India, UK battle for ICJ seat run into stalemate

By Lalit K JhaWashington, Nov 14 (PTI) The battle for a seat in theInternational Court of Justice (ICJ) between India and Britainhas run into sta...

By Lalit K JhaWashington, Nov 14 (PTI) The battle for a seat in theInternational Court of Justice (ICJ) between India and Britainhas run into stalemate, even as Congress leader Shashi Tharooraccused the "UK of trying to stall the will of the majority ofthe UN General Assembly".

Dalveer Bhandari from India and Christopher Greenwoodfrom the UK are seeking re-election at the Hague-basedInternational Court of Justice.

One-third of its 15-member bench are elected every threeyears for a nine-year term, elections for which are heldseparately but simultaneously in the United Nations GeneralAssembly and Security Council in New York.

Last Thursday, four of the six candidates in fray wereelected as per the UN laws, got absolute majority in both theGeneral Assembly and the Security Council.

Ronny Abraham of France, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf ofSomalia, Antonio Augusto Cancado Trindade of Brazil and NawafSalam of Lebanon were elected after four rounds of electionson Thursday.

Yesterday, the UN General Assembly and the SecurityCouncil met separately to elect the remaining one candidatefor the ICJ.

In each of the five rounds of elections, Greenwood ofBritain received nine votes and Bhandari got five in the UNSecurity Council.

Given that Britain is a Permanent member of the SecurityCouncil, Greenwood has an advantage over Bhandari.

Bhandari received absolute majority in the GeneralAssembly elections in all the five rounds. In fact, heincreased his vote tally from Thursday's 115 to 121 votes inthe General Assembly elections yesterday against the absolutemajority number of 97.

The vote tally of Greenwood dropped from 76 to 68 onMonday.

With the two countries in a deadlock over the oneremaining ICJ seat, both the General Assembly and SecurityCouncil announced to adjourn the meeting for the election tobe convened at a later date.

Ahead of the yesterday's voting, Congress leader andformer top UN official Tharoor said that the "voice of theGeneral Assembly" has been ignored for too long.

"As the UN Security Council (SC) & General Assembly (GA)vote to choose a judge for the International Court Of Justice(#ICJ) between Indian & UK candidates, the legitimacy &effectiveness of the UN are at stake. The voice of the GA hasbeen ignored too long," he said in a tweet.

"This time a nominee of a Permanent member of the SC hasfailed to get an absolute majority of the GA, for the firsttime in a direct contest to a major @UN organ. GA vote hasturned into a protest against an unwarranted extension ofprivilege for 70+ years. P5 lost by 40votes!" he said.

Tharoor said the election is no longer about the judge orthe country he hails from, but about the General Assemblystanding up against a member of a privileged club who has lostcomprehensively among the Members at large but still leads 9-6in the Security Council "UK trying to stall the will of themajority of the GA," he charged.

"Deeply entrenched interests of a tiny select groupcannot be allowed to prevail in areas where such privilegesare not based in law. Judges to the World Court must representthe majority of the UN membership. The cosy Permanent Membersclub at the SC cannot keep getting its way," he charged.

Decisions at the UN, he said, must reflect the voice of the majority of Members and cannot continue to be decided by afew states with long-held privileges.

"Only that kind of multilateralism will inspireconfidence among the international community, especially theyounger generation," he said.

Noting that this is not about India or any singlecountry, he said this is about the idea of justice, ofequality and fairness.

"It is about the future we envisage for the UnitedNations and the conduct of multilateralism. The time forreform is now. I call on SC members to vote for India'scandidate,” he said.

"Aside from these points of principle, India has alwaysshouldered collective responsibilities with our partners inour quest for a more just global order, Our ethos also leadsus towards genuine and constructive rule-based multilateralismand peaceful settlement of disputes. Vote4 India!” Tharoorsaid. PTI LKJAJR.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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