Swat girl's flogging 'unacceptable': Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday denounced as "unacceptable" the public flogging of a young girl in Pakistan's Swat region, and called for ensuring respect for basic human rights. "While I appreciate different systems and traditions in many different countries, respecting and upholding basic human rights - this is most important," he said. The secretary-general, who was talking to journalists at UN Headquarter in New York after briefing the General Assembly on his just-concluded foreign trip, was asked for his reaction to the video-recorded lashing of the 17-year-old girl in Swat. "I read that article, and even though I didn't see the video itself, just by reading this article about this flogging, this is just unacceptable, and I am glad that the Chief Justice of Pakistan (Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry) has taken the right decision," Ban said. In this regard, the UN chief called on government leaders to "fully respect" the universally accepted human rights. Ban also urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to abolish the new law which severely infringes on the basic human rights of women.