At
UN
on Syria,
Russia &
China Abstain
While Brazil
Votes Yes to
Condemn
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 22 --
There were two
votes
on the human
rights
situations in
Syria in the
UN General
Assembly's
Third
Committee
Tuesday
morning,
and they
differed from
each other and
in interesting
ways from
previous
Security
Council votes.
First
came a
motion by
Syria to
adjourn the
meeting before
voting on the
resolution.
Russia and
China voted in
favor of
Syria's
motion, while
South Africa
voted against
it. Brazil and
India
abstained, and
Lebanon didn't
vote at all.
Syria got only
20 votes in
its favor,
and 29
abstentions.
Then
on the vote
on the
substantive
motion, Russia
and China both
abstained, as
did
India and
South Africa.
Brazil voted
yes, along
with 121 other
countries
including
Indonesia and
Sudan. (South
Sudan didn't
vote.)
While
the content
and stakes of
Security
Council and
General
Assembly
resolutions
are
different,
it's difficult
not to notice
that Russia
and China
which
double-vetoed
the Security
Council
resolution
both chose to
abstain
in the General
Assembly. And
that Brazil
which
abstained in
the
Security
Council this
time voted
yes.
Does
this reflect
the continuing
crackdown in
Syria, the
vote of the
Arab League to
suspend Syria
or something
else? Watch
this site.
Vote on Syria
on Nov 22, UN
TV not shown,
(c) MRLee
The
UN which
granted a US
request to
televise the
Fifth (Budget)
Committee did
not
televise
Tuesday's
Third
Committee vote
on Syria. The
UN did, by
contrast,
television a
Rio +20
"global
conversation"
by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon, a
sort of mock
press
conference
complete with
master of
ceremonies, click here
for that story.
The
North Lawn
conference
room where the
vote took
place was so
full they ran
out of
translation
sets. Saudi
Arabia was,
somewhat
ironically,
one of two
speakers
against Syria
on the its
motion to
adjourn. We
hope to have
more on this.
, 
