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12/13/2007: "RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT PNSD CELEBRATION OF WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2007"

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT PNSD CELEBRATION OF
WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2007

1. PNSD recognises the historic steps taken by the UN and the international community in adopting not only the Universal Declaration of Human Rights back on this day in 1948 but also the subsequent body of international humanitarian law, including the 1966 Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic and Social Rights, both of which put the right of self determination at the forefront of human rights. The primacy of the collective human right of self determination - upon which the protection of all individual human rights ultimately depends has been recognised by the UN itself. International Law offers hope and legitimacy to those nations, many of which are represented here today, who seek peacefully and democratically to determine their own destiny within the community of nations.

2. PNSD calls upon the UK Government and the wider international community to make human rights the centre piece of policy and decision making so that the security, dignity and prosperity of all the nations and peoples of the world is protected and so that civilised values can be translated in to real peace and progress for all of humanity. In particular, aid and trade programmes should be designed to promote those who comply with international humanitarian standards and to isolate those who do not.

3. PNSD congratulates the efforts of human rights defenders across the world whose courage who, often in the face of open threats to their very lives, aim to protect the weak and vulnerable against wanton repression; we salute those who have given their lives in the cause of human rights and justice. We further congratulate Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other NGOs which continue to put human rights at the top of the international agenda.

4. We urge the international community, in the interests of future generations as well the current victims of human rights abuses, to take action to end the immunity offered by various states to those who have carried out massive violations as a matter of state policy. We condemn those violations and see them as an unacceptable threat to international peace and security. If necessary, where the relevant states refuse to act, the international community should take direct action to punish the guilty in accordance with international law.

5. PNSD urges the UN as well as individual states and regional blocks such as the EU to adopt self determination as a key driver to resolve conflicts in a peaceful and democratic manner, in accordance with international law. Current conflicts and disputed territories such as those in Kosovo, Kurdistan, Kashmir, Nagalim, Punjab as well as many others cannot be resolved without the consent of the governed being freely determined and respected. Self determination represents perhaps the only orderly, lawful, peaceful and democratic means of resolving these long standing conflicts and it is incumbent upon the international community to take effective steps to implement that right as a matter of international law. The so called 'war on terror' is not and has never been an excuse to sideline those peoples who have a lawful claims to their national rights under international law and we call on all concerned to look at the underlying causes of conflict in order to take forward a collective desire for peaceful resolution.