New Delhi: At United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday, May 5, India called for an exemption on food export restrictions for countries that are sending assistance to combat the current food shortages being experienced globally, resulting from the Ukraine war.Referring to the first report of the Global Crisis Response Group Task Team, India’s permanent representative to the UN, T.S. Tirumurti, observed that the conflict had led to “skyrocketing” inflation and a shortage of food grains and fertilizers. The Global Crisis Response Group is led by UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, constituted to examine the fallout of the Ukraine war on food and energy security.The Group has made a recommendation for “exempting purchases of food by WFP [World Foood Programme] for humanitarian assistance from food export restrictions with immediate effect”. It noted that members of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) would have the opportunity to formally adopt this measure at the World Trade Organization’s 12th Ministerial Conference to be held in June 2022.In his statement, Tirumurti welcomed the recommendation but asserted that it should apply to countries helping to mitigate the current shortages across the world, not just WFP.“We welcome their recommendation for exempting purchases of food by WFP for humanitarian assistance from food export restrictions with immediate effect. It is important that similar exemptions are provided to all member states and relevant stakeholders, who are contributing to this global humanitarian effort,” he said.Also read: The Hunger Crises You’re Not Hearing AboutIndia’s proposal applied to situations beyond humanitarian catastrophes where WFP was directly involved, but also covered the crisis in countries that may be facing severe food shortages, like Egypt.Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore had led an initiative at WTO to remove export restrictions on food grains for non-commercial humanitarian efforts. But India had initially opposed it, worried that procurement of large volumes of food may lead to inflationary effects domestically.Earlier on Thursday, UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres briefed the UNSC on his visits to Russia and Ukraine, where he told them to end the conflict at the earliest.“I said the same thing in Moscow as I did in Kyiv…Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a violation of its territorial integrity and of the Charter of the United Nations,” he said.He noted that the Ukraine invasion by Russia has led to “a crisis that is also devastating global energy markets, disrupting financial systems and exacerbating extreme vulnerabilities for the developing world”.Tweet rowOutside the UNSC chamber, Tirumurti’s response to a tweet from the Ambassador of the Netherlands to the UK, Karel van Oosterom, went viral across the Indian Twittersphere.On Tirumurti’s tweet of his statement at UNSC on Ukraine, Oosterom, a former Dutch envoy to the UN, had responded, “You should not have abstained in the GA. Respect the UN Charter.”“Kindly don’t patronise us, Ambassador. We know what to do,” Tirumurti retorted.After a barrage of criticism from Indian users, Oosterom deleted his tweet.Since January this year, India has abstained on procedural votes and draft resolutions in the UN Security Council, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council that deplored Russian aggression against Ukraine.In April, India abstained in the UN General Assembly on a vote moved by the US to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over allegations that Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from towns near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.In March, India abstained from the UN General Assembly on a resolution by Ukraine and its allies on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, saying the focus should be on cessation of hostilities and urgent humanitarian assistance, and the draft did not fully reflect New Delhi’s expected to focus on these challenges.On March 2, the General Assembly had voted to reaffirm its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders and deplored in the strongest terms Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.Along with 34 other nations, India had abstained from the resolution, which was adopted with 141 votes in favour and five against.(With PTI inputs)
