India has abstained from voting on the applications of an American and a Palestinian non-governmental organisation for special consultative status in a UN committee. India was the sole abstention in the vote for US-based Freedom Now, which works to free individual prisoners through legal, political and public relations advocacy efforts.
In a voting conducted during the meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on May 29, the UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations rejected Freedom Now’s application for NGO consultative status. Of the 19 members in the committee, 11 voted against Freedom Now, including Azerbaijan, Burundi, China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, and Venezuela. Greece, Israel, the United States and Uruguay voted in favor while India abstained. Guinea, Mauritania, and Turkey were absent during voting.
