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U.S. votes against "right to food" in UN General Assembly.

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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
UN General Assembly press release: http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/ga10801.doc.htm
Draft resolution XX on the right to food, approved on 24 November by a recorded vote of 180 in favour to 1 against (United States), with no abstentions, would have the Assembly reaffirm that hunger constitutes an outrage and a violation of human dignity, requiring the adoption of urgent measures at the national, regional and international level, for its elimination.

**Vote on Right to Food

The draft resolution on the right to food (document A/63/430/Add.2) was adopted by a recorded vote of 184 in favour to 1 against, with no abstentions, as follows:

In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against: United States.

Abstain: None.

Absent: Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Uganda.


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The U.S votes against one of the most basic human needs...disgusting.
Dec 24 2008 10:10AM
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Ben.
Posts: 21463 - Karma: 683
oh please. stop acting like your this all knowing political genius.
Dec 29 2008 4:40AM
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Holte
Posts: 10740 - Karma: 7,816
After the vote, the US representative said he was unable to support the text because he believed "the attainment of the right to adequate food was a goal that should be realized progressively." He said that the draft contained "inaccurate textual descriptions of underlying rights."

I'm don't see why he didn't bring this up before the vote, but I can at least see where he's coming from. Basically, his vote was a statement saying, "Since we're the country that will be donating the most food, let's at least be realistic about this and not expect to end hunger immediately."

The fact of the matter is that everybody agrees that starvation is bad, but countries like Uganda simply cannot afford to feed all their citizens. The burden then falls to other countries to stop this "rights violation," and suddenly Uganda's right to food becomes primarily the US's problem to supply food.

There are a lot of countries like Uganda that would need a lot of money from the US. The US is already the vast leader in relief work and donations (regardless of quality vs quantity), so I think it's unreasonable to demand more taxpayer money if there are indeed major inaccuracy issues in the bill.

I feel like inaccuracies in the bill should've been brought up before the vote, but I suppose the UN's power is so limited that none of this really matters anyway.
Dec 29 2008 6:24AM
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Von
Posts: 4869 - Karma: 21
You don't know what jack shit about "global politics" you just assume you do because you've had some classes on it at Syracuse or whatever uni you go to.

Or shit maybe you're even a political science major or something ohhh wow.

I am three years into a degree in International Politics and Economics that covers international relations, foreign policy, international business, economics, and "global politics"

so yeah none of us know anything about "global politics"
Dec 29 2008 11:05AM
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ax_murderer
Posts: 3322 - Karma: 30
ummmm no. then everyone on newschoolers would always be wrong haha. so i have a good point but im being a prick?
Dec 29 2008 4:41PM
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krow
Posts: 107 - Karma: 11
word
Dec 29 2008 4:52PM
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Static
Posts: 8555 - Karma: 4,089
omg go fuck yourself college boy, "you don't know jack shit just because you took classes, I took them too and I do know"

Once you graduate and realize a vast majority of people you encounter have an undergrad degree we'll see how quick you are to brag.
Dec 29 2008 4:59PM
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coolhandluke
Posts: 4465 - Karma: 153
i had a roommate who was an international relations major.  he loved the UN like it was the greatest thing ever.  i began taking political science courses so i could figure out where all this crap he was coming up with came from.  i soon found that most poli sci majors made vast assumptions that left out humanity's constant downfall of greed.  and also anyone with a slight knowledge of world history or geography could argue most of them into the ground.  i swear just a slight knowledge of the colonial background of a country or something about its natural resources would stop them in their tracks.  i had so much fun in taking these classes i got a degree in it.  i didn't learn much, just more about the type of people that pursue political careers.

i'm not saying anything about you, just that most poli sci kids lacked "common knowledge" about world history, geography, and science.  and any that did were light years ahead of the others.
Dec 29 2008 5:28PM
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k-rob
Posts: 14217 - Karma: 2,891
america is so fucking cool, what a rebel badass country. it's like that kid in the class who is always screaming for attention by flicking spitballs at the teacher and saying "fart" during the national anthem.
Dec 29 2008 5:45PM
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JeffersonDavis
Posts: 1167 - Karma: 14
the US voted against the notion of FREE food being a right.  Obviously food is a necessity to sustain human life, however having the UN tax or demand funding from countries to pay for food for underprivileged nations is not a right.
Dec 29 2008 8:00PM
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pmills
Posts: 7162 - Karma: 59
i think you're just being a prick; take away the hypocrite bit and i'm not sure what your point is.
Dec 30 2008 1:34AM
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ECfreeski3
Posts: 12019 - Karma: 126
dude you are completely incapable of making an argument that actually makes sense, i cant even imagine what it must be like being in your head
Jan 2 2009 5:40PM
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4frnt_4_life
Posts: 183 - Karma: 10
The UN is shit because they have no balls. its not the US's fault for what happened in Rwanda its the UN's for having no sack to stop the genocide which they are obligated to do. Ever problem in the world is not the US's fault. The UN did not stop the violence in the war for Croatian independence and that was not the US's fault either. the US giving up more power would never help any problems like that because even if the US gave up it's power the UN would still be useless.
Jan 2 2009 9:50PM
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feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084

well, the u.s. show these balls and whats the result?

its justa question of how fast can you answer with violence and spend money of poweful member states for a "meaningless" conflict somewhere. the lobbyism in the un is killing the organization not it "havig no balls".

and like rowen said, the us not supporting the un as a very powerful country is destroying most possibilities for it. if we learned something in the past then its that going alone in world politics is not doing anything positive for anyone

Jan 5 2009 6:41PM
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mski
Posts: 4791 - Karma: 3,803
Sick!!!!
Jan 5 2009 8:51PM
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