For the fourth consecutive time, the Bolivian delegation before international organizations again abstained from voting against the Russian aggression against Ukraine. This time the protagonist was Bolivia’s representation before the OAS, which abstained from voting in favor of a resolution calling for the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and the immediate withdrawal of the Russian armed forces from that country.
Of the 34 active members of the OAS, 28 voted in favor, none against and five abstained: Brazil, Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras and Saint Vincent. Nicaragua was absent from this Permanent Council, the executive body of the OAS, where this Wednesday its ambassador Arturo McFields branded the Nicaraguan government of President Daniel Ortega a “dictatorship”, after which he was dismissed, the news agencies replied.
On March 2, the national delegation to the UN condemned Russian aggression in the Permanent Assembly, but at the time of the vote abstained from voting for a resolution. Two days later in Geneva nOnce again, the Bolivian delegation abstained from voting in favor of a Human Rights Council resolution calling for the creation of a commission to investigate human rights violations in Ukraine. The resolution was approved with 32 votes in favor, two against and 13 abstentions.
On Thursday, again the General Assembly of the UN He summoned the representatives of all the countries to put to the vote a resolution for the immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine. Bolivia also abstained from voting along with 37 other countries.
This Friday in Washington, the OAS summoned the 34 member countries to vote on a motion presented by Antigua and Barbuda and Guatemala, with the co-sponsorship of the Bahamas, Colombia, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Uruguay.
Although the Bolivian ambassador Héctor Arce reiterated that the State of Bolivia rejects all violations of International Humanitarian Law, as well as the violations and abuses of the human rights of the people affected, he abstained from voting. It was also reaffirmed that the country advocates for the defense of the right of peoples to live in peace, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova welcomed the resolution, but asked the OAS to consider “withdraw Russia’s permanent observer status” because it is “unacceptable that someone who does not respect the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity and who thinks it is right to kill children and kill innocent people on the territory of another state sits at the table with people who do respect them.”
