Nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East – GA debate – Verbatim record (excerpts)

Official Records

General Assembly

Fifty-eighth session

71st plenary meeting

Monday, 8 December 2003, 3 p.m.

New York

  The meeting was called to order at 3.05 p.m.

Reports of the First Committee 

  The President : The General Assembly will consider the reports of the First Committee on agenda items 62 to 80.

  I request the Rapporteur of the First Committee, Mr. Miguel Carbo of Ecuador, to introduce the reports of the First Committee in one intervention. 

  Mr. Carbo (Ecuador), Rapporteur of the First Committee (spoke in Spanish): I am greatly honoured to introduce to the General Assembly for consideration and adoption the reports of the Committee on Disarmament and International Security — the First Committee — on items 62 to 80.

/…

  In conclusion, I wish to submit for consideration to the General Assembly the reports of the First Committee, contained in documents A/58/451 through A/58/469.

 The President : I thank the Rapporteur of the First Committee. If there is no proposal under rule 66 of the rules of procedure, I shall take it that the General Assembly decides not to discuss the reports of the First Committee that are before the Assembly today.

 It was so decided. 

  The President : Statements will therefore be limited to explanations of vote. The positions of delegations regarding the recommendations of the First Committee have been made clear in the Committee and are reflected in the relevant official records.

  May I remind members that, under paragraph 7 of decision 34/401, the General Assembly agreed that,

    “When the same draft resolution is considered in a Main Committee and in plenary meeting, a delegation should, as far as possible, explain its vote only once, i.e., either in the Committee or in plenary meeting, unless that delegation’s vote in plenary meeting is different from the vote in the Committee.”

  May I remind delegations that, also in accordance with General Assembly decision 34/401, explanations of vote are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats.

  Before we begin to take action on the recommendations contained in the reports of the First Committee, I should like to advise representatives that we are going to proceed to take decisions in the same manner as was done in the First Committee, unless notified otherwise in advance. This means that where recorded or separate votes were taken, we will do the same. I should also hope that we may proceed to adopt without a vote those recommendations that were adopted without a vote in the First Committee.

/…

Agenda item 70

Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region of the Middle East

    Report of the First Committee (A/58/459)

 The President : The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft resolution recommended by the First Committee in paragraph 7 of its report.

  The First Committee adopted the draft resolution without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

  The draft resolution was adopted (resolution 58/34).

  The President : May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 70?

 It was so decided. 

/…

Agenda item 76

The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East

    Report of the First Committee (A/58/465)

 The President : The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft resolution recommended by the First Committee in paragraph 7 of its report.

  A separate vote has been requested on the sixth preambular paragraph of the draft resolution.

  If there is no objection to that request, I shall first put to the vote the sixth preambular paragraph of the draft resolution, on which a separate vote has been requested.

  A recorded vote has been requested.

 A recorded vote was taken. 

In favour:

  Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Against:

 India, Israel

Abstaining:

  Bhutan, Ethiopia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Vanuatu

  The sixth preambular paragraph was retained by 162 votes to 2, with 10 abstentions.

 The President : I shall now put to the vote the draft resolution as a whole.

  A recorded vote has been requested.

 A recorded vote was taken. 

In favour:

  Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe 

Against :

  Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), United States of America

Abstaining:

  Australia, Cameroon, Canada, Ethiopia, India, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu

  The draft resolution as a whole was adopted by 162 votes to 4, with 10 abstentions (resolution 58/68).

 The President : May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to conclude its consideration of agenda item 76?

 It was so decided. 

/…

    The meeting rose at 6 p.m.

This record contains the text of speeches delivered in English and of the interpretation of speeches delivered in the other languages. Corrections should be submitted to the original languages only. They should be incorporated in a copy of the record and sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned to the Chief of the Verbatim Reporting Service, room C-154A. Corrections will be issued after the end of the session in a consolidated corrigendum.