President Abdulla Yameen’s government’s substandard foreign policy has humiliated Maldives in the international community in its attempt to win a seat at the United Nations (UN) Security Council, said Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
MDP said this in a press statement on Saturday regarding Maldives losing the seat reserved for the Asia Pacific region at the Security Council to Indonesia during the vote at the UN headquarters on Friday.
Indonesia won with 144 out of the 193 votes while Maldives received 46.
While Indonesia and Maldives were the only countries which contested for the seat, MDP noted that since Indonesia had served three previous terms as Security Council members, it had been the perfect opportunity for a new nation to be voted into the Council. Despite this, Maldives had lost with a huge margin even after the government spent an enormous amount for their long campaign and boasted of its confidence that the other countries would vote in favor of it, said MDP.
The party noted that Maldives won the UN Human Rights Council seat with a record 185 votes in 2009 and that while the government began vying for the Security Council seat in 2010, its humiliating loss should be a cause for concern for President Yameen’s administration.
The party said the reason for its loss include the administration’s unwillingness to accept the conclusions made by the various UN branches including the calls to release former President Mohamed Nasheed and other political prisoners. Other reasons include President Yameen’s administration publicly violating human rights laws and international standards, MDP added.
The party also noted that Maldives has become known for holding a hostile foreign policy and allowing religious extremism to flourish in the country, causing many Maldivians to join terrorist groups oversees, and that the Maldives government is notorious for being involved with huge corruption scandals.
MDP ended the statement by noting that President Yameen’s administration is not concerned at all with receiving the benefits by developing a cordial relationship between Maldives and the international community.
