India and Israel have voted against a draft resolution introduced by Pakistan and Belarus at the United Nations on conventional arms control at regional and subregional levels, with New Delhi saying countries’ security concerns cannot be confined to regional boundaries.
The draft resolution, titled ‘General and Complete Disarmament: Conventional Arms Control at the Regional and Subregional Levels’, was approved by the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Monday, with 180 votes in favour, two against and no abstentions. India and Israel were the only two countries to oppose the resolution in the 193-member UN body.
What did India say?
Explaining India’s vote, Anmol Sher Bedi, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said conventional arms control was a global issue. “We are not fully convinced that it should be pursued primarily in regional and sub-regional contexts,” Bedi said while delivering India’s Explanation of Vote in the UNGA First Committee.
He said New Delhi voted against the resolution consistent with its past position.
India also raised concerns over the resolution’s proposal asking the UN Disarmament Commission to consider developing principles that could serve as a framework for regional agreements on conventional arms control. “We read this request with a certain degree of curiosity,” Bedi said.
He pointed out that the Commission had already adopted by consensus guidelines and recommendations on regional disarmament in 1993, guidelines on conventional arms control and disarmament in 1999, and recommendations on practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons in 2017.
“That makes three consensus outcomes on this very subject in the very body now being asked to start from scratch,” he said.
“We fail to understand why a subject already deliberated at length needs another round of deliberation unless the aim is to keep the UN disarmament machinery busy,” Bedi added.
India objects to maintaining balance in defence capabilities within a region or subregion
Bedi also objected to the resolution’s approach towards maintaining a balance in defence capabilities within a region or subregion. “This assumes that the security concerns of States politely stop at their regional borders. They do not,” he said.
“Those concerns, as everyone understands for well-known reasons, extend beyond narrowly-defined regions and subregions. More importantly, the notion of preserving balance in a region or a subregion appears unrealistic,” Bedi said.
The resolution argues that conventional arms control should primarily be pursued at regional and subregional levels, as most threats to peace and security in the post-Cold War era emerge among countries within the same region or subregion.
It also calls for promoting agreements that strengthen regional peace and security while maintaining “the lowest possible level of armaments and military forces”.
Separately, India voted against a paragraph that referred to proposals for conventional arms control in the context of South Asia.
The paragraph noted with “particular interest” initiatives in different regions, including consultations among some Latin American countries and “the proposals for conventional arms control made in the context of South Asia”, while recognising the relevance of conventional arms control to regional security.
The resolution further states that “militarily significant States and States with larger military capabilities have a special responsibility” to promote agreements aimed at strengthening regional security.
(With PTI inputs)
Also Read
UAE President jokingly offers to train Captain Smit Machchhar to fight, pilot’s reaction goes viral