United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/4

The United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/4 is the fourth resolution of the eleventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly, adopted on 12 October 2022, following Resolution ES-11/3 which was adopted on 7 April 2022.

In this resolution, the General Assembly stated that the votes held in the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia areas, which were done in disputed ways and not accepted by most of the world, as well as Russia’s later claim to take these areas, are not valid and break international rules. It asked all countries not to accept these areas as part of Russia. It also told Russia to leave Ukraine right away because it was hurting Ukraine’s land and independence.

The resolution was approved with a big majority: 143 votes in support, 5 against, and 35 countries did not vote either way.

This resolution got more support than Resolution ES-11/1, the first resolution about the Russian invasion of Ukraine which asked Russia to take its soldiers out of Ukraine.

Background

Main articles: Russian invasion of Ukraine and 2022 annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine

In September 2022, Russia held votes in four areas of Ukraine: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia. These votes were seen as unfair and not accepted by many countries. After the votes, Russia's leader said these areas would become part of Russia. However, Russia did not fully control all these areas at that time.

Because of this, the United Nations General Assembly met to talk about it. They decided that these votes and the idea of joining Russia were not allowed under international rules.

Secret ballot proposal

Before the vote on the resolution, Russia suggested that the vote should be kept private. They believed that some countries might struggle to show their true opinions publicly. However, the General Assembly did not accept this idea. The vote was taken in public, with 107 countries supporting this, 13 against, and 39 not taking part. Voting by secret ballot is very rare at the United Nations, where most votes are done openly.

Voting

On 12 October 2022, the United Nations General Assembly voted on a very important decision. To pass it, they needed a two-thirds majority. In the end, 143 countries voted to support the resolution, 5 voted against it, and 35 countries decided not to vote either way.

This resolution got more support than any other resolution during the 11th Emergency Special Session, which was all about the situation in Ukraine. It also had more support than a similar resolution from 2014 about Crimea. The amount of support was more than what many Western countries had hoped for.

Vote	Tally	States	Percent of votes	Percent of members
In favour	143	Afghanistan, Albania, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, South Korea, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia	78.14%	74.09%
Against	5	Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria	2.73%	2.59%
Abstain	35	Algeria, Armenia, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guinea, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Pakistan, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe	19.13%	18.13%
Absent	10	Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, São Tomé and Príncipe, Turkmenistan, Venezuela	–	5.18%
Total	193	–	100%	100%
Source: A/ES-11/4 voting record Venezuela was suspended from voting in the 76th session and the 11th emergency special session owing to its failure to pay dues in the previous two years, for which it did not receive a special waiver from the Assembly.