Sri Lanka on Friday voted in favour of a UN General Assembly in support of a resolution urging an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict, a senior Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.
“Sri Lanka’s position has always been for a two-state policy in regard to the Palestine question and, therefore, on these lines the vote was appropriate, Director General Information at the Foreign Ministry in Colombo, Kapila Fonseka said.
He said that Colombo was deeply concerned over the civilian deaths on both sides of the conflict and, therefore, a humanitarian corridor was needed.
Deputy General Manager, Training and Recruitment of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), Gamini Senarath Yapa said that at present, an estimated 1.5 million Sri Lankans are either working or living in Arab countries and it was the appropriate decision that had to be taken. There are around 8,000 Sri Lankans, the bulk of them being females employed as caregivers in the Jewish State and 100 or more are on the waiting list for departure for that country, Yapa said.
The 193 members of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) who met in a resumed 10th Emergency Special Session, voted on the draft resolution presented by Jordan and co-sponsored by over 40 nations including Bangladesh, the Maldives, Pakistan, Russia and South Africa.
The resolution was adopted with 120 nations voting in its favour, 14 against and 45 abstaining.
The Jordanian-drafted resolution did not make any mention of the militant group Hamas, with the US expressing outrage at the “omission of evil”.
Before the General Assembly voted on the resolution, the 193-member body considered an amendment to the text proposed by Canada and co-sponsored by the US.
The amendment proposed by Canada called for inserting a paragraph in the resolution that would state that the General Assembly “unequivocally rejects and condemns the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel starting on October 7, 2023.
India voted in favour of the amendment along with 87 other nations, while 55 member states voted against it and 23 abstained. The draft amendment could not be adopted, having failed to obtain a two-thirds majority of members present and voting.
