India abstains from vote on US-led resolution at UNSC to allow aid to sanctioned entities

All the UNSC members, except for India, supported the resolution. India, which holds the rotating presidency of the UNSC this month, was the only country to have abstained.

The UNSC resolution, which was adopted, said that the UNSC decides that “the provision, processing or payment of funds, other financial assets, or economic resources, or the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities that support basic human needs … are permitted and are not a violation of the asset freezes imposed by [the] Council or its Sanctions Committees”.

This carve-out applies to a wide range of entities, including UN programmes, funds, agencies, humanitarian organisations having observer status with the General Assembly, and certain NGOs.

In her explanation of the vote, India’s Permanent Representative Ruchira Kamboj said this resolution provides a carve-out from sanctions in support of the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities meeting basic human needs. “However, India will call for caution and due diligence to be exercised while extending humanitarian assistance to proscribed entities under 1267, who continue to thrive with full state hospitality in territories universally acknowledged as terrorist havens by the international community,” she said, referring to Pakistan’s support to LeT and JeM.

“Our concerns emanate from proven instances of terrorist groups taking full advantage of such humanitarian carve-outs, and making a mockery of sanction regimes, including that of the 1267 Sanctions Committee. There have also been several cases of terrorist groups in our neighborhood, including those listed by this Council, re-incarnating themselves as humanitarian organizations and civil society groups precisely to evade these sanctions. These terrorist organizations use the umbrella of the humanitarian assistance space to raise funds and recruit fighters,” she said.

“We reiterate, as we did, during the negotiations, that under no circumstances, the garb of humanitarian cover intended to be provided by these exemptions, should be misused by proscribed terrorist groups to expand their terror activities in the region and beyond. More importantly, such exemptions must not facilitate ‘mainstreaming’ of terror entities in the political space in our region. Due diligence and extreme caution in the implementation of this resolution, therefore is an absolute must,” Kamboj said.

Sources told The Indian Express that the Indian negotiators worked hard to get the issue of review period of these measures after two years, and as well as only UN-approved organisations will be allowed to provide humanitarian aid.

“For this very reason, India had sought in the text of the resolution a proactive role for the 1267 Monitoring Team, coupled with robust reporting standards and mechanisms. We regret that these specific concerns were not fully addressed in the final text adopted today. We hope that this shortcoming will be corrected in the future…,” Kamboj said, in her explanation of the vote.