From Jamaica Gleaner

Caribbean countries explain why they abstained during UN vote on Ukraine

UNITED NATIONS, CMC – Two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have been explaining the reasons why they abstained in a United Nations General Assembly vote re-affirming Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted a measure underscoring that the mid-March referendum in Crimea that led to the peninsula’s annexation by Russia “has no validity”.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica were among countries the 58 countries that abstained during the vote on Thursday.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador to the United Nations, I. Rhonda King said Kingstown has viewed the recent events in Crimea and Ukraine with “great concern” reiterating the position adopted by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries for a peaceful “settlement of disputes and respect of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“Secessionist referenda, and referenda on sovereignty by ethnically or historically distinct inhabitants of a particular geographic space, should not be manipulated or selectively accepted by would-be imperial powers,” King said.

“We note the sad irony that those most supportive of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence now reject that of Crimea; while those with the strongest arguments against the ICJ (International Court of Justice) decision on the legality of the Kosovar UDI now cite it approvingly, “she added.

Jamaican diplomat Shorna-Kay Marie Richards said her country had abstained “because the complexity of the situation in Ukraine required the international community to act in a balanced manner.

“While Jamaica supported the promotion of the rule of law and Charter principles, such as non-use of force, the resolution’s adoption would only delay the quest for a peaceful solution.”

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines diplomat said that the Ralph Gonsalves administration also noted that “those who have advised Argentina to take “careful note” of views of 99 per cent of the residents in the Islas Malvinas were now branding as invalid the opinions of 97 per cent of the residents of Crimea.

She said St. Vincent and the Grenadines “recalls that the principles advanced to justify intervention in Ukraine are eerily similar to those posited 31 years ago in the context of our CARICOM neighbour Grenada.

“However, this time, the legal defenders and dissenters have switched places,” she said, adding that St. Vincent and the Grenadines has “long advocated and advanced the principle of territorial integrity, even in the case of ongoing civil war and sectarian unrest”.

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