India also skips vote on Belarus call to tweak Russia resolution
A part from abstaining from Thursday’s voting at UNGA on a resolution that denounced Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, India also abstained from voting on amendments sought by Russia’s ally Belarus to the draft resolution.
The first one was the sixth time India had abstained from voting on a resolution in UNGA seeking to penalise Moscow since March 2022.India has abstained on well over a dozen occasions from voting on Ukraine related developments across UN bodies
Posing some “pertinent” questions, Indian ambassador Ruchira Kamboj sought to know if the international community was anywhere near a possible solution acceptable to both Russia and Ukraine and if any process that doesn’t involve either of the two sides ever lead to a credible solution.
While the non-binding, but politically significant, resolution was tom-tommed by the West as another success in efforts to isolate Russia, India’s understanding was that it won’t in any way help change the situation on the ground.Kamboj said while the overall objective of the resolution seeking a comprehensive, just and lasting peace was understandable, reports from the ground portrayed a complex scenario,with the conflict intensifying on several fronts.
“Has the UN system, and particularly the UN Secretary Council, based on a 1945-world construct, not been rendered ineffective to address contemporary challenges to global peace and security,” she asked, while underlining India’s commitment to multilateralism and the UN charter.
“We will always call for dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable way out.While we take note of the stated objective of today’s resolution, given its inherent limitations in reaching our desired goal of securing lasting peace, we are constrained to abstain,” she added.
Reiterating that UN Charter, territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states must be upheld without any exception, Kamboj said the entire Global South had suffered unintended consequences of the conflict and it’s critical that the voice of developing nations be heard and their legitimate concerns addressed.
“India’s approach to the Ukraine conflict will continue to be people-centric,” said Kamboj.Expressing concern over reports of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are also deeply worrying, India said international principles and jurisprudence vest responsibility on parties to the conflict to ensure that civilians are not targeted in situations of armed conflicts.