FIJI ABSTAINS FROM UN VOTE
Fiji is one of the three Pacific countries that abstained from voting to support Palestinians bid to become full United Nations (UN) members.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution to provide new ‘rights and privileges’ to a Palestinian state and push the security council to reconsider their admission as the 149th member of the UN.
It is understood that the resolution does not give Palestinians full membership, but recognises them as qualified to join, and it gives Palestine more participation and some rights within UNGA.
Out of the 177 countries, 143 supported the resolution, 25 abstained, and nine voted against it.
The other two Pacific countries that abstained are Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands.
Since October 7, last year, an armed conflict between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place mainly in the Gaza Strip.
According to Aljazeera, about 33,137 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Army in Gaza since the start of the war.
THEIR SAY
Former Fiji Government policy analyst and planning and development specialist, Joseph Veramu, said that when Fiji voted to abstain, it meant that Fiji decided not to accept or go against the UN motion. “The Government is made up of three coalition partners. While Prime Minister Rabuka and a section of the Government are pro-Israel, the other parties have a divergent view,” Mr Veramu said.
“In such a situation, Fiji has an obligation to abstain given that the coalition does not have a consensus policy on Palestine. Fiji’s vote to abstain appears to be a new foreign policy strategy given that Fiji tends to vote in support of Israel.”
Last November, Fiji was one the very few countries that voted against a ceasefire in Gaza to protect civilians.
“This split the coalition Government. Biman Prasad, leader of the National Federation Party, broke Cabinet unity and publicly criticised the decision taken by Mr Rabuka to vote in favour of Israel at the United Nations,” he said.
“Mr Rabuka had told the media that ‘there are times when the PM has to take unilateral decisions and be able to stand up for those decisions when other parties to the coalition come together.
“Fiji has a huge role in global affairs, and it is important that it remain neutral in geo-political conflicts given that Fiji is seen as a peace-maker nation that is often called for peacekeeping duties in the Middle East.”
Former diplomat and adjunct professor at James Cook University in Australia, Robin Nair, said abstaining was a common diplomatic position that countries may take on UN resolutions.
“Abstain means you can agree in part with the resolution but not with all the resolution or to a sufficient extent for you to vote for it. It sends a message that, whilst you don’t agree with the resolution in full, you are not going to stand in its way.”
BACKGROUND
In 2022, the kingmakers in the Coalition Government, the Social Democratic Liberal Party, had three items that were non-negotiable in terms of who they would form Government with.
One of the three non-negotiable terms was the establishment of an embassy in Jerusalem, which, until today, has not come to fruition.
Also in October 2023, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) was denied a pro-Palestine march by Police. The organisation questioned if this was because of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s pro-Israel stance. Centre coordinator Shamima Ali said the move was totally unacceptable and disgraceful as the application was made by a group of students who wanted to march peacefully to call for an end to the genocide conducted in Gaza.