Update: UN General Assembly Plenary Vote on North Korean Human Rights, December 18, 2015

by Raymond Ha, HRNK Office Manager & Outreach Coordinator

Following the passage of draft resolution A/C.3/70/L.35 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the Third Committee of the General Assembly on November 18, the human rights situation in North Korea has maintained a high profile at the UN.

Most notably, the Security Council held its second discussion of the subject on December 10, following the historic discussion last December. China requested another procedural vote on whether to keep the human rights situation in North Korea on the agenda of the Security Council, and the motion passed with 9 votes for, 4 against, and 2 abstentions. The subsequent briefing consisted of statements from Jeffrey Feltman (Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs), Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein (High Commissioner for Human Rights), all fifteen Security Council members, and the ambassadors of Japan and the Republic of Korea.

A week after the Security Council discussion, the plenary session of the General Assembly convened to consider the report of the Third Committee. Resolution A/C.3/70/L.35 was included on the agenda, and a recorded vote was requested. The resolution (A/RES/70/172) passed with 119 votes for, 19 against, and 48 abstentions.

The analysis below summarizes changes in member states’ voting positions since last month’s vote in the Third Committee, as a follow-up to the initial analysis of the Third Committee vote last month. While a complete analysis is not possible until the official records of the plenary session are released, it is assumed for the purpose of this analysis that all votes, as recorded electronically on December 17, are true and accurate representations of member states’ preferences.

Analysis of Changes in Voting Behavior

The table below extends and updates the information in the previous analysis. Azerbaijan, Equatorial Guinea, and Mongolia are excluded once again, as they did not participate in any of the four votes.

	Third Committee Nov. 18, 2014 111-19-55 (A/C.3/69/L.28/Rev.1*)	Plenary Session Dec. 18, 2014 116-20-53 (A/RES/69/188)	Third Committee Nov. 19, 2015 112-19-50 (A/C.3/70/L.35)	Plenary Session Dec. 17, 2015 119-19-48 (A/RES/70/172)
Algeria	Abstain	Abstain	Against	Against
Antigua-Barbuda	Abstain	Abstain	(Did not vote)	For
Benin	For	For	(Did not vote)	For
Burkina Faso	For	For	Abstain	For
Burundi	For	For	Against	Against
Central African Republic	For	For	(Did not vote)	For
Chad	For	For	(Did not vote)	For
Comoros	Abstain	Abstain	For	For
Congo (Republic of)	Abstain	Abstain	(Did not vote)	For
Dominica	(Did not vote)	For	(Did not vote)	For
Ecuador	Against	Against	Abstain	Abstain
El Salvador	Abstain	For	For	For
Gabon	Abstain	Abstain	For	For
Gambia	Abstain	Against	Abstain	Abstain
Ghana	For	For	Abstain	For
Guinea-Bissau	(Did not vote)	For	For	For
Kiribati	For	For	(Did not vote)	For
Rwanda	For	For	For	(Did not vote)
Sao Tome & Principe	(Did not vote)	For	(Did not vote)	(Did not vote)
Saudi Arabia	Abstain	Abstain	For	For
Seychelles	For	For	For	(Did not vote)
Somalia	For	For	(Did not vote)	Abstain
South Sudan	Abstain	For	For	For
Sri Lanka	Against	Against	For	For
Swaziland	(Did not vote)	(Did not vote)	Abstain	Abstain
Tajikistan	For	Abstain	For	For
Togo	Abstain	Abstain	For	For
Tonga	(Did not vote)	Abstain	Abstain	For
Vanuatu	For	For	For	(Did not vote)

Table 1: Summary of Changes in Voting Behavior

The list of countries that opposed the resolution did not change between the Third Committee and the plenary session. Algeria and Burundi maintained their opposition to the resolution. Comoros, Gabon, Saudi Arabia, and Togo, which had abstained last year, signaled clear support for the resolution by voting in favor on both occasions this year. Somalia was the only member state that moved away from supporting the resolution, by abstaining during the plenary vote after voting in favor last year.

Three member states moved towards supporting the resolution after abstaining in the Third Committee. Burkina Faso and Ghana, which had voted in favor of the resolution on both occasions last year, reverted to supporting the resolution. Tonga voted in favor of the resolution for the first time since last year.

Most of the member states that did not participate in the Third Committee vote last month voted in favor of the resolution during the plenary session: Antigua-Barbuda, Benin, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Dominica, and Kiribati. This accounts for most of the increase in the number of votes in support of the resolution. Of these seven countries, Antigua-Barbuda and the Republic of the Congo supported the resolution this year after abstaining on both of last year’s votes. Three consistent supporters of the resolution were absent at yesterday’s vote: Rwanda, the Seychelles, and Vanuatu. This indicates that the margin of support for the resolution could arguably have been even wider.

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