India backs Russian anti-gay resolution

NEW DELHI: India has justified its support to a Russiandrafted resolution in the UN General Assembly that proposed removing benefits for same-sex partners of UN staff and asserted that the Secretary General cannot decide on changing well-established norms for the staff of the global body.

India was among the 43 countries that voted in support of the resolution. But the resolution failed to pass in the General Assembly committee after 80 nations opposed it.

“The UN had a system whereby they will decide on emoluments and privileges for the spouse depending on the country that the couple hailed from. This was the accepted norm. What happened was recently the UN Secretary General changed that out of his own volition without consulting anyone. That is why the decision was taken to vote against that resolution,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told media.

The resolution would have had UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon withdraw his policy laying out the United Nations current rules for the personal status of staff members for determining their benefits and entitlements. The policy made by Ban last summer had recognised same- sex marriages of all UN staffers, allowing them to receive UN benefits.

India, along with China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE voted in favour of the draft resolution, which had 37 abstentions. Same-sex relations are a criminal offense in India.