Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Namibian government on Monday abstained in a Ukraine-related vote taken by a United Nations (UN) body in Geneva. The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Monday voted to urgently debate the Russia-Ukraine crisis tomorrow.
This debate is to also consider a resolution supporting a probe into alleged human rights violations. Minister of international relations and cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah yesterday said the voting session was not a resolution, but rather a motion for Thursday’s debate, and Namibia opted to abstain and assess the situation.
“Why not abstain? I am saying we are monitoring and evaluating the situation, and I want to draw [your attention] to Article 96 of the Namibian Constitution. That is what is guiding us in handling issues such as this,” she said.
Article 96 is the foundation of Namibia’s foreign polcy of non-alignment. It is often summarised as Namibia being a friend to all and an enemy to none. Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Yevheniia Filipenko, on Monday spoke on the death and suffering caused by the invasion.
The Ukraine delegation also made available a draft resolution, asking for it to be considered during an urgent debate, and called for an international probe into human rights violations stemming from Russia’s military action on 24 February.
According to the UNHCR, 47 council members took part in the vote, and 29 voted in favour of the debate, while 13 countries, including Namibia, abstained. Meanwhile, five countries – Russia, China, Eritrea, Cuba and Venezuela – voted against the request for an urgent debate.
Apart from Namibia, the other abstaining nations were Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, India, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.
The UNHRC is set to have an urgent debate tomorrow at which the UN body may accept a draft resolution proposed by Ukraine demanding a high-level probe into alleged violations by Russia dating back to 2014.
The vote came just after the UN Security Council approved a resolution that called for an emergency session of the General Assembly to discuss the Ukraine issue, as there was a lack of consensus among permanent members. Russia has previously vetoed the 25 February draft resolution authored by the United States (US) and Albania.
Namibia last year in May abstained from voting on the adoption of the United Nations resolution called ‘The responsibility to protect and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity’.
A total of 115 countries voted in favour of this, and 15 against. RUSHING TO GET OUT Martha Frans, speaking on behalf of Namibian students in Ukraine, yesterday said all nations are rushing to move out of Ukraine.
“The situation is bad for everyone and the trains are full.
“Everyone wants to get out. People should just understand that if you are told to wait because old people or kids have to go in first, just wait,” she said.
Frans said so far she has not received complaints of Namibians being mistreated. “Those who are saying it’s about colour or racism, I think they just don’t understand the situation and the order of how to go out.
“If you are told to wait, I don’t think that’s racism.
“Sometimes we can take things out of proportion, but our people are strong and they will survive,”she said.
The current chairperson of the African Union (AU) and president of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, and the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said they are disturbed by reports that African citizens on the Ukrainian side of the border are being refused the right to cross the border to safety.
In a statement released by the AU on Monday, the two chairpersons said all people have the right to cross international borders during conflict, and as such, should enjoy the same rights to cross to safety from the conflict in Ukraine, notwithstanding their nationality or racial identity.
“Reports that Africans are singled out for unacceptable dissimilar treatment would be shockingly racist and in breach of international law.
“In this regard, the chairpersons urge all countries to respect international law and show the same empathy and support to all people fleeing war notwithstanding their racial identity,” the statement read.
The chairpersons commended the efforts of the AU member states and their embassies in neighbouring countries to receive and orientate African citizens and their families trying to cross the border.
South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation Naledi Pandor this week said she was shocked by revelations that African students fleeing the war in Ukraine were subjected to racism.
“I was fairly shocked this morning to get a message that African students trying to get through the Poland border were being pushed to the back of the line because they are black, and being denied entry in the queue position in which they were in,” said Pandor.
“This just goes to prove that we continue to suffer the awful blight of racism, and so we must not allow racism to be placed at the end of the queue in our attention to human rights,” she said. Pandor said it’s extremely important to keeping fighting for the recognition of the equality of every human being.
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