India votes in favour of UNGA resolution, calling for multilateral cooperation to combat COVID

India, along with 168 nations, voted in favour of a COVID-19 resolution in UN General Assembly that reaffirms international cooperation to respond to “one of greatest global challenges” and ackwledges World Health Organisation’s “key leership role” in responding to outbreak, a reference US objected to as it opposed resolution.

Omnibus Resolution on Comprehensive and Coordinated Response to COVID-19 Pandemic was overwhelmingly opted by 193-member General Assembly Friday, with 169 nations voting in favour of resolution that recognised COVID-19 pandemic as “one of greatest global challenges in history of United Nations”. US and Israel voted against resolution and Ukraine and Hungary abstained.

India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to UN Ambassor K Nagaraj Naidu tweeted "India votes in favour of #COVID-19 omnibus resolution in General Assembly recognising pandemic as one of greatest global challenges that calls for a global response based on unity, solidarity and multilateral cooperation.”

resolution “reaffirms its commitment to international cooperation, multilateralism and solidarity at all levels and as only way for world to effectively respond to global crises such as COVID-19 pandemic and ir consequences, and ackwledges key leership role of World Health Organisation and fundamental role of United Nations system in catalysing and coordinating comprehensive global response to COVID-19 pandemic.”

Afghanistan’s UN envoy ela Raz and Croatian Ambassor Ivan Simovic were co-coordinators of extensive and wide-ranging resolution, third opted by General Assembly this year on pandemic that has killed over 900,000 people and infected 28.3 million globally. resolution is t legally binding.

General Assembly President Tijjani Muhamm-Bande said omnibus resolution is a “powerful and ambitious text and it reflects collective will of Member States to overcome this unprecedented challenge as nations, united. Negotiations were intense but cooperation prevailed.”

resolution urged member states to "enable all countries to have unhindered timely access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable diagsis, rapeutics, medicines and vaccines, and essential health techlogies for COVID-19 response” and recognised “role of extensive immunisation against COVID-19 as a global public good for health in preventing, containing and stopping transmission in order to bring pandemic to an end, once safe, quality, efficacious, effective, accessible and affordable vaccines are available.”

It supported Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ appeal for an immediate global ceasefire, including to help create “corridors for life-saving aid, open windows for diplomacy of dialogue.” It called upon political and religious leers to promote inclusion and unity in response to pandemic and to prevent and take strong action against racism, xephobia, hate speech, violence, discrimination, including on basis of and stigmatisation.

resolution also calls upon Member States “to vance, with determination, bold and concerted actions to dress immediate social and ecomic impacts of pandemic, while striving to get back on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by designing recovery strategies out of crisis to accelerate progress towards full implementation of 2030 nda.” In its explanation of vote, US said it “does t concur” with references to World Health Organisation in resolution and criticised China for hiding truth about outbreak that originated in central Chinese city of Wuhan.

“Unfortunately, we might never kw for certain how much of pain and suffering caused by COVID-19 could have been avoided if Chinese Communist Party h behaved like a responsible government and immediately warned rest of world of virus that y uncovered in Wuhan,” US Mission to UN said.

“t only did y fail world, but World Health Organisation’s failures in early days of pandemic also contributed to needless suffering and worsening of this pandemic. WHO needs to reform, including by demonstrating its independence from Chinese Communist Party,” US Mission said.

It ded that Washington voted against resolution as it “cant allow resolution to be hijacked by several mes that are t pertinent to discussion.” In a tweet, US Mission said it “cant, in good conscience,” support a resolution including unrelated langu supporting vancement of Chinese Communist Party propaganda, abortion, and langu against sanctions that are designed to constrain b actors including removing unilateral ecomic and tre sanctions.

US said text “attempts to undermine international community’s ability to respond to acts that are offensive to international rms. Ecomic sanctions are a legitimate means to achieve foreign policy, security, and or national and international objectives, and United States is t alone in that view or in that practice.” resolution emphasised that illicit financial flows, in particular those caused by tax evasion, corruption and transnational organised crime, reduce availability of vital resources for responding to and recovering from COVID-19.  

(Im Credits: AP)