Nusrat Bhutto’s Speech at the United Nations General Assembly, 1989

Begum Nusrat Bhutto delivers a speech at the 44th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, as the Senior Federal Minister of Pakistan, on October 4, 1989. She questions the effectiveness of the 1988 Geneva Accords and calls upon the UN to establish peace and governance in warn-torn Afghanistan, after the end of the Soviet-Afghan War in February 1989. Begum Nusrat Bhutto criticizes the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine and calls for a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. She also calls attention to the ongoing apartheid in South Africa, and calls for the establishment of majority rule and the end of the racist regime. She also discusses the upcoming independence of Namibia, and praises their heroism, calling for a peaceful transition. Bhutto appeases the international community to raise concern for minority rights, referencing the Big Excursion of 1989, ethnic cleansing of 300,000 Bulgarian Muslims, forcing their migration to Turkey. Bhutto mentions the growing structural and economic inequalities between the Global North and Global South, and calls for the reduction of this gap. She also discusses numerous issues such as environment degradation and its links to poverty, trade protectionism, Pakistan’s stance on nuclear disarmament, the Kashmir issue, drug abuse in South Asia, and more.