United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 was adopted on 27 March 2014 by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly in response to the Russian annexation of Crimea and entitled "territorial integrity of Ukraine". The nonbinding resolution, which was supported by 100 United Nations member states, affirmed the General Assembly's commitment to the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and underscored the invalidity of the 2014 Crimean referendum. Eleven nations voted against the resolution, while 58 abstained, and a further 24 states were absent when the vote took place.^[1][2][3][4]

UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262
In favour    Against    Abstained    Absent    Non-UN member
Date	27 March 2014
Meeting no.	80th Plenary
Code	A/RES/68/262 (Document)
Subject	Territorial Integrity of Ukraine
Voting summary	100 voted for 11 voted against 58 abstained 24 absent
Result	Resolution adopted

A map showing the vote for the United Nations General Assembly resolution 68/262 in Europe.

  In favour

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  Abstained

  Absent

  Non-UN member

A map showing the United Nations General Assembly resolution 68/262 vote in Africa.

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The resolution was introduced by Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine.^[5] The adoption of the resolution was preceded by the unsuccessful attempts of the United Nations Security Council, which convened seven sessions to address the Crimean crisis, only to face a Russian veto^[6] of draft resolution S/2014/189,^[7] sponsored by 42 countries.^[3][4][8]

Voting rationales

Nicos Emiliou, permanent representative of Cyprus to the United Nations, who favoured the resolution, said that "Cyprus underlines the importance of respecting the fundamental principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of all states, including Ukraine".^[9] Emiliou urged to conduct a probe on all acts of violence and encouraged Russia to engage in a diplomatic solution.^[9]

The permanent representative of China to the United Nations, Liu Jieyi, whose country abstained from voting, stated that "in the context of the ongoing diplomatic mediation efforts by the parties concerned, an attempt to push ahead with the UNGA vote on the draft resolution on the question of Ukraine will only further complicate the situation".^[5]

Russian reaction

On 28 March 2014, the Russian Federation stated that the resolution was counterproductive and accused Western states of using blackmail and threats to drum up approval votes.^[10]

Voting

Vote[11]	Quantity	States	% of votes	% of total UN members
Approve	100	Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bhutan, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Latvia, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States	59.17%	51.81%
Against	11	Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe	6.51%	5.70%
Abstain	58	Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, China, Comoros, Djibouti, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Guyana, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nauru, Pakistan, Paraguay, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia	34.32%	30.05%
Absent	24	Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Serbia, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Yemen	–	12.44%
Total	193	–	100%	100%

Related resolutions

• Res. 71/205, 19 December 2016, "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)."^[12][13]

• 

  A map showing the United Nations General Assembly resolution 68/262 vote in the Middle East.

    In favour

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    Abstained

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  Res. 72/190, 19 December 2017, "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine."^[14]
• Res. 73/194, 17 December 2018, "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov."^[15]
• Res. 73/263, 22 December 2018, "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine."^[16]
• Res. 74/17, 9 December 2019, "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov."^[17]
• Res. 74/168, 18 December 2019, "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine."^[18]
• Res. 75/29, 7 December 2020, "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov."^[19]
• Res. 75/192, 16 December 2020, "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine."^[20]
• Res. 76/70, 9 December 2021, "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov"^[21]
• Res. 76/179, 16 December 2021, "Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine"^[22]

See also

• 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
• 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
• Eleventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly:
  • ES-11/1: "Aggression against Ukraine"
  • ES-11/2: "Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine"
  • ES-11/3: "Suspension of the rights of membership of the Russian Federation in the Human Rights Council"
  • ES-11/4: "Territorial integrity of Ukraine"
  • ES-11/5: "Furtherance of remedy and reparation for aggression against Ukraine"
  • ES-11/6: "Principles of the Charter of the United Nations underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine"
• Legality of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
• United Nations Security Council Resolution 2623

References

1. "Vote by U.N. General Assembly Isolates Russia," 27 March 2014, New York Times retrieved 31 January 2022
2. Alex Felton; Marie-Louise Gumuchian (27 March 2014). "U.N. General Assembly resolution calls Crimean referendum invalid". cnn.com. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
3. MacFarquhar, Neil (23 September 2014). "Ukraine's Best Pitch Might Come From the Sidelines". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
4. Reuters: "Explainer-Can the U.N. Do More Than Just Talk About Russia, Ukraine Crisis?," 31 January 2022, U.S. News & World Report, retrieved 31 January 2022
5. "UN General Assembly adopts resolution affirming Ukraine's territorial integrity". Xinhua. 28 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
6. "Backing Ukraine's territorial integrity, UN Assembly declares Crimea referendum invalid". UN. 27 March 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
7. S/2014/189 Retrieved 5 September 2017. (https://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2014/189)
8. "Russia Vetoes U.N. Resolution on Crimea," 15 March 2014, New York Times retrieved 31 January 2022
9. "Cyprus votes in favour of UN resolution on Crimea". Cyprus Mail. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
10. "Russia criticizes U.N. resolution condemning Crimea's secession". Reuters. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
11. "Territorial integrity of Ukraine : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly". United Nations. 27 March 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
12. "UN General Assembly votes for resolution on human rights in Crimea". UNIAN.info. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
13. "Resolution 71/205 "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)"" (PDF). United Nations. 19 December 2016.
14. Pechonchyk, Tetiana (19 December 2017). "New UN resolution on Crimea confirms Russia is an occupying power, brings 10 important changes for Ukraine". Euromaidan Press. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
15. "UN General Assembly adopts resolution on Crimea". www.ukrinform.net. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
16. "United Nations Official Document". www.un.org. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
17. Resolution 74/17, 'Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov' (PDF). United Nations. 9 December 2019.
18. "A/RES/74/168". undocs.org. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
19. "Problem of the militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov". United Nations Digital Library System. 7 December 2020.
20. "A/RES/75/192 - E - A/RES/75/192 -Desktop". undocs.org. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
21. "A/RES/76/70". undocs.org. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
22. "A/RES/76/179". undocs.org. Retrieved 5 January 2022.

External links

• United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 on wikisource.org