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80th Plenary Meeting of General Assembly 70th Session
Also today, the Assembly took direct plenary action to unanimously adopt draft resolution titled “Global health and foreign policy: strengthening the management of international health crises”. By its terms, the 193-member body urged Member States, in accordance with their obligations under relevant provisions of international human rights law, to promote equal access to health services. It further called for the development by Member States of resilient and sustainable health systems capable of responding effectively to outbreaks and emergencies, and of implementing effective responses to the broader dimensions of outbreaks and emergencies, including food security and access to basic health services.
By other terms of the text, the Assembly decided to hold a high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance in 2016, and requested that the Secretary-General, in collaboration with the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and in consultation with Member States, determine options and modalities for the conduct of such a meeting, including potential deliverables.
In a resolution titled “Protection of migrants”, the Assembly called upon States to promote and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their status. It also urged States to prevent and punish any form of illegal deprivation of liberty relating to migrants, and requested that they prevent violations of the human rights of migrants in transit.
Acting without a vote, the Assembly also adopted resolutions on “Violence against women migrant workers”, “Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa”, “Protection of and assistance to internally displaced persons” and “Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees”.
Among country-specific resolutions, a text on the “Situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” — adopted by a recorded vote of 119 in favour to 19 against, with 48 abstentions — saw the Assembly express its “very serious concern” over persistent reports of human rights violations emerging from that country, among them torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including inhuman conditions of detention, rape and public executions, as well as extrajudicial and arbitrary detention.
A text on the “Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran” — adopted by a recorded vote of 81 in favour to 37 against, with 67 abstentions — saw the Assembly express serious concern about Iran’s use of the death penalty.
By a recorded vote of 127 in favour to 14 against, with 41 abstentions, the Assembly also adopted a draft resolution titled “Human rights defenders in the context of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms”. By its terms, the Assembly strongly condemned violence against and intimidation of human rights defenders, underscoring the responsibility of Member States and business enterprises in that regard.
For the first time since 2009, a recorded vote was requested on the “Rights of the child”. By that text — adopted by a vote of 141 in favour to 1 against (Botswana), with 42 abstentions — the Assembly called upon States to give full effect to the right of all children to education, including comprehensive evidence-based education on human sexuality. Acting without a vote, it also adopted a text on “The girl child”, which strongly called upon States and the international community to create an environment ensuring the well-being of girls.
Acting again without a vote, the Assembly adopted resolutions on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; Taking action against gender-related killing of women and girls; Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly; and Improvement of the situation of women and girls in rural areas.
Several resolutions adopted without a vote addressed the concerns of the most vulnerable segments of populations. They included texts on: The safety of journalists and the issue of impunity; Measures to enhance the Promotion and Protection of the Human Rights and Dignity of Older Persons; Effective promotion of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto; and Towards the full realization of an inclusive and accessible United Nations for persons with disabilities.
Other texts related to combating racial and religious discrimination. “Combating glorification of Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” was adopted by a recorded vote of 133 in favour to 4 against (Canada, Palau, Ukraine, United States), with 49 abstentions. By its terms, the Assembly expressed deep concern about the increased number of representatives of extremist parties in national and local parliaments. By 133 recorded votes in favour to 11 against, with 44 abstentions, it adopted a draft titled “A global call for concrete action for the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action”. The Assembly also adopted — by a recorded vote of 133 in favour to 54 against, with no abstentions — a draft titled “Human rights and cultural diversity”. Acting without a vote, it adopted texts on “Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatization, discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against persons, based on religion or belief”, and “Freedom of religion or belief”.
Recorded votes were requested on a number of drafts, reflecting varying views on a range of topics. They included texts on “The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination”; “Use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination”; “Promotion of a democratic and equitable international order”; “Human rights and unilateral coercive measures”; “The right to development”; and “Globalization and its impact on the full enjoyment of all human rights”.
Recorded votes were also requested on draft resolutions relating to “Strengthening the role of the United Nations in enhancing periodic and genuine elections and the promotion of democratization”, “Report of the Human Rights Council”, “Promotion of equitable geographical distribution in the membership of the human rights treaty bodies”, and the “United Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Centre for South-West Asia and the Arab Region”.
Acting without a vote, the General Assembly adopted the following draft resolutions: “Integrating volunteerism into peace and development: the plan of action for the next decade and beyond”; “Promoting social integration through social inclusion”; “Policies and programmes involving youth”; “Cooperatives in Social Development”; “Universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination”; “International Covenants on Human Rights”; “Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”; “Protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism”; “Strengthening United Nations action in the field of human rights through the promotion of international cooperation and the importance of non-selectivity, impartiality and objectivity”; “Enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights”; “The right to food”; “International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance”, “National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights”; “Subregional Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa”; and “The human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation”.
Also adopted without a vote were texts on the “Thirteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice”; “United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules)”; “Technical assistance for implementing the international conventions and protocols related to counter-terrorism”; “Strengthening the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme, in particular its technical cooperation capacity”; “Improving the coordination of efforts against trafficking in persons”; “United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders”; “Special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem to be held in 2016”; and “International cooperation against the world drug problem”.
Finally, the Assembly adopted the Third Committee’s report on “Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly”, and took note of the Committee’s report on “Programme planning”, which contained no proposed action.
The Assembly postponed action on four draft resolutions pending a review of their programme budget implications by the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). Those texts were titled: “Persons with Albinism”; “Rights of indigenous peoples”; “Situation of human rights in Myanmar”; and “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic”.
In other business today, the Assembly elected El Salvador and Montenegro as members of the Peacebuilding Commission’s Organizational Committee, replacing Bosnia and Herzegovina and Guatemala. The new members will start their two-year terms on 1 January 2016.
Presenting the Third Committee’s reports was its Rapporteur, Adele Li (Singapore).
Other speakers on Third Committee matters were representatives of South Sudan (on behalf of the African Group), Luxembourg (on behalf of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), Burkina Faso, Botswana, United Republic of Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, El Salvador (on behalf of the Group of Friends of Older Persons), Madagascar, Japan, Mauritania, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Iran.
Speaking on the Assembly’s agenda item on global health and foreign policy were representatives of Senegal, Malaysia (on behalf of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Thailand, Russian Federation, Israel, Zambia, United States, United Republic of Tanzania, United Kingdom, Cambodia and Germany. A representative of the European Union also addressed the Assembly.
The General Assembly will reconvene at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 22 December, to consider the integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields (follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit), and to consider reports of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).
