“Is Iceland a peace-loving nation or not?”
Nagasaki, 1945. Photo: Reuters
An Icelandic opposition MP has called upon the Icelandic Parliament (‘Alþingi’) to be more vigilant of how Iceland votes at the United Nations (UN), after Iceland abstained at a vote yesterday on nuclear disarmament.
“Alþingi must be more aware of how the Icelandic government votes in disarmament issues at the UN if Iceland wishes to call itself a peace-loving nation,” Steinunn Þóra Árnadóttir, MP for the Left-Green Movement, told fellow MPs today.
138 nations voted to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations and set-up a working group to looking into the legal framework for a worldwide ban. Twelve countries opposed the move, while Iceland was one of the 34 countries to abstain.
“Iceland should have voted for this proposal, but I suppose abstaining is better than nothing,” said Árnadóttir. A survey of past votes shows that Iceland usually votes in line with the majority of its NATO allies on this issue.
“If Iceland really wants to live up its big talk of being a non-military and peace-loving nation, Alþingi is going to have to look much more closely at how Iceland votes at the UN. MPs should take a stance on the issue at hand and lay down guidelines for how Iceland should behave,” Árnadóttir concluded.
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Steinunn Þóra Árnadóttir MP. Photo: Ómar Óskarsson
