Dominica no show as the world condemns Syrian violence in UN general assembly vote
By Thomson Fontaine
February 16, 2012 11:45 P.M.
The UN digital board recording Dominica's no vote.
Dominica has tacitly backed an ALBA vote against a UN resolution that strongly condemned the continued “widespread and systematic” human rights violations by the Syrian authorities and demanded that the Government immediately cease all violence and protect its people.
Dominica did not vote on the February 16, 2012 resolution, which was overwhelmingly approved by 137 members of the General Assembly with 12 members voting against and 17 others abstaining.
Five of the eight member block of ALBA countries Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia voted against the resolution along with Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Syria and Zimbabwe.
Of the three other ALBA countries, ST Vincent and the Grenadines abstained, Dominica did not vote and Antigua and Barbuda voted in favor of the resolution.
A total of seventeen countries abstained from the non binding resolution, which backs Arab League efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria, where UN officials estimate that security forces have killed well over 5,400 people since the popular uprising began last March.
Among the abstentions were Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Comoros, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Uganda, Tanzania, Viet Nam, Fiji, Lebanon, Namibia, Nepal, and Cameroon.
More than 70 000 persons have been internally displaced, several thousands are feared missing and more than 25 000 are believed to have fled the country.
The UN General Assembly vote came just days after a similar UN Security Council vote was vetoed by China and Russia.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, warned that crimes against humanity were taking place in Syria while diplomats continued to “debate” while stressing the urgency of the crisis.
The Secretary General called on the Assad regime to stop the slaughter, remarking: “We see neighbourhoods shelled indiscriminately, hospitals used as torture centres, children as young as 10 years old killed and abused. We see almost certainly crimes against humanity.”
However, the suffering of the Syrian people combined with the growing world consensus that much more pressure should be brought to bear on the Assad regime was not enough to sway a Dominica government content on giving comfort to despots.
Once again, the Dominica government has found itself on the wrong side of history having backed the Ghadaffi regime in Libya against the popular will of its people and the world.
