Most of Europe shames itself at UN vote on Goldstone Report as Britain and France abstain and Irish, Swiss, Slovenes, Maltese and Cypriots vote in favour
So, the results are in from yesterday’s vote at the United Nations General Assembly on the Goldstone Report. And here’s the breaking news: Britain and France turned up to vote! No messing around this time. None of the dog-ate-my-homework excuses which accompanied the decision to be absent at the Human Rights Council vote on October 16. They came, they saw — sound the trumpets and roll the drums — they abstained.
Sad, weak, pathetic. There’s nothing more to be said.
But at least they didn’t vote in favour — a badge of shame now worn in the developed and democratic parts of Europe by Ireland, Switzerland, Malta, Cyprus and Slovenia.
The motion was passed by 114 in favour to 18 against, with 44 abstentions. Here, for the record, is the full list of who voted and how taken from the United Nations website.
In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Against: Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Poland, Slovakia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine, United States.
Abstain: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Tonga, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uruguay.
Absent: Bhutan, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Honduras, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Togo, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.
Tags: Isael
November 6th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Nice to see where Switzerland’s alliances lie.
November 7th, 2009 at 12:43 am
This is the same UN which put Libya in charge of human rights and Zimbabwe in charge of economic development.
What a sick joke. The UN is a moral inversion of what it was established to be. And shame on Ireland and the other Europeans who actually voted in favour.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3704092,00.html
When it suits them, the Swiss claim “neutrality”
But for anyone who didn’t already realise the hypocrisy of that claim, this UN vote demonstrates it beyond dispute.
Remember the film ‘The Third Man’: “You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”