‘Conflict of two principles we hold dear’: Ex-envoy on why India abstained on Palestine vote in the UN

India sometimes abstains from a resolution in the United Nations because there’s a clash of two principles, said a former envoy. He also said that India has an unwillingness to support the biased nature of the International Criminal Court. 

Former Indian Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin, said that there has been 13 votes at the UN since October 7th, out of which India supported 10 resolutions and abstained on three. “We abstain sometimes, and that is because at times the resolutions on Palestine or those that promote outcomes on Palestine conflict with some of the other principles that we hold dear,” he said. 

The former envoy elaborated further, “India has not joined the International Criminal Court, and that's not for anything related to Palestine. It's a decision we took in the 1990s because we felt that the International Criminal Court would be used only against developing countries, and we were not wrong in that. Look at who has been incriminated by the International Criminal Court: all African leaders, apart from people in former Yugoslavia. No action is taken against anybody else.” 

“When resolutions sometimes talk of support for the International Criminal Court – we understand that from Palestinian perspective – but you need to understand that from an Indian perspective there’s a clash of two of our common principles,” he said, citing India’s support for Palestine versus India’s non-willingness to accept the International Criminal Court. 

He said when two principles like that clash India tends to abstain “rather than picking one principle over the other”. Syed Akbaruddin said India’s abstention has nothing to do with the Palestine issue but the clash of its principles. “So, please understand it has nothing to do with the issue of Palestine if we abstain. It may be on a different principle that we are focussed on because we still remain on the UN’s Special Committee on Palestine, which only consists of supporters of Palestine. The facts are there,” he said.

India had, last year, abstained from voting in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) over a resolution demanding that Israel end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestine territories within 12 months. Along with India that was one of the 43 countries to abstain, were Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Nepal, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.