The Government of Maldives has said they abstained from voting on the Bosnian resolution to avoid diverting attention from Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The Bosnian resolution, led by Germany at the UN General Assembly, calls for an international celebration of July 11 every year to commemorate the Genoicide in Srebrenissa in 1995.

As soon as the resolution was moved, the Serb-ethnicity faction, chaired by Bosnia and Herzegovina, had lobbied for a vote against the resolution as it would undermine the peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina by placing all the blame on Serbia, saying it would lead to a resurgence of the situation in the country.

It was alleged that the West had proposed the resolution because Serbia does not agree with the West's ideologies and also Serbia's close ties with Russia.

Despite the allegations, the resolution was passed with the support of 84 countries. Only 19 countries voted against the passage of the resolution. There were 68 countries that abstained from the vote, including the Maldives.

A senior government official told One that the Maldives had voted on the Bosnian issue in line with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a resolution passed by the UN General Assembly to grant full membership to Palestine.

The official added that the Maldives voted as such because the countries involved in the resolution had not agreed on the resolution and did not want to create any further tension in a case decided by the ICJ, the main judicial body of the United Nations.

"It is not the norm of our foreign policy to enter into conflicts and issues within a foreign country and speak out. It is the policy of the government to ensure that policies are in the best interests of the country without falling into the trap of big countries. Many Islamic countries have also did not vote separately on the resolution because they do not want to get into the current regional competition and speak up," the official said.

The government has been criticised for the way it voted in the Bosnian resolution on the issue.

Responding to the criticism, the official told One that while the Maldives did not vote on the resolution, the Maldives recognised Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro in the region and established foreign relations with them.

The official said the Maldives has also signed bilateral agreements to strengthen ties with these countries, appoint non-resident ambassadors and visited these countries in the last 10 years.