NO LATE VOTE

THE JAMAICAN Government is considering ways it may “rectify” its failure to vote on Jordan’s resolution at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last month, which called for a humanitarian truce in the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict in the Middle East.

Stung by the wide-spread criticism the Caribbean country received after it did not register a vote in the resolution that was adopted calling for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the Government is exploring whether it could belatedly get its position on record.

But Jamaica’s former representative to the United Nations, retired Ambassador Dr Curtis Ward, has asserted that Jamaica’s no-vote is final.

“I’m not aware of any procedure that he can use to register a late vote. I’m not aware of any. I’ve never heard of that before. Votes are usually final when taken,” Ward told The Gleaner yesterday.

He said Jamaica’s only course of action would be to clarify its position via a release circulated to the 192 other member states of the UNGA.

“But the vote itself doesn’t change,” the ambassador asserted.

At the same time, he called Jamaica’s failure to vote “shameful” and noted that this served to weaken the country’s foreign policy.

“This is unprecedented for Jamaica not to vote in the UN General Assembly. This was such an important resolution. I can’t see a country like Jamaica, who chairs the CARICOM Caucus, not voting,” said Ward.

He said that Jamaica has always been an advocate for humanitarian relief for those in distress and in need of help.

Ward said Jamaica’s no vote could be seen by other governments as it buckling under pressure from, possibly, the United States and Israel.

“Jamaica not registering a vote sends a very bad message, and some governments will look at it and say Jamaica was being a coward in not having a position on this most important issue. Certainly, the countries in the Middle East, the Arab countries, will really take a very dim view of Jamaica on this,” Ward warned.

One hundred and twenty countries voted in favour of the resolution amid a fresh round of conflict that began on October 7.

Fourteen countries, including the United States, voted against the Jordanian resolution during an October 27 meeting of the 193-member world body in New York.

There were 45 abstentions.

“It’s obviously an unfortunate circumstance that we did not get to cast a vote – physically make the vote,” Holness said during yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew.

Still, he said everything Jamaica has done, including delivering a statement on behalf of CARICOM on the war, suggests that the country would have voted in favour of the resolution.

Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith last week said that deliberations were still taking place in Kingston when the vote on the resolution was finalised at the UNGA.

Holness said that an issue is being made of Jamaica’s failure to vote is “extreme”.

“So the consideration is being given, obviously, to see if that position can be rectified post the vote because we would not want it to be a continued distraction from what we intend to be our position, which is quite clear,” he said.

Holness said that Jamaica supported the humanitarian interventions for Palestinians.

He said that care should be taken on the matter that Jamaica not destroy its interest by making “extreme comments and allegations regarding our foreign policy”.

The Holness Administration has had to face the music over its no-vote and has been heavily criticised over its close relations with Israel, which some believe influenced its action towards the resolution.

Holness, in 2017, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, where the two discussed possibilities for cooperation in water, agriculture, and domestic security.

Jamaica and Israel last year celebrated 60 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

The two countries at that time agreed that both should explore cooperation in cybersecurity, agriculture, and the health sector and discussed candidatures and human resource development.

In December 2022, Cabinet Minister Daryl Vaz travelled to Israel to explore opportunities for Jamaica-Israel bilateral collaboration on renewable energy and cybersecurity.

Yesterday, Holness maintained that Jamaica has been and remains friends of both “people” and has voted in support of both in the past.

“We don’t want to see innocent people die, and that is our position,” the prime minister said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com