Representatives of member countries take votes during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, on April 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution on Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for the state of Palestine.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favour, the United States opposed and two abstentions.

The resolution would have recommended that the 193-member General Assembly, where there are no vetoes, approve Palestine becoming the 194th member of the United Nations. Some 140 countries have already recognized the state of Palestine, so its admission would have been approved.

Before the vote, U.S. deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the United States has “been very clear consistently that premature actions in New York — even with the best intentions — will not achieve statehood for the Palestinian people.”

This is the second Palestinian attempt for full membership and it comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage.

New York:

India has strongly condemned the countries that use their veto powers to block evidence-based terrorist listings at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and said the practice is uncalled for and smacks of doublespeak to the council’s commitment in tackling the challenge of terrorism.

“Let us turn to the subsidiary bodies inhabiting a subterranean world with their own custom-made working methods and obscure practices which do not find any legal basis in the charter or any of the council’s resolutions. For instance, while we do get to know of the decisions of these committees on listing, the decisions on rejecting listing requests are not made public,” India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj, said at a session of the United Nations Security Council.

“This is a disguised veto, but an even more impervious one that indeed merits a discussion amongst the wider membership. For genuine evidence-based listing proposals for globally sanctioned terrorists to be blocked without giving any due justification is uncalled for and smacks of doublespeak when it comes to the council’s commitment in tackling the challenge of terrorism,” she added, in what seems like a veiled attack on China.

“…We can no longer hide behind the smokescreen of the Intergovernmental Negotiations by delivering entrenched national positions in a process which has no time frame, and no text….”

– PR in the United Nations Security Council today. pic.twitter.com/39x3J8riW4

— India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) March 11, 2024

Earlier last year, China had put a technical hold on the proposal after India and the United States submitted a proposal to the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee to designate Sajid Mir, who is wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, which killed 166 people and injured over 300.

China had effectively blocked a proposal to designate Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir as a global terrorist. For a proposal to be adopted, it needs consensus from all the member countries.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Kamboj argued that the selection of chairs of subsidiary bodies and decision-making power must be given through an open process that intends to be transparent.

“The selection of chairs of subsidiary bodies and distribution of pen holderships must be made through a process which is open, which is transparent, which is based on exhaustive consultations and with a more integrated perspective. The consensus of the e ten on chairs of subsidiary bodies, to be assumed by the E-10 themselves, must be absolutely honoured by the P-5,” she said.

“As one of the largest troop-contributing countries, my delegation would like to reiterate that the concerns of the troop and police contributing countries should be taken into consideration for better implementation of peacekeeping mandates. There is a need to review the agenda of the council and remove obsolete and irrelevant items from the agenda of the Security Council,” she added.

India also reiterated its call for UNSC reforms and asked countries that block the revision of giving permanent seats at the forum to contribute to making the council fit for the 21st century.

“As the threats to international peace and security evolve, Mr. President, so must this council. We ask those blocking progress on this vital issue to heed calls for genuine reform and contribute to making this council truly fit for purpose for the 21st century. Thank you,” Kamboj said.

“It is also imperative to note that working methods do not stand in isolation as they have an organic linkage to other clusters, including the relationship with the General Assembly and discussions on the veto. Therefore, unless we address the issue in its entirety, a piecemeal approach would fail to offer a holistic solution,” she said.

“As we discuss the working methods, we also witness an equitable representation-sized hole in the Security Council between P five and e ten. What we, therefore, need is a Security Council that better reflects contemporary realities, and the geographical and developmental diversity of the multipolar world of today, including the voices of the developing countries and unrepresented regions like Africa, Latin America, and the vast majority of Asia and the Pacific. For this, an expansion of the council in both categories of membership is absolutely essential,” she added.

Kamboj said, “As the threats to international peace and security evolve, Mr. President, so must this council. We ask those blocking progress on this vital issue to heed calls for genuine reform and contribute to making this council truly fit for purpose for the 21st century.”

She insisted on the effectiveness of the United Nations in international peace and security and said that the debate on working methods remains extremely relevant.

“As an organ of the United Nations tasked with the maintenance of international peace and security, the debate on working methods remains extremely relevant, especially in the backdrop of Ukraine and Gaza. As such, the question as to how much the Security Council has been able to deliver on peace and security with both feet firmly fixed in the past is a larger question that the member states need to collectively ponder upon in that collective reflection,” she said.

“On the council’s engagement with the wider membership and as mandated by Article 24 of the UN Charter, one of the meaningful ways of doing this would be through a discussion on the report of the Security Council in the General Assembly. However, despite long-standing demands for analytical reportage, these remain just factual markers indicating the number of times the council has met or the total debates that have been conducted,” she added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

United Nations:

Russia and China on Wednesday vetoed a U.S. push for the United Nations Security Council to act on the Israel-Hamas conflict by calling for pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid access, the protection of civilians and a stop to arming Hamas and other militants in the Gaza Strip.

The United States put forward a draft resolution on Saturday as global outcry grew over a worsening humanitarian crisis and mounting civilian death toll in Gaza. It made the move just days after it vetoed a humanitarian focused draft from Brazil, arguing more time was needed for U.S.-led diplomacy.

The initial U.S. text shocked many diplomats with its bluntness in stating Israel has a right to defend itself and demanding Iran stop exporting arms to militant groups. It did not include a call for humanitarian pauses for aid access. But it largely toned down the final text that was put to the vote.

“We did listen to all of you,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member council after the double veto, which she described as disappointing. “Though today’s vote was a setback, we must not be deterred.”

It was a rare move by the United States to suggest Security Council action. Washington has traditionally shielded its ally Israel at the world body.

Ten members voted for the U.S. text, while the United Arab Emirates voted no and Brazil and Mozambique abstained.

“The draft does not reflect the world’s strongest calls for a ceasefire, an end to the fighting, and it does not help resolve the issue,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told the council after the vote. “At this moment, ceasefire is not just a diplomatic term. It means the life and death of many civilians.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been appealing for a humanitarian ceasefire.

‘OBLIGATION TO ACT’

In the wake of the Security Council deadlock, the 193-member U.N. General Assembly will vote on Friday on a draft resolution put forward by Arab states that calls for a ceasefire. No country holds a veto in the General Assembly. Resolutions are non-binding, but carry political weight.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza, in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,400 people. Israel has struck Gaza from the air, imposed a siege on the enclave of 2.3 million people and is preparing a ground invasion. Palestinian authorities say more than 6,500 have been killed.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accuses the U.S. of putting up a draft resolution that represented Security Council authorization of a ground offensive in Gaza by Israel “while thousands of Palestinian children will continue to die.”

After the double veto, the Security Council then voted on a rival Russian-drafted text that called for a humanitarian ceasefire and withdrawal of Israel’s order for civilians in Gaza to relocate south ahead of a ground assault.

Russia failed to the get minimum amount of support needed, winning only four votes. A resolution needs at least nine votes and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to be adopted.

It was Russia’s second attempt at a resolution. Only five council members voted in favor of a Russian text on Oct. 16.

The elected 10 members of the Security Council now plan to work on a new draft resolution, Malta’s U.N. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said.

“This crisis is also gripped by a growing risk of a regional spill over. This demands our undivided attention,” she said. “We have the duty and the obligation to act.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)