India abstains from UN voting on choosing ‘International Day of Hope’
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New Delhi: India abstained last week from a UN General Assembly resolution introduced by Bahrain and Kiribati to declare July 12 as the ‘International Day of Hope’.
The resolution was adopted with 161 votes in favour with one—the US—against it just as countries including India, Turkey, Peru and Paraguay abstained from it.
The resolution seeks the international community to ‘promote well-being in order to amplify hope and enhance peace, tolerance and social stability, respect for diversity and mutual respect.’
However, it is not known what made India abstain from the resolution, given the fact that the text of the resolution contained ‘no red flags’ prompting India not to vote in favour.
Stating its position, the US said that the resolution ‘contains references to diversity, equity and inclusion that conflict with US policies aimed at eliminating all forms of discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all’.
The US representative pointed at ‘unnecessary proliferation’ of international observances in the resolution and alleged overlapping objectives.
Criticising the resolution further, the US representative said that when the world is facing ‘numerous challenges’, both funding and efforts have to be focused on ‘critical causes and crises rather than the establishment of additional international days’, adding that ‘For these reasons, the United States cannot join consensus on the current resolution and has called for a vote, in which we have voted no’.
When the UN General Assembly considered seven resolutions on March 4, the US sought voting and ended up opposing each of them, where typically they would have been adopted without a vote.
While abstaining from resolution declaring July 12 as International Day of Hope, India voted in favour of establishing July 25 as the International Day of Judicial Well-being, February 28 as the International Day of Peaceful Co-Existence.