Vote on resolution on negative impact of illicit financial flows during 58th UN Human Rights Council
Map of the Month 05/2025
During the 58th UN Human Rights Council, a resolution on the negative impact of illicit financial flows tabled by Ghana on behalf of the African Group was adopted following a vote. Among other things, the resolution refers to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), according to which an estimated USD 88.6 billion, or around 3.7% of Africa's GDP, leaves the continent each year as illicit capital flight. Accordingly, the resolution requests the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and his Office (OHCHR) to organise various expert meetings and requests to prepare a substantive report on the issue. The states that voted against the text cited, among other things, possible duplication with the efforts of other entities and instruments, a weak operational link to the promotion of human rights or to the root causes of corruption. The topic is also becoming increasingly important in light of shrinking budgets for official development assistance (ODA) and ongoing debates on the future of financing for development like the upcoming 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FdD4) in Sevilla (Spain) at the end of June 2025.
Sarah Ultes
May 12, 2025
Map of the Month
US Executive Order to Rectify Trade Practices (‘Reciprocal Tariffs‘)
Map of the Month 04/2025
As the Trump Administration seeks to rectify goods trade deficits of the US, US President Donald Trump signed the Executive Order ‘Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits’ on April 2nd. The Executive Order is partly based on the ‘International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)’ from 1977. IEEPA authorizes the president of the US to regulate international commerce in light of a national emergency and in response to extraordinary threats to the United States. The signing of the Executive Order had been advertised as “Liberation Day”. During the presentation President Trump presented ‘reciprocal tariffs’ for 185 countries and territories. The Executive Order lists 57 countries and territories which will be submitted to tariffs on imports into the US ranging from 11%-50% in addition to already existing tariffs (“additional ad valorem duty on all imports”). This provision will be valid from April 9th. All other countries and territories have been submitted to a baseline additional tariff of 10% since April 5th. Only a few countries and goods (i.e. steel, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors) are exempted from these import tariffs.
Cedric Amon
April 9, 2025
Map of the Month
Key votes during the 58th UN Human Rights Council
Map of the Month 03/2025
During the 58th UN Human Rights Council, which was held in Geneva from February 24 to April 4, a total of 32 texts were adopted, 20 of them by consensus and 12 after a vote. For the first time since 2011, for example, the Commission of Inquiry on Syria was extended by consensus. Resolutions on Myanmar, Mali, Haiti, North Korea, the role of women in diplomacy, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment with a particular focus on the oceans, on landmines or the establishment of an open-ended intergovernmental working group tasked to draft an international legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons were adopted by consensus. However, votes were held on the extension of special rapporteurs and investigative mechanisms for Iran, Belarus, South Sudan, Ukraine, Nicaragua or the Palestinian territories. In light of the immense pressure that the human rights system is currently facing, support was voiced by 71 states who headed the call of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that: "We cannot allow the fundamental global consensus around international norms and institutions, built painstakingly over decades, to crumble before our eyes."
Sarah Ultes
April 7, 2025
Map of the Month
Votes on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2025 in UN General Assembly and UN Security Council
Map of the Month 02/2025
Drei Jahre nach Beginn des großflächigen Einmarsch Russlands in die Ukraine musste die UN-Generalversammlung am 24. Februar 2025 über zwei verschiedene Resolutionen anstatt über einen einzigen Text abstimmen. Die erste Resolution (L.10) wurde von der Ukraine und europäischen Ländern eingebracht und basiert größtenteils auf einem Text aus dem Februar 2023, welcher damals mit großer Mehrheit (141 Ja-Stimmen, 7 Gegenstimmen, 32 Enthaltungen) angenommen wurde. Die nun vorgelegte Resolution wurde hingegen lediglich mit 93 Stimmen bei 18 Gegenstimmen und 65 Enthaltungen angenommen. Erstmals stimmte auch die USA gegen den Text und brachte sogar einen alternativen Text ein (L.11), welcher jegliche Referenz zur russischen Aggression vermied. Damit vollzog sie einen grundlegenden Positionswechsel. Ihr eigene Resolution wurde in der Generalversammlung zwar auch angenommen, jedoch nur in veränderter Form, da drei europäische Änderungsanträge angenommen wurden. Im UN-Sicherheitsrat brachte die USA hingegen nur wenige Stunden später ihre ursprüngliche Textfassung ohne europäische Änderungen durch, da die Anträge der Europäer überstimmt oder durch russisches Veto abgelehnt wurden. Die Karten des Monats geben Einblick in die Abstimmungen zu den jeweiligen Resolutionen sowie den europäischen und auch russischen Änderungsanträgen.
