India abstained on Friday from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution to allow humanitarian aid to sanctioned entities around the world, becoming the only country not to cast its vote.
The other 14 council members voted in favor of the resolution.
“Our concerns stem from proven cases of terrorist groups taking full advantage of such humanitarian exceptions and flouting sanctions regimes, including the 1267 Sanctions Committee,” said India’s permanent representative to the United Nations Ruchira Kamboj. .
The resolution was introduced by the United States and Ireland.
He proposed a waiver under which the processing or payment of funds and the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance would not be considered sanctions violations.
India currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council.
While abstaining, India expressed that “the unintended consequences of sanctions measures, including humanitarian consequences, increasingly emphasized by member states and other stakeholders, needed effective redress.”
Under the United Nations 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee regime, any member state of the world body can propose that an individual or entity be declared a terrorist or terrorist group.
Kamboj said that terrorist groups should not be allowed to misuse the guise of humanitarian cover to expand their activities. He added that such exemptions should not lead to the incorporation of terrorist organizations.