that people want peace with security and dignity, “and frankly, they want peace and quiet” – from anger, hate and war. However, for millions of people caught up in conflict around the world, “life is a deadly, daily, hungry hell”.

At the outset of his remarks, Senator Naek told the Hearing that Pakistan “strongly and unequivocally” condemned the indiscriminate use of force by Israel and called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian assistance, return of the displaced Palestinian population to their homes, and international accountability for the crimes committed by the occupying power. “In the current complex global security environment”, he said, “the UN Secretary-General’s attempt to outline a new agenda for peace is a bold and perhaps timely initiative, which must also endorse the implementation of the principle that ‘every state has an equal right to security’ as well as the full utilization of the authority of UNSC, UNGA and the UN chief to resolve conflicts and build a durable structure of peace”.

In the context of the new agenda for peace, Senator Naek said Parliamentarians held a pivotal role in advancing sustainable peace and stability globally through enacting legislation, allocating resources and playing crucial oversight roles. Later, speaking on another topic ‘Lowering the temperature: Climate change and conflict’ at the Hearing, Senator Naek, the Pakistani representative, said that there was a clear linkage between climate change, conflict and peace and security

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN body, whilst the observed influence of climate change on armed conflict is small, its adverse impacts can function as a ‘risk multiplier’ for conflict in areas that are already under stress.

In order to prevent climate-related conflict, Senator Naek called for prioritizing measures to enhance cross-border cooperation on scarce resources, such as trans-boundary water cooperation.

“Moreover,” he added, “governments must integrate climate-related risks in their development plans.”

Whilst measures such as criminalizing ‘ecocide’ were one possible solution, he said, the process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) remained the main forum to holistically engage in efforts to addressing the adverse impacts of climate change.

“We must avoid ‘securitizing’ the climate agenda,” he added.