Divide at UN over naming Russia aid resolution for Ukraine

Mar 21, 2022, 4:37 AM | Updated: 9:01 pm

Volunteers prepare varenyky, stuffed dumplings, inside a theatre in the city of Drohobych, western Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. The theatre has become a meeting point, where artists, including those displaced from other parts of Ukraine, have turned their talents to making food for soldiers and others as part of a massive volunteer war effort across the country. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Vasyl Nevolov, an internally displaced Ukrainian from Kyiv, rests inside a theatre in the city of Drohobych, western Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. The theatre has become a meeting point, where artists, including those displaced from other parts of Ukraine, have turned their talents to making food for soldiers and others as part of a massive volunteer war effort across the country. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A refugee woman eats in Brovary, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022, after 1,600 people, of which half are children according to authorities, were evacuated from the village of Bobrik, reportedly under Russian military control. Russian forces pushed deeper into Ukraine's besieged and battered port city of Mariupol on Saturday, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A refugee woman holds a baby while waiting on a bus for Ukrainian police to check papers and belongings in Brovary, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022, after 1,600 people, of which half children according to authorities, were evacuated from the village of Bobrik, reportedly under Russian military control. Russian forces pushed deeper into Ukraine's besieged and battered port city of Mariupol on Saturday, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — France and Mexico are pressing U.N. members to mention Russia’s invasion in a resolution on the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine. But South Africa is arguing against that approach, saying that inserting political issues may block consensus on helping civilians.

A French-Mexican draft resolution expected to be considered this week by the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly reiterates the world body’s March 2 demand for Russia to stop its military offensive in Ukraine and withdraw all its troops. It also demands the protection of all civilians and infrastructure indispensable to their survival.

The draft, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, says the “dire humanitarian consequences” of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine “are on a scale that the international community has not seen in Europe in decades.” It deplores Russia’s shelling, airstrikes and besiegement of densely populated cities, particularly the southern city of Mariupol.

A rival South African draft resolution circulated later Monday and also obtained by AP makes no mention of Russia. Instead, it calls for “an immediate cessation of hostilities” as a first step in ameliorating the humanitarian situation, refers to “all parties,” and encourages “political dialogue, negotiations, mediation and other peaceful means aimed at achieving lasting peace.”

The proposed South African resolution would recognize “the autonomy of humanitarian objectives from the political, economic, military or other objectives that any actor may hold with regard to areas where humanitarian action is being implemented.” It would also demand protection for civilians and infrastructure indispensable to their survival, and “civilian infrastructure that is critical to enable the delivery of essential services in armed conflict.”

The General Assembly is expected to meet and vote Wednesday on the French-Mexican resolution at Ukraine’s request, assembly spokesperson Paulina Kubiak said Monday night.

France and Mexico decided to seek a humanitarian resolution in the General Assembly after negotiating a similar resolution citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for two weeks in the Security Council, where Russia made clear it would veto the measure.

Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly. But assembly resolutions are not legally binding, as Security Council resolutions are, though they do have clout in reflecting world opinion.

Supporters of the French-Mexican resolution are hoping they will come close to the vote on the March 2 General Assembly resolution that demanded an immediate halt to Russia’s military action and withdrawal of all its forces. That vote was 141-5, with 35 abstentions, and was hailed by the resolution’s supporters as a demonstration of Russia’s global isolation.

South Africa was among the 35 countries that abstained on that resolution.

In explaining the context for its proposed resolution on Monday, South Africa said the measure must express concern about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine and call on all parties to abide by international humanitarian law, which bans the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and water facilities. It also said, “political issues that may lead to member states not agreeing to a text should be addressed elsewhere.”

The French-Mexican draft resolution begins by reiterating the opening words of the U.N. Charter, and would reaffirm the General Assembly’s determination “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

It would also recall the charter’s obligation that all U.N. member nations refrain from the threat or use of force against “the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

Both the French-Mexican draft and the proposed South African resolution would reaffirm the assembly’s “commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”