How nations vote in the General Assembly of the United Nations

1987 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Marín-Bosch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
International Issues ◽  
The United Nations

For over forty years the United Nations’ General Assembly has been meeting annually to examine a broad range of international issues. At the conclusion of its debates, it adopts resolutions and decisions on each of its agenda items. While some resolutions are procedural, many can be considered important, even historic, because of the events they spawned or because they marked a turning point in international relations. These include, among others, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, the Partition of Palestine, and the recognition of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate representative of China in the UN.

scholarly journals Enduring Policy Ideals and Practices - Evidence from Bangabandhu's Speech at the United Nations and Bangladesh's Voting Records at the Assembly: 2001-2017

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Khan
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Just World ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Country Specific

<p>Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic speech at the 29th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) was the first ‘strategic communication’ by the father of the nation at the Assembly following Bangladesh’s admission to the United Nations. Apart from the well-known and much-to-be-proud of fact that the speech was delivered in Bangla, the content of this speech stands out as a key document, begging to be studied from an international relations perspective and the enduring ideals it enunciates and has been in practice by Bangladesh. This paper seeks to answer: to what extent has Bangladesh remain seized supporting the enduring ideals on key global issues enunciated by Bangabandhu in his speech at the United Nations? Accordingly, the paper carries out a (i) content analysis to identify the enduring ideals (ii) comparison of Bangladesh’s positions on the 1,284 UNGA resolutions that were put to vote between 2001-2017 to assess country’s support to those ideals. The paper finds that, except for the politically sensitive country-specific human rights resolutions, Bangladesh has consistently remained seized in supporting Bangabandhu’s ideals in all thematic categories (between 92-100% ‘yes’ votes). It demonstrates that Bangabandhu’s emphasis on the primacy of the United Nations to build a peaceful and just world, non-alignment, peaceful co-existence, economic emancipation and global solidarity has become much more relevant in the Covid-19 era and the current geopolitical context of South Asia. The paper opens new avenues to use a novel methodology to conduct evidence-based research on the policy ideals and its practices. </p>

United Nations: General Assembly Resolution Containing the Declaration on the Enhancement Of The Effectiveness of the Principle of Refraining from the Threat or Use of Force in International Relations

1988 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1672-1679 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Peaceful Settlement ◽  
General Assembly Resolution ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Definition Of

Over the past two decades, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a number of principles concerning the conduct of international relations. In the preambular paragraphs of the declaration annexed to this resolution, specific principles are reaffirmed. They are: the Declaration on Principles of Interna-tional Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations [9 I.L.M. 1292 (1970)], the Definition of Aggression [13 I.L.M. 710 (1974)], and the Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes [21 I.L.M. 449 (1982)]. The Declaration for 6n the Enhancement of the Effectiveness of the Principle of Refraining from the Threat or Use of Force is the culmination of 10 years of work, and represents the most recent set of guidelines.

Human Rights Prize awarded to the ICRC

1978 ◽  
Vol 18 (207) ◽  
pp. 341-341
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

The International Committee of the Red Cross was one of the recipients of the 1978 Human Rights Prize, which the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, presented to the President of the ICRC, Mr. Alexander Hay, in New York on 11 December before the United Nations General Assembly, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. The prize was awarded to the ICRC for its work in promoting observance of human rights.

Arab League

1952 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-134
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Arab League ◽  
Sixth Session ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Arab States

At the meeting of the Arab League's Political Committee during October 1951, the committee decided to recommend to the Council that all Arab states, Members of the United Nations press for the inclusion of the Moroccan case on the agenda of the sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly. On October 4, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt (Eldin) requested the General Assembly that the item “violation of the principles of the Charter and of the Declaration of Human Rights by France in Morocco” be placed on its agenda.

The UN Body of Principles for the Protection of Detained or Imprisoned Persons

1990 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 578-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tullio Treves
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Working Group ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

On December 9, 1988, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, without a vote, a “Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.” The preparation of this text was started in 1976 within the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the Commission on Human Rights. On the basis of a project prepared by Mr. Erik Nettel of Austria, the Sub-Commission approved a Draft Body of Principles in 1978. After being submitted to the General Assembly’s Third Committee, it was referred to a working group, which considered it in 1980 but could not complete its task. The item was then moved to the Sixth Committee, which entrusted it to an open-ended working group. This working group met during every session of the General Assembly from 1981 until 1988, and slowly progressed toward the completion of its task.

General Assembly

1951 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-736
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Social Council ◽  
Indian Origin ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Regular Session

The sixth regular session of the United Nations General Assembly was to convene at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris on Tuesday, November 6, 1951. The agenda included: the report of the Committee of Twelve, the problem of the independence of Korea, the report of the Collective Measures Committee, items on China, Palestine, the treatment of people of Indian origin in the Union of South Africa, the report of the Economic and Social Council, relief and rehabilitation, the draft international covenant on human rights, items concerning trust and non-self-governing territories, administrative and budgetary matters and legal affairs.

scholarly journals Is Voting Patterns at the United Nations General Assembly a Useful Way to Understand a Country’s Policy Inclinations: Bangladesh’s Voting Records at the United Nations General Assembly

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402096111
Author(s):  
Mohammad Zahidul Islam Khan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

This article explores Bangladesh’s voting coincidences at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) with China, India, Russia, and the United States for the period 2001–2017 to draw inferences about country’s political proximity and policy preferences on global issues. Although Bangladesh’s voting coincidence shifted from China toward India since 2013, country’s “opposite” votes with India remained 3 times higher compared with that of China, suggesting that the post-2013 change in voting coincidence is more about the types and content of the resolutions and not fundamental. Bangladesh maintained a principled position on disarmament, conventional arms control, nuclear nonproliferation, and prohibition of chemical weapons resolutions, which are greatly at odds with India and China. Such voting coherency suggests that the small developing countries can maintain a higher level of voting consistency on issues that are of great interest to them. However, Bangladesh’s voting inconstancy in the country-specific human rights resolutions reflects a selective adherence to the policy of non-interference, particularly with respect to neighbors. Bangladesh’s voting records on the human rights situation in Myanmar, reveals that it joined the majority member states condemning Myanmar only when the resolutions started mentioning Bangladesh as an affected country. Although the voting coincidence alone may not capture the whole dynamics of a state’s leanings, this article has revealed that systematic research of UNGA voting records has the capacity to add to the knowledge of political proximity and policy preferences of states in terms of the way they weigh their choices and chart their path through idealism and opportunism.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

1967 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 84-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. St.J. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations High Commissioner ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Social Council ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
First Session

By Resolution 2062 (XX) of December 16, 1965, the United Nations General Assembly requested the Economic and Social Council to transmit to the Commission on Human Rights a proposal by Costa Rica to create the post of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, so that the Commission might study the matter and report on it to the General Assembly at its twenty-first session in 1966. The Commission on Human Rights considered the item in March 1966, and by resolution 4 (XXII) established a Working Group comprising nine members of the Commission to study the proposed institution and to report to the Commission at its twenty-third session in 1967. The item was not taken up by the Third Committee during the Assembly’s twenty-first session in 1966, partly because background studies on the subject had not been completed, and partly because the Committee had allocated most of its time to the task of completing measures of implementation for the two International Covenants on Human Rights.

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