Sarah Ultes
February 25, 2025
Map of the Month
Support for 37th Special Session of UN Human Rights Council on situation in the east of the DRC
Map of the Month 02/2025
At the request of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and with support of 27 Member States as well as 21 Observer States, the UN Human Rights Council convened its 37th Special Session on the human rights situation in the east of the DRC on the 7th of February. The Council adopted a resolution without a vote in which it condemned in the strongest possible terms the human rights violations and abuses being committed in the provinces of North and South Kivu, the unlawful exploitation and looting of natural resources therein as well as the military and logistical support provided by the Rwanda Defence Force to the M23. It decided to urgently establish an international fact-finding mission to investigate and establish the facts, circumstances and root causes of all alleged violations and abuses, collect, consolidate and analyse all evidence, identify persons and entities responsible, make recommendations on accountability and present a first oral update in the 59th Council session in September 2025. It also established an Independent Commission of Inquiry to Continue the work of the Fact-Finding Mission.
Sarah Ultes
February 7, 2025
Map of the Month
Voting behaviour in line with Germany’s and China's positioning in the UN Human Rights Council 2024
Map of the Month 01/2025
The map of the month January illustrates the voting behaviour of the members of the Human Rights Council in line with Germany’s versus China's positioning in the Council in 2024. A total of 91 resolutions were adopted in the UN Human Rights Council last year, 25 of which were put to a vote due to a lack of consensus. In addition to the EU member states, the USA, Montenegro, Japan, Finland and Albania voted most frequently in line with Germany (over 80%); Algeria never did so and Bangladesh, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Eritrea and Sudan only once. Of the Central and South American Council members, Argentina, Paraguay, Costa Rica and Chile voted most frequently in line with Germany (just over 55%); of the African states, Malawi, Ghana and Gambia (just over 35%). By contrast, Eritrea, Cuba and Burundi voted in line with China most frequently, while Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria and the USA never voted with China, and Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Romania hardly ever (4%). China and Germany only voted together once: they supported a text on the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, which the USA rejected.
Sarah Ultes
January 29, 2025
Map of the Month
Contributions of WHO member states to the first WHO Investment Round
Map of the Month 12/2024
The WHO Investment Round, initiated by the "Sustainable Finance Working Group", is a new pillar to secure sustainable, predictable and flexible funding for the WHO, complementing the gradual increase in assessed contributions.
Between May and November 2024, the first-ever Investment Round raised 3.8 billion USD (53% of the 7.1 billion target) from 53 member states and 16 philantrophy, private sector, or multilateral entities. Only member states and the European Union are shown here.
For 2025-2028, the WHO's General Program of Work (GPW) requires 11.1 billion USD in total funding, of which 4 billion USD will come from assessed contributions. This approach aims to address critical health needs while ensuring financial sustainability and accountability.
Dr. Anja Maria Rittner
December 23, 2024
Map of the Month
New composition of UN Human Rights Council as of 2025 and key votes at the 57th session of the Council
Map of the Month 10/2024
On 9 October, the UN General Assembly voted on the new composition of the UN Human Rights Council for the year 2025. Saudi Arabia once again failed to make it onto the Council in the Asia-Pacific Group, obtaining only 117 votes. The country's last failed attempt was in 2021 when it obtained only 90 votes. In the group of Western European and other states, the USA decided not to run for a second term. Trump had already decided to withdraw from the Council during his first term in June 2018, a decision that was reversed under Biden. Germany will be represented on the Council once again in 2025. Key votes during the 57th UN Human Rights Council included an extension of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation as well as for the Fact Finding Mission on Sudan. A resolution tabled by Georgia on technical assistance for its own country also had to be voted on. With regard to the right to development, another resolution was adopted, which focussed in particular on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for its promotion of the right at the regional level. The resolution was sharply criticised by the USA and the EU, among others. The USA also criticised a text entitled ‘From rhetoric to reality: a global call for concrete action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance’, which, among other things, described the slave trade as a ‘crime against humanity’ for which 'reparations proportionate to the harms committed' were expected. Criticism from the USA and Germany was primarily directed at anti-Semitism in connection with the associated Durban process and the singling out of a single region in the context of the wider problem of racism.
Sarah Ultes
October 10, 2024
Map of the Month
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About this series
The "Map of the Month", a new series of the Multilateral Dialogue Geneva of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, uses maps to illustrate global trends and the role of Germany and Europe in the world on a monthly basis.
