UN General Assembly Modifies Its Draft After Six Countries Raise Objection 

A disputed verse (phrase) was removed from the draft manifesto of the 75th anniversary of the formation of the United Nations (UN) following the objection of 5 countries, including India. UN General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande modified a phrase within the draft declaration after India together with the UK and the US raised objection to the sentence, understood to be just like wording utilized by the Chinese Communist Party.

The draft of the manifesto was distributed by the UN General Assembly President Tijjani Mohammed-Bande to all member states as part of the silent process. Under this process, if a member country does not object to the draft during a certain time, it is approved as a declaration. According to United Charity Association-UK (UNA-UK), a charitable body, the British Ambassador Jonathan Allen, the caretaker of this global body, broke the silencing process on June 24, on behalf of the members of the 5 countries – the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India.

According to the UNA-UK, six countries had objected to a phrase given at the end of the manifesto. The phrase was something like, “to realise our shared vision for a common future”. These six countries demanded the removal of the old phrase and wanted this wording to be replaced with “Realizing our shared vision for a better future, as enunciated in the Preamble to the UN Charter”.

According to the UNA-UK, the countries wanted this wording to be replaced because the phrase was used in a report by former Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao to the 18th CCP Congress in 2012. Following the objection, Muhammad-Bande wrote to the UN Member States on June 25 proposing a re-worked phrase to substitute the sentence on which silence was broken. It said that the six countries objected to one phrase toward the end of the declaration that read – “to realise our shared vision for a common future”.

On the evening of June 26, Muhammad-Bande said that there was no objection to the proposed new phrase. “Only together can we build resilience against future pandemics and other global challenges. Multilateralism is not an option but a necessity as we build back better for a more equal, more resilient, and more sustainable world. The United Nations must be at the centre of our efforts,” the declaration says.