Highlighting in the UN Security Council the suffering of women under foreign occupation, especially in Palestine and Kashmir, Pakistan has called for guaranteeing the protection of women under international law and ensuring accountability. The 15-member Council met the other day for their annual open debate on the women, peace and security agenda just ahead of the 25th anniversary of its landmark resolution 1325 (2000) on the issue.

“The plight of Palestinian women is one of the gravest tragedies of our times,” Pakistani delegate Saima Saleem said, while also expressing regret that the Secretary-General’s report makes no reference to the plight of Kashmiri women “who, for decades of occupation, have endured sexual violence deployed as a weapon of war”. Spotlighting the bombing of homes, schools and maternity wards in Gaza, along with the tens of thousands displaced and hundreds of thousands now facing famine, Ms. Saleem, a counsellor at the Pakistan Mission to the UN, underscored: “These are not collateral tragedies, but deliberate crimes that demand accountability.” 

About the plight of Kashmiri women, she pointed out that UN human rights mechanisms, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Special Procedures along with organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Medecins Sans Frontières, have documented violations of their rights, harassment of women human rights defenders and journalists, reprisals against female family members of the disappeared, torture and arbitrary detentions, and widespread trauma of sexual violence and abuse.

“To exclude Kashmiri women from the Women, Peace and Security agenda erases its legitimacy and undermines its universality,” the Pakistani delegate said, adding,  “The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is on this Council’s agenda and therefore, future reports must reflect their plight accordingly.” Ms. Saleem’s sharp comments about the grave rights abuses of Kashmiri women in Indian occupied Kashmir drew a strong response from India’s UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish. But later in the Council’s meeting, another Pakistan delegate set the record straight in exercise of his right of reply to the Indian envoy’s remarks. 

Reaffirming its commitment to advancing the gender perspective in UN peace operations, Ms. Saleem said Pakistan was actively engaged in implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda. “Our women peacekeepers have served with courage and resilience in the DRC, Mali, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Bosnia and beyond,” she said, having built trust, provided medical care, and supported survivors where justice was denied. “They have shown that women in peacekeeping are both symbols of progress and enablers of peace itself”. 

“Women’s protection under international law must be guaranteed, and accountability must be ensured wherever and whenever sexual violence is deployed as a deliberate tactic of war.” Women’s organizations in conflict zones must receive sustained and predictable funding, she said, pointing out that he Pact for the Future reaffirmed our collective commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda. “Now is the time to act: mandate women’s participation, guarantee their protection, promote their leadership, and strengthen accountability.” 

In conclusion, Ms. Saleem said, “Sustainable peace demands women at the heart of decision-making — as mediators, peacekeepers, and leaders. Pakistan will continue to work with this Council to ensure that the promise of resolution 1325 is not delayed, diminished, or denied —but delivered to women and girls across the world.” During his speech to the Council, Harish, the Indian ambassador, accused Pakistan of bombing its own people, conducting what he called was a genocide, referring to the 1971 “events.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)