The Foreign Ministry has clarified that it decided not to participate in the vote to put genocide and ethnic cleansing on the formal agenda for the United Nations’ general assembly because it erodes sovereignty.

In a statement following reports on local news outlets that Maldives had not participated in the vote, believed to be in response to the ongoing violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar, the ministry said that the ‘Right to Protect’ item allows powerful countries to involve themselves in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations.

“The Maldivian government fully supports any actions that protects the rights of the Rohingya people, and has called on United Nations to condemn those responsible for the ongoing violence” the statement said.

The item, ‘responsibility to protect and prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity’, was proposed to be put on the formal agenda of UN’s 72nd general assembly on Friday.

The vote list reveals that no representatives from the Maldives had been present and that the item passed with votes from 113 countries.