Gaza War | Finland abstained from voting in the UN ceasefire vote, Valtonen justifies the lack of condemnation of Hamas

UN General Assembly decided on Friday by a large majority to demand an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza. 120 UN member states voted in favor of the resolution.

45 countries, including Finland, abstained from voting. In addition to Finland, India, Britain, Sweden, Canada and Germany, among others, abstained from voting. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Elina Valtonen (kok) justified Finland’s voting behavior on the messaging service X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday morning.

“Finland would have voted in favor of the Arab Group’s resolution if the attack by the terrorist organization Hamas had been condemned in it,” writes Valtonen.

Canada suggested and 35 other UN member states supported an addition to the text of the resolution that unequivocally condemns the activities of the terrorist organization Hamas. However, the addition did not pass the vote.

Valtonen says that Finland’s position is, however, that the “humanitarianly catastrophic situation” in Gaza must be urgently addressed with “humanitarian corridors/breaks” and that the way to peace is negotiation.

Valtonen according to the UN General Assembly, Finland voted “according to its EU reference group” and referred to Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, among others.

However, the EU was divided in the vote. In addition to Finland, Germany, Italy, the Baltic countries and the Nordic countries belonging to the EU abstained from voting, while for example France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Ireland voted for it. Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic voted against the resolution.

Among the countries outside the EU, China, Brazil, Russia, Norway and Turkey voted in favor of the resolution. In total, only 14 countries, among them Israel and the United States, voted against the resolution.

The resolution is not binding.