The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: India didn’t sign a letter supported by 104 countries and the African Union, which criticised Israel for declaring UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata for allegedly siding with Iran and Hamas.
Earlier this month, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced that Guterres had been declared persona non grata and barred from entering Israeli territory because he did not “unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack” and did not “denounce the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas murderers on October 7.”
At a meeting of the UN Security Council, Guterres pointed out that he had always strongly condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel. After UNSC members expressed their support for Guterres, the secretary general’s spokesperson said that they saw the announcement as a “political statement by the Foreign Minister”.
The South American state of Chile led an initiative to gather signatures from UN member states for a letter in support of Guterres.
“We, the member states signatories to this letter, express our deep concern with and condemnation of the recent statement from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel declaring the Secretary-General persona non grata. Such actions undermine the United Nations’ ability to carry out its mandate, which includes mediating conflicts and providing humanitarian support,” the letter stated.
Reaffirming “full support and confidence” in Guterres, it added, “We are confident of his commitment to peace and security, and alignment with International Law including in promoting respect for international humanitarian law, and the relevant United Nations resolutions regarding the situation in the Middle East”.
The final list of signatories, released on Friday, included 104 countries and the 55-member African Union.
While the United States and several European nations did not sign the letter, India’s absence was particularly notable – as it had always accorded significant importance to the United Nations.
When asked why India had not signed, official sources referred to India’s earlier response to the Israeli action.
At a media briefing on Oct 4, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “your question regarding UN Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres is the UN Secretary-General. He’s the United Nations Secretary-General for us. What somebody else says about it, what third person says is not our area of outlook or a matter to comment on”.
The last time any country took a similar step against any UN top official was sixty-three years ago. In 1961, the Soviet Union had said in a letter that it “will not maintain any relations with (Dag) Hammarskjöld and will not recognise him as an official of the United Nations”. However, the USSR letter did not declare him as persona non grata which is a legal step.