United States Department of State Voting Practices in the United Nations 1998 Report to Congress Submitted Pursuant to Public Law, 101-167 March 31, 1999 DEPARTMENT OF STATEPUBLICATION 10609 Bureau ofInternational Organization Affairs ReleasedMarch 1999 United States Department of State Voting Practices in the United Nations 1998 Report to Congress Submitted Pursuant to Public Law, 101-167 March 31, 1999 ) _-) . : , DEPARTMENT OF STATE WASHINGTON March 1999 1 Dear Mr. Speaker: Pursuant to Public Law 101-167, I am transmitting herewith the annual report for 1998 on voting practices at the United Nations. This report assesses the voting practices of the governments of UN member states in the General Assembly and Security Council for 1998, and evaluates the actions and responsiveness of those governments to U.S. policy on issues of special importance to the United States. We are sending two copies of this report to each U.S. diplomatic mission abroad with instructions that one copy be provided to the government and the other retained for the use of the mission. Sincerely Strobe Talbott Acting Secretary Enclosure Annual Voting Report for 1998. The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives. : , DEPARTMENT OF STATE WASHINGTON March 1 1999 Dear Mr. Speaker: Pursuant to Public Law 101-167, I am transmitting herewith the annual report for 1998 on voting practices at the United Nations. This report assesses the voting practices of the governments of UN member states in the General Assembly and Security Council for 1998, and evaluates the actions and responsiveness of those governments to U.S. policy on issues of special importance to the United States. We are sending two copies of this report to each U.S. diplomatic mission abroad with instructions that one copy be provided to the government and the other retained for the use of the mission. Sincerely Strobe Talbott Acting Secretary Enclosure Annual Voting Report for 1998. The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I - 1 GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1 Voting Coincidence with the United States 1 Realization ofU.S. Priorities 3 SECURITY COUNCIL 5 FORMATAND METHODOLOGY 5 — II - GENERAL ASSEMBLY OVERALL VOTES 13 COMPARISON WITH U.S. VOTE 13 All Countries (Alphabetical) 14 All Countries (By Voting Coincidence Percentage) 18 UN REGIONAL GROUPS 22 African Group 22 Asian Group 23 Latin American andCaribbean Group (LAC) 24 Western European and Others Group (WEOG) 25 Eastern European Group (EE) 26 OTHERGROUPINGS 27 Arab Group 27 Association ofSoutheastAsianNations (ASEAN) 27 European Union (EU) 28 Islamic Conference (OIC) 28 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) 29 Nordic Group 32 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 32 HISTORICAL COMPARISON 33 III - GENERAL ASSEMBLY: IMPORTANT VOTES 39 IMPORTANTVOTES 39 IMPORTANT CONSENSUS RESOLUTIONS 46 COMPARISON WITH U.S. VOTES 59 All Countries (Alphabetical) 59 All Countries (Rankedby Identical Votes) 63 UN REGIONAL GROUPS 67 African Group 67 Asian Group 69 Latin American and Caribbean Group (LAC) 70 Western European and Others Group (WEOG) 71 Eastern European Group (EE) 71 i Voting Practices in the UnitedNations - J998 OTHERGROUPINGS 72 Arab Group 72 Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 73 European Union (EU) 73 Islamic Conference (OIC) 73 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) 75 Nordic Group 77 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 77 COMPARISON OF IMPORTANT AND OVERALL VOTES 79 IV - SECURITY COUNCIL 83 SUMMARY Africa 84 Eastern Europe 88 Latin America andthe Caribbean 90 Near East and South Asia 90 RESOLUTIONS 92 Afghanistan 93 Africa Working Group 94 Angola 97 Bosnia and Herzegovina 104 Central African Republic 106 Croatia 1 10 Cyprus 110 Ethiopia/Eritrea 112 Georgia 1 12 Guinea-Bissau 114 Haiti 114 India/Pakistan 115 Iraq 116 Kenya/Tanzania 121 Libya 122 (The Former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia 122 Middle East 123 Rwanda 124 Sierra Leone 125 Tajikistan 128 Western Sahara 129 Yugoslavia 132 VOTING SUMMARIES 137 ii Voting Practices in the UnitedNations -1998 V - COUNTRY LISTINGS 139 AFGHANISTAN 140 ALBANIA 140 ALGERIA 141 ANDORRA 141 ANGOLA 142 ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 142 ARGENTINA 143 ARMENIA 143 AUSTRALIA 144 AUSTRIA 144 AZERBAIJAN 145 BAHAMAS 145 BAHRAIN 146 BANGLADESH 146 BARBADOS 147 BELARUS 147 BELGIUM 148 BELIZE 148 BENIN 149 BHUTAN 149 BOLIVIA 150 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 150 BOTSWANA 151 BRAZIL 151 BRUNEI DARUSSALAM 152 BULGARIA 152 BURKINA FASO 153 BURUNDI 153 CAMBODIA 154 CAMEROON 154 CANADA 155 CAPE VERDE 155 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 156 CHAD 156 CHILE 157 CHINA 157 COLOMBIA 158 COMOROS 158 CONGO 159 COSTARICA 159 COTED*IVOIRE 160 CROATIA 160 CUBA 161 CYPRUS 161 iii Voting Practices in the UnitedNations - 1998 CZECH REPUBLIC 162 DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA 162 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (was ZAIRE) 163 ... DENMARK 163 DJIBOUTI 164 DOMINICA 164 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 165 ECUADOR 165 EGYPT 166 EL SALVADOR 166 EQUATORIAL GUINEA 167 ERITREA 167 ESTONIA 168 ETHIOPIA 168 FIJI 169 FINLAND 169 FRANCE 170 GABON 170 GAMBIA 171 GEORGIA 171 GERMANY 172 GHANA 172 GREECE 173 GRENADA 173 GUATEMALA 174 GUINEA 174 GUINEA-BISSAU 175 GUYANA 175 HAITI 176 HONDURAS 176 HUNGARY 177 ICELAND 177 INDIA 178 INDONESIA 178 IRAN 179 IRAQ 179 IRELAND 180 ISRAEL 180 ITALY 181 JAMAICA 181 JAPAN 182 JORDAN 182 KAZAKHSTAN .183 KENYA 183 KUWAIT 184