Right to food – Third Cttee debate – Summary record (excerpts)

Third Committee

Summary record of the 49th meeting

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Friday, 19 November 2004, at 3 p.m. 

Chairman :  Mr. Kuchinsky  ……………………………………………………….. (Ukraine)

Contents

Agenda item 104 : Right of peoples to self-determination (continued) 

Agenda item 105 : Human rights questions (continued)

(b)   Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the  effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms (continued)

The meeting was called to order at 3.20 p.m.

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Agenda item 105: Human rights questions

(continued)

 (b)   Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms (continued) (A/C.3/59/L.43, A/C.3/59/L.64/Rev.1 and A/C.3/59/L.66)

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Draft resolution A/C.3/59/L.64/Rev.1: The right to food

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31.  Ms. Kalay-Kleitman (Israel) reaffirmed that, regarding the right to food, attention should not be focused unfairly to certain locations in order to further political agendas. Recalling Israel's response to the report (A/59/385), on which the draft resolution was based, he thought it troublesome that such emphasis had been placed on the West Bank and Gaza, while other regions actually considered by the United Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to be confronted with severe food emergencies, had essentially been ignored. Israel could not support a resolution that lent credence to a report condemning Israel without taking account of the context and misrepresented the conflict as one in which only one side had rights while the other side had responsibilities. Had the Special Rapporteur attempted to fulfil his mandate in a professional and balanced way, drawing attention to hunger in various parts of the world rather than focusing on his own political fixations, the outcome could have been positive. The way to improve the humanitarian situation was not politicized reports and one-sided resolutions but balanced and pertinent action. Israel, committed to the goal of ensuring the exercise of the right to food throughout the world, was working hard to address the food shortages faced by the Palestinian people.

32.  A recorded vote was taken on the draft resolution.

 In favour:

  Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola,   Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia,   Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain,   Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize,   Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana,   Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina   Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada,   Cape Verde, Chile, China, Cyprus, Colombia,   Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech   Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo,   Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic,   Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, El Salvador,   Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France,   Gabon, Gambia, Georgia Germany, Ghana,   Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau,   Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland,   India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq,   Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan,   Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao   People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon,   Lesotho, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein,   Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia,   Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Morocco,   Mauritius, Mauritania, Mexico, Monaco,   Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia,   Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria,   Norway, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Panama,   Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines,   Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea,   Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian   Federation, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, San Marino,   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, 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, Trinidad and   Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uganda,   Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom   of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay,   Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia,  Zimbabwe.

Against:

 Israel, United States of America.

Abstaining: 

 None.

33.   Draft resolution A/C.3/59/L.64/Rev.1 was adopted by 167 votes to 2. 

34.   Mr. Takase (Japan) explained that his delegation had voted in favour of the draft resolution but wished to make clear its position on operative paragraph 9 by recalling that it had expressed a reservation over the language employed in that paragraph.

35.  Mr. Pak Tok Hun (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said that his Government had in recent years given priority to solving food shortages in the country and was actively involved in the international community's efforts to ensure the exercise of the right to food. His delegation, however, found unacceptable the paragraphs on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the interim report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food (A/59/385), to which operative paragraph 12 of the text referred, and consequently had not in the current year participated in the vote on the draft resolution. Recalling his delegation's earlier comments, according to which the Special Rapporteur had not based his report on his own independent judgment but on information provided by malicious persons, he expressed hope that in the future the situation in his country would be presented fairly and objectively.

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The meeting rose at 4.35 p.m.

This record is subject to correction. Corrections should be sent under the signature of a member of the delegation concerned within one week of the date of publication to the Chief of the Official Records Editing Section, room DC2-750, 2 United Nations Plaza, and incorporated in a copy of the record.

Corrections will be issued after the end of the session, in a separate corrigendum for each Committee.