|
The Assemblea Nacional Catalana organised an international event where the members highlighted the difficulties that minorities faced in making their voices heard and the struggle of Uyghur, Eastern Kurds and Sindh people.
Assemblea Nacional Catalana ("Catalan National Assembly"; ANC by its Catalan acronym) is an organization seeking Catalonia's political independence from Spain. During the event, Dolors Feliu I Torrent, President of the Assemblea Nacional Catalana, highlighted the importance of the event as it is hard for minorities to have their voices heard. "We need to find neutral spaces where we can debate, advocate and counteract the discourse of the bigger states," she added, Assemblea Nacional Catalana tweeted on Friday. The Assemblea Nacional Catalana has been a member of the UN's Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organizations since 2018 to internationalise the conflict and put self-determination on the intl agenda. She further stated, "Every nation has its own particularities, but the issues at stake are the same: democracy, human rights, justice and freedom". Abel Riu, a Political scientist from Spain and another speaker presented 'Secessionist movements and internationalization strategies: a comparative study' by Catalonia Global Institute, a think tank that analyses the international strategies of diplomatic and para-diplomatic engagement of ten movements. "Edna Adan Ismail, Former Foreign Minister of Somaliland: 'A country can only be born once. Mine was born in 1886 & in 1960 came to a legal agreement. Many of the 42 African countries were under the colonial rule while we were independent. Nowadays, they don't recognise us even though we were independent before them'," Assemblea Nacional Catalana tweeted. She denounced the lack of international recognition of Somaliland. "We claim full ownership of our name, identity, language, culture, traditions & sovereignty. We have the right to be heard, seen and recognised as responsible members of the international community," Ismail added. Meanwhile, Eastern Kurdish HR defender Taimoor Aliassi said, "The policy in Iran is: one country, one nation, one language, one religion. Kurds were dubbed anti-Islam & anti-revolutionary because they pushed for a democratic federal Irani state. They've since been victims of hate propaganda," according to the ANC tweet. Talking about Sindhi's identity, the World Sindhi Congress (WSC) President Rubina Greenwood said that the Sindh movement has many progressive policies: it accommodates multilingual, multi-religion Sindhi identity, and it's openly non-violent. It aspires to a just and democratic multi-national society. She further stated, "The world is dominated by post-colonial legacies & many nations are still suffering. Catalan, Uyghurs & others want their legitimate sovereignty, but it is denied. The intl system is fixated on the status quo of inorganic & often undemocratically formed states." (ANI)
|
