NEW YORK: Against the backdrop of conflicts, post-pandemic shocks and climate change, Pakistan Monday called for “generous” political and economic support for the people living under foreign occupation like those in Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir.
“For developing countries, a first priority is poverty reduction, especially in crisis and conflict situations,” Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN Commission on Population and Development,” saying that Pakistan recognized the importance of population strategies especially dealing with health and related social issues. “Emergency humanitarian and economic support is essential in situations such as in Afghanistan, as well as for the people of occupied Palestine and Jammu and Kashmir,” the Pakistani envoy added. He underscored the need for understanding population dynamics as societies around the world strive to achieve the ambitious and holistic 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “An educated, skilled healthy and empowered population is the key driver of development; a people which is ignorant and uneducated and enfeebled by disease and unemployment is a drag on development and a recipe for persistent and growing poverty.” The developing countries, he said, have been devastated in the last 2 years by the coronavirus pandemic and natural and man-made disasters, as well as price inflation in food, energy and other essential commodities, requiring mobilization of adequate finance to respond to these multiple exogenous shocks to their economies and people. –Agencies
