| Date | 4 December 2000 |
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The President
The Assembly has before it six draft resolutions recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 35 of its report and in corrigenda l and 2, as well as on a draft decision recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 36 of its report.
In this connection, I would like to inform members that action on draft resolution VI will be postponed to a later date to allow time for the review of the programme budget implications by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the Fifth Committee. The Assembly will take action on the draft resolution as soon as possible, before the recess in December.
In accordance with the decision taken by the General Assembly at the beginning of this meeting, I now give the floor to the representative of the Dominican Republic.
Ms. Álvarez (Dominican Republic)
The delegation of the Dominican Republic profoundly regrets that it has been necessary to postpone the adoption of draft resolution VI in document A/55/595, on the critical situation of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), to a later stage of the fifty-fifth session. My delegation has joined the consensus regarding the report in document A/55/595, on the advancement of women, only because you, Mr. President, have assured us that the draft text on INSTRAW, together with the recommendations of the Fifth Committee on the financial implications, will be presented at a later date before the General Assembly recesses in December.
It is our delegation's understanding that, on the basis of paragraph 6 of the draft resolution on INSTRAW, the Institute will be provided with resources so that it can continue its activities throughout 2001. It is also our understanding, on the basis of resolution 54/250, that these resources could come from the contingency fund, which, at the end of the fifty-fourth session, had $16,362,700.
Finally, it is to be regretted that the Third Committee presented its report to the General Assembly in plenary meeting without taking into account the provisions of rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly. The delegation of the Dominican Republic hopes that an omission of this kind will not be repeated in the future.
The President
I now call on those representatives who wish to speak in explanation of vote before the voting.
Mr. Carp (United States)
We will join the consensus for adopting draft resolution V, but we would like to state for the record that there is only one criterion for judging whether or not a reservation to a treaty is acceptable. That criterion, in our opinion, is that the reservation must be compatible with both the object and the purpose of the treaty. There is no other international treaty law that has a bearing on reservations.
Mr. Al-Mohannadi (Qatar)
My delegation would like to offer its views on the draft resolution on crimes of passion against women. In Qatar, as in other Islamic countries, we try to protect women's rights, and we have always recognized full equality between men and women.
My country believes that all crimes against men or women are equally reprehensible, and my delegation rejects these constant attacks against Islam, a religion that has more than 1.25 billion adherents. These crimes are not confined to any particular people or region. We believe that crimes called "crimes of honour" are crimes against people. Hence, we have reservations on the draft resolution entitled "Working towards the elimination of crimes against women committed in the name of honour", and we shall abstain in the voting.
The President
The Assembly will take a decision on draft resolutions I through V and the draft decision, one by one. After all the decisions have been taken, representatives will again have the opportunity to explain their vote or position.
We turn first to draft resolution I, entitled "Working towards the elimination of crimes against women committed in the name of honour".
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Draft resolution I was adopted by 146 votes to 1, with 26 abstentions (resolution 55/66).
favour=146 against=1 abstain=26 absent=17
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe
The President
The Third Committee adopted draft resolution II, entitled "Traffic in women and girls", without a vote. May I take it that the General Assembly wishes to do likewise?
The President
The Third Committee adopted draft resolution III, entitled "Elimination of all forms of violence against women, including crimes identified in the outcome document of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled 'Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century'", without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?
The President
The Third Committee adopted draft resolution IV, entitled "Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations system", without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?
The President
The Third Committee adopted draft resolution V, entitled "Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women", without a vote. May I take it that the General Assembly wishes to do the same?
The President
The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft decision, entitled "Note by the Secretary-General on the activities of the United Nations Development Fund for Women", recommended by the Third Committee for adoption. May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to adopt the draft decision?
The President
I call on the representative of France on a point of order.
Ms. De Carne (France)
There are corrections needed for the French version of draft resolution III. I note that the English version is correct, so perhaps it is just the French version where corrections need to be made.
The President
May I take it that the General Assembly decides to take note of the corrections to the French version of the resolution?
The President
I call on the representative of Jordan, who wishes to speak in explanation of vote on one of the resolutions just adopted.
Mr. Naber (Jordan)
My delegation abstained in the voting on resolution 55/66, as, early on in the discussions, my delegation believed it was crucial that we include the term "premeditated" before the word "crimes" in the third preambular paragraph and in operative paragraph 1 of the resolution. Without the inclusion of the term "premeditated" in these paragraphs, the scope can include crimes committed in sudden bursts of rage in reaction to particular circumstances. Or, to put this another way, it would include implicitly not only those crimes that fall within the broad understanding of this resolution, but also those that overlap with crimes of passion.
My delegation fervently believes that there should not have been any half measures here. If passion is intended, then passion should be mentioned, and the scope of the resolution be broadened explicitly. If passion is not intended, there should have been no difficulty for the membership to accept "premeditation" in the text, since it is a common feature of the crime anyway. This would have added precision where precision is needed. Without this, the result is, of course, utterly illogical.
In the third preambular paragraph States are reminded that they have an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish, and so forth. How could States possibly exercise due diligence to prevent such crimes if the crime in question is committed in a sudden state of rage? All States in which there are crimes of passion would in due course leave themselves open to potential accusations of human rights violations for not having exercised enough due diligence to prevent the commission of such crimes.
I wish to emphasize my delegation's willingness to work in the future towards bridging the gaps on this issue. We look forward to expressing our views regarding the upcoming Secretary-General's report.
Mrs. Ahmed (Sudan)
I asked for the floor not to explain the vote that my country cast, but only to note that my country was one of the sponsors of draft resolution IV, "Improvement of the status of women in the United Nations system", and this fact was not reflected in the report. We trust that the Secretariat will indicate that my country co-sponsored draft resolution IV.
The President
The Assembly takes note of the announcement by the representative of the Sudan regarding its inclusion as one of the sponsors of draft resolution IV.
The Assembly is reminded that we are acting on draft resolutions recommended for adoption by the Third Committee, and Member States cannot become additional sponsors in the plenary. Any corrections delegations may have concerning the lists of sponsors of draft resolutions contained in the reports of the Third Committee should be submitted to the Secretariat of the Committee for issuance of corrigenda. However, the floor will be given to any delegations that wish to make corrections to the text of any draft resolution contained in reports of the Third Committee.
May I take it that the General Assembly has now concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 107?
