Lead Editor-Politics
Trinidad and Tobago’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr Neil Parsan, has rejected accusations that he misled the country about its vote on a resolution concerning Palestine, producing an electronic voting receipt as evidence that Trinidad and Tobago supported the measure.
Parsan insisted that T&T voted in favour of the September 17 resolution allowing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address the UN General Assembly virtually, despite an official UN Digital Library record showing no vote recorded for this country.
The Ambassador showed Guardian Media an electronic receipt identifying T&T alongside the words “vote in favour of” the resolution titled “Participation by the State of Palestine during the 81st session”.
He maintained that the information published on the UN’s digital portal was inaccurate and said he would endeavour to have the record corrected.
His response came after Opposition Senator and former foreign affairs minister Dr Amery Browne accused the Government of misleading the population about Trinidad and Tobago’s participation in the vote.
During Monday night’s Senate Budget debate, Browne said he had examined the official UN Digital Library record and discovered that while several Caribbean countries were listed as voting in favour of the resolution, this country had no vote recorded.
The resolution, which allowed Abbas to deliver a virtual address to the General Assembly’s high-level debate after the United States barred him from travelling to New York, was adopted by 152 votes in favour, three against and four abstentions.
Browne referred to a September 22 Guardian Media report in which Parsan had confirmed T&T’s support for the resolution.
He said he had initially welcomed that position, describing a vote in favour as a “sound and principled position”.
However, he told the Senate that his subsequent examination of the UN’s official voting record raised serious questions about the accuracy of the Ambassador’s account.
“There is no vote recorded at the United Nations General Assembly on a matter as fundamental as that when you have our nation’s ambassador telling our society that we voted in support of the Palestine resolution,” Browne said.
He described the discrepancy as “a red flag for the conduct of our foreign affairs” and accused the Government of failing to correct what he believed was a misleading account of the country’s voting position.
“They have sat in silence while the population was being misled,” Browne declared.
But Parsan maintained that the country had participated and voted in favour, presenting the electronic receipt to Guardian Media to support his account.
The dispute also triggered a confrontation in the Senate between Browne and Government Senator David Nakhid, who challenged the former foreign affairs minister’s claims.
Nakhid said he had obtained an electronic delegate record confirming that this country had supported the resolution.
He accused Browne of misleading the chamber and called on him to acknowledge that his claim was incorrect.
However, when Senate President Wade Mark allowed Browne to respond, the Opposition Senator stood by his statements.
