Islamabad, 15th October, 2017: During the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights titled ‘Sharing our diversity: The 20th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Democracy’ being held in St. Petersburg from 14th-18thOctober, Senator Sehar Kamran raised the issue of ethnic cleansing of the 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims and condemned the Democratic government of Myanmar headed by the internationally acclaimed Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi for persecuting the world’s largest marginalized community.
During her intervention, she said it is important to take notice of uneven application of democratic principles by state parties as is visible in context of Rohingya (Myanmar), Kashmir as well as Palestine.
Senator Kamran said today as we celebrate 20 years of the IPU Declaration on Democracy and Human Rights signed in 1997, it seems we have come full circle. Where once we were calling for establishment of democratic regimes across the globe, today the democratic establishments are being condemned for violating human rights, she added.
Senator Sehar Kamran urged the international community to take notice of human rights violations in democratic states. She and said the state of Rohingya and Kashmiris directly negates the clause 2 of the 137th IPU draft which reiterates that democracy, human rights and the rule of law are universal, interconnected and mutually reinforcing, and recognizing the will of the people as the source of legitimacy of sovereign states.