26 September 2011, Geneva; The Maldives Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, H.E. Ms. Iruthisham Adam, today spoke at a UN Human Rights Council debate on human rights in Palestine and used her address to urge all States, including the United States and other Western countries, to support Palestine's application to be recognised as an independent sovereign State b y the United Nations. Ambassador Adam recalled that the US is a country built upon a profound belief in the right to self-determination and self-government, and thus it should also support that right in the case of Palestine. Further, she argued that recognition of Palestinian statehood would help achieve a negotiated two State solution to the Middle East conflict.
The debate began with the statement by Palestine, recalling President Abbas' recent application for statehood and full UN membership.
In her response, Ambassador Adam reminded UN members that the right to self-determination is a long-standing core human right. She recalled that in 1793, Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the American Declaration of Independence, spoke of his commitment to the right to self-determination: "We surely cannot deny to any nation that right where on our own is founded - that every one may govern itself according to whatever form it pleases and change those forms at its own will".
Ambassador Adam informed the Human Rights Council that these words "are as relevant today, as we survey Palestine's brave push for independence and statehood at the United Nations, as they were in the 18th Century".
"The Maldives and hundreds of other countries support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. We do not do so because we are against Israel - the Maldives is and always will be a strong supporter of a two-State solution. We do so, rather, because it is right and it is just.
"If we value and enjoy our right to self-determination in the Maldives and elsewhere, if we applaud its assertion across the Islamic world, then why should we deny it to the people of Palestine? People who have been waiting for dignity, freedom and independence for 6o long years?"
Ambassador Adam also questioned the claim that UN recognition of statehood would diminish the chances to achieve a negotiated peace between Palestine and Israel.
"In our opinion, Palestinian statehood would not diminish the chances of a negotiated peace, they would enhance them.
They would enhance them by resolving the unequal power relationship which has historically undermined the negotiation process - a relationship between the occupied and the occupier. How can a fair and lasting peace be forged under such conditions? The short answer is: it cannot. Far better then for negotiations to take place between two States sitting down together as equals".
ENDS