A/72/PV.106 General Assembly

I invite the attention of the General Assembly to a letter dated 2 July 2018 from the Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the United Nations, circulated in document A/72/924, concerning the vacant seat following the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Human Rights Council. As a vacancy has occurred in the Council, a new member must be elected to fill the unexpired term of the United States of America. Before we proceed further, members will recall that the General Assembly concluded its consideration of sub-item (d) of agenda item 114 at its 31st plenary meeting, on 16 October 2017. For the Assembly to proceed with the election of one member of the Council to fill the vacancy, it will be necessary to reopen the consideration of the sub-item. May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to reopen the consideration of sub-item (d) of agenda item 114?

Pursuant to resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, and taking into account that the vacancy occurred from among Western European and other States, the new member should be elected from that region. The new member shall be elected directly and individually, by secret ballot, by the majority of the members of the General Assembly. Accordingly, 97 votes would constitute a majority in the General Assembly, which has a membership of 193 States. I should like to inform members that the following States from among Western European and other States are currently represented on the Human Rights Council: Australia, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The names of these six States should therefore not appear on the ballot. The election will be held in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the General Assembly on elections. For this election, rules 92 and 93 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly shall be applied, on the understanding that balloting will continue until one candidate receives the required majority, that is, the majority of the members of the General Assembly, in accordance with resolution 60/251, provided that, after the third inconclusive ballot, votes may be cast for any eligible Member. If three such unrestricted ballots are inconclusive, the next three ballots shall be restricted to the two candidates who obtained the greatest number of votes in the third round of the unrestricted ballots, and the following three ballots thereafter shall be restricted, and so on. The election shall be held by secret ballot. Consistent with past practice, if, due to a tie vote, it becomes necessary to determine one candidate that will proceed to the next round of restricted balloting, there will be a special restricted ballot limited to those candidates that have obtained an equal number of votes. May I take it that the General Assembly agrees to these procedures?

I have also been informed by the Secretariat that a document setting out the voluntary pledges and commitments of a candidate for the seat, in accordance with paragraph 8 of resolution 60/251, has been issued as an official document of the seventy- second session of the General Assembly (A/72/923). Before we begin the voting process, I should like to remind members that, pursuant to rule 88 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order on the actual conduct of the voting. In addition, ballot papers will be given only to the representative seated directly behind the country’s nameplate. We shall now begin the voting process. Members are requested to remain seated until all ballots have been collected. In accordance with resolution 71/323 of 8 September 2017, the name of the State that has been communicated to the Secretariat, at least 48 hours prior to the election today, has been printed on the ballot paper for the one regional group concerned. Also, an additional blank line corresponding to the number of the vacant seat to be filled for the regional group has been provided on the ballot paper for inscribing another State, as necessary. I request representatives to use only the ballot papers that have been distributed. Members are requested to put an “X” in the box next to the name printed on the ballot paper or write the name of another eligible State on the blank line. If the box next to the name printed on the ballot paper is checked, the name of that State does not need to be repeated on the blank line. The number of checked boxes and/or handwritten names should not exceed the number of the vacant seats to be filled, as indicated on the ballot paper. A ballot will be declared invalid if it contains more than one name for the one vacant seat from the region. If a ballot paper contains the names of Member States that do not belong to the region concerned or names of Member States from that region that are current members of the Council, the ballot paper remains valid but the vote for these Member States will not be counted.

The result of the voting is as follows: Group E — Western European and other States (1 seat) Number of ballot papers: 178 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 178 Abstentions: 5 Number of members present and voting: 173 Required majority: 97 Number of votes obtained: Iceland 172 France 1

I congratulate Iceland on having been elected a member of the Human Rights Council. The General Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of sub-item (d) of agenda item 114.

The positions of delegations regarding the recommendation of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) have been made clear in the Committee and are reflected in the relevant official records. Therefore, 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 report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) which is before the Assembly today.

Accordingly, statements will be limited to explanations of vote. May I remind members that under paragraph 7 of decision 34/401, the General Assembly agreed that “[w]hen 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, that is, either in the Committee or in plenary meeting, unless that delegation’s vote in plenary meeting is different from its vote in the Committee”. May I also remind delegations that, also in accordance with 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 recommendation contained in the report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), I should like to advise representatives that we are going to proceed to take a decision in the same manner as was done in the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), unless notified otherwise in advance. The General Assembly has before it a draft resolution recommended by the Committee in paragraph 6 of its report. The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft resolution recommended by the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) in paragraph 6 of its report. The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) adopted the draft resolution without a vote. May I take that the General Assembly wishes to do the same?

The General Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 55.