India, along with 12 other UNSC members, voted against a Russian-sponsored resolution on Ukraine’s humanitarian catastrophe. Syria, North Korea, and Belarus were among the co-sponsors of Russia’s proposed resolution. It failed to pass the UNSC on Wednesday because it lacked the necessary nine votes to approve.
The resolution was supported by Russia and China, with no countries voting against it. The rest of the Security Council members, including India, abstained.
Russia, a permanent member of the UNSC with veto power, had requested a vote on a draught resolution that “demands that civilians, including humanitarian personnel and persons in vulnerable situations, including women and children, be fully protected, call for a negotiated ceasefire to enable safe, rapid, voluntary, and unhindered evacuation of civilians, and emphasizes the need for the parties concerned to agree on humanitarian pauses to…”
Resolution at UNSC by Russia
The Russian resolution at UNSC, which makes no mention of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, urges all parties involved to allow safe and unrestricted travel to destinations outside of Ukraine, including to foreign nationals without discrimination, and to facilitate safe and unrestricted humanitarian aid to those in need in and around Ukraine, with special attention to the needs of women, girls, men, and boys, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Other members of the Council issued statements after the vote on the resolution, but India did not. On resolutions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, India had previously abstained twice in the Security Council and once in the General Assembly.
13 members of the Security Council abstained from Russia’s ludicrous resolution deflecting blame for the humanitarian disaster it has caused in Ukraine, according to US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Ms. Thomas-Greenfield stated in her Explanation of Vote that Russia’s boldness in putting forward a resolution asking the international community to tackle a humanitarian crisis that Russia alone created is “unconscionable.”
The United Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, stated that her country will not vote for any resolution in the Security Council or the General Assembly that does not recognize Russia as the primary source of the humanitarian crisis – and hence the key to ending it. One of three resolutions on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine presented to the UN General Assembly and UNSC on Wednesday was the Russian revolution in the Security Council.
The United Nations General Assembly resumed its 11th Emergency Special Session on Ukraine on Wednesday, with two resolutions up for discussion. The resolutions are scheduled to be voted on by the 193-member General Assembly on Thursday.
Ukraine and its western allies have proposed a UNGA resolution on the ‘Humanitarian Consequences of the Aggression Against Ukraine,’ which calls for an immediate end to Russia’s hostilities against Ukraine, including any attacks on civilians and civilian objects. Civilians, especially humanitarian workers, journalists, and those in vulnerable situations, such as women and children, must also be completely protected.
It asks that the parties fulfill their obligations to ensure that humanitarian professionals, as well as their means of transportation, supplies, and equipment, have safe and unfettered access to individuals in need in Ukraine and its neighboring countries.
South Africa’s other competing resolution, titled “Humanitarian Situation Emerging from the Conflict in Ukraine,” makes no mention of Russia. It urges “all parties” in the conflict to end hostilities immediately and to engage in political conversation, negotiations, mediation, and other peaceful ways to achieve long-term peace.