UNSC Resolution on Humanitarian Exemption

for Sanctions Regimes

(Friday, 9 December 2022; 1000 hrs)

EOV by Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj

Permanent Representative of India to the UN

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I would now like to make an explanation of vote in my national capacity. 

The measures imposed by this Council under Article 41 of the UN Charter are provisional in nature and not permanent. The sanction regimes cannot be an end in themselves. In their implementation, the sanction regimes must ensure that they have the intended impact and do not further exacerbate the suffering of the populations at the receiving end. The legitimate trade and economic activities of the concerned State and its regional partners cannot be ignored either. The unintended consequences of sanction measures, including humanitarian consequences, increasingly emphasized by Member States and other stakeholders needed an effective redressal.

2.     In this context, India engaged constructively in the negotiations on the resolution. This resolution provides a carve-out from sanctions in support of the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities meeting basic human needs. The resolution is also intended to ensure much needed predictability and safeguards to humanitarian agencies.

3.     However, India will call for caution and due diligence to be exercised while extending humanitarian assistance to proscribed entities under 1267, who continue to thrive with full state hospitality in territories universally acknowledged as terrorist havens by the international community.

4.     Our concerns emanate from proven instances of terrorist groups taking full advantage of such humanitarian carve-outs, and making a mockery of sanction regimes, including that of the 1267 Sanctions Committee. There have also been several cases of terrorist groups in our neighborhood, including those listed by this Council, re-incarnating themselves as humanitarian organizations and civil society groups precisely to evade these sanctions. These terrorist organizations use the umbrella of the humanitarian assistance space to raise funds and recruit fighters.

5.     We reiterate, as we did, during the negotiations, that under no circumstances, the "garb of humanitarian cover intended to be provided by these exemptions, should be misused by proscribed terrorist groups to expand their terror activities in the region and beyond. More importantly, such exemptions must not facilitate 'mainstreaming' of terror entities in the political space in our region. Due diligence and extreme caution in the implementation of this resolution, therefore is an absolute must.

6.     For this very reason, India had sought in the text of the resolution a proactive role for the 1267 Monitoring Team, coupled with robust reporting standards and mechanisms. We regret that these specific concerns were not fully addressed in the final text adopted today. We hope that this shortcoming will be corrected in the future, as and when we review the implementation and feedback from the Monitoring Team, on this resolution.

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