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63rd Plenary Meeting - General Assembly 74th Session
The General Assembly fleshed out the agenda of its upcoming seventy-fifth session today, deciding by recorded vote to include the situation in Ukraine and the responsibility to protect, on the second day of its first in-person proceedings since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March.
The Assembly first adopted the resolution “Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly” (document A/74/L.90) without a vote. The representative of Germany, speaking on behalf of the European Union, explained his delegation’s position, saying that the COVID-19 pandemic had hampered efforts. However, he expressed disappointment over a lack of results in the alignment process and a lack of willingness among partners to address overlap on such issues.
The Assembly then adopted the resolution “Interaction between the United Nations, national parliaments and the Inter-Parliamentary Union” (document A/74/L.85) without a vote after it was introduced by Mexico. By its terms, the Assembly called upon Member States, including their national parliaments, supported upon their request by the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and other relevant stakeholders to coordinate, as appropriate, so that their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are people-centred and provide access, without discrimination of any kind, to safe, effective, affordable and quality essential medicines, vaccines, testing and diagnostics, personal protective equipment and medical equipment.
A proposal to delete preambular paragraph 6, requested by the United States, was rejected by a vote of 1 in favour (United States) to 161 against, with 6 abstentions (Benin, Brazil, Japan, Kiribati, Oman, Senegal). Hungary’s representative, in an explanation of vote after the vote, regretted the text’s reference to the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The representative of the United States said that his delegation did not concur with its reference to the World Health Organization (WHO). In a general statement, the Russian Federation’s delegate noted the text’s reference to the world conference on interfaith and inter-ethnic dialogue, which his country will host in 2022.
The Assembly then decided to include the following items in the draft agenda of its seventy-fifth session: item 31(b) “Strengthening the role of mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes, conflict prevention and resolution”; item 33 “Zone of peace and cooperation of the South Atlantic”; item 37 “The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan”; item 38 “Question of the Comorian island of Mayotte”; item 63 “The situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine” (document A/74/972) (by a vote of 81 in favour to 17 against, with 65 abstentions); item 86 “Request for an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965” (document A/74/991); item 120 “Implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations”; item 130 “The responsibility to protect and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” (document A/74/989) (by a vote of 121 in favour to 13 against, with 32 abstentions); item 131 “Seventy-fifth anniversary of the end of the Second World War”; and item 154 “Financing of the United Nations Mission in East Timor”.
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MEETINGS COVERAGE