India on Tuesday abstained from voting in the United Nations Human Rights Council on a resolution against Sri Lanka for war crimes against Tamils in the island nation. However, the resolution was adopted after 22 members out of 47 voted in its favour.
A total of 11 countries, including China and Pakistan voted against the resolution, to support the Sri Lankan government. Meanwhile, 14 countries abstained from voting.
The resolution titled “Promotion of Reconciliation Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka” was taken up after a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report, released on January 27, warned that Sri Lanka’s failure to address human rights violations and war crimes committed in the past had put the country on a “dangerous path” that could lead to a “recurrence” of policies and practices of earlier crimes.
Sri Lanka had described the draft resolution as “unwarranted, unjustified” and in violation of the relevant articles of the Charter of the United Nations.
The UN Human Rights Council has moved several resolutions against Sri Lanka since the end of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 12 years ago, but the incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa dispensation had always called it as “unwanted foreign interference”, The Hindu reported.