General Assembly Elects Chairs and Bureax of Main Committees - 4th Commitee, 24th Meeting

The General Assembly held consecutive meetings of its six Main Committees to elect members of their respective bureaux. It elected five Chairs by acclamation, while electing the Chair of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) by secret ballot.

• Categories: Meetings & Events / General Assembly
• Video Length: 00:24:21
• Production Date: 31 May 2017
• Asset Language: Arabic; Chinese; English; French; Russian; Spanish
• Corporate Name: GENERAL ASSEMBLY; SPECIAL POLITICAL AND DECOLONIZATION COMMITTEE - SPDC
• Subject Topical: APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS; APPOINTMENT OF OFFICIALS; COLONIALISM; DECOLONIZATION; GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• Geographic Subject: BULGARIA; HAITI; MOROCCO; TURKEY; UNITED ARAB EMIRATES; UNITED STATES; VENEZUELA
• MAMS Id: 1897610
• Parent Id: 1897055

Description

As the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) opened its meeting, Haiti’s representative announced the unanimous decision by the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC) to nominate Rafael Darió Ramírez Carreño (Venezuela) as Chair, while emphasizing that no aspect of his country’s current political situation would prevent him from fulfilling his duty in that position.

However, the representative of the United States called for a secret ballot, expressing concern about the state of democracy in Venezuela and the ability of a representative of the Government of President Nicolás Maduro to serve as Chair of the Fourth Committee in a fair and apolitical manner. To date, nearly 60 Venezuelans had died and hundreds had been injured or arrested in political protests, while thousands had fled to neighbouring countries, she said. Noting that the Government was attempting to rewrite the Constitution and curbing political freedoms, she said the United States could not support the candidacy of Mr. Ramírez until democratic order was restored in Venezuela.

The Fourth Committee then elected Mr. Ramírez as its Chair after he received 133 votes, surpassing the required majority.