An in­ter­na­tion­al re­la­tions ex­pert has warned that Trinidad and To­ba­go’s de­ci­sion to vote against ex­tend­ing the tenure of the Unit­ed Na­tions High Com­mis­sion­er for Hu­man Rights could have con­se­quences for the coun­try’s re­la­tion­ships with some in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners, in­clud­ing their will­ing­ness to share sen­si­tive in­tel­li­gence.

T&T stood alone in the Caribbean in vot­ing against ex­tend­ing the man­date of UN High Com­mis­sion­er for Hu­man Rights Volk­er Türk un­til 2030, join­ing coun­tries in­clud­ing the Unit­ed States, Rus­sia and North Ko­rea. Türk was nev­er­the­less reap­point­ed with the sup­port of 144 coun­tries, while ten op­posed his re­newed man­date and 13 ab­stained.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia by tele­phone yes­ter­day, in­ter­na­tion­al re­la­tions ex­pert Dr Michal Paw­in­s­ki not­ed that sev­er­al coun­tries which vot­ed sim­i­lar­ly to T&T are al­so par­tic­i­pants in the Shield of the Amer­i­c­as ini­tia­tive. Ar­genti­na vot­ed against the ex­ten­sion, while Bo­livia and El Sal­vador did not cast a vote. Four oth­er par­tic­i­pants—the Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, Ecuador, Guyana and Paraguay—ab­stained, while Chile, Cos­ta Ri­ca, Hon­duras and Pana­ma vot­ed in favour.