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© WHO/Anastasia Vlasova A man removes debris around a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly demanded civilian protection and humanitarian access in Ukraine on Thursday, while also criticizing Russia for creating a “dire” humanitarian situation resulting from its invasion exactly one month ago.
During its 11th Emergency Special Session, 193 Member States adopted a resolution – drafted by Ukraine and 90 co-sponsors entitled Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine – with 140 votes in favour, five against – Russia, Syria, The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (more commonly known as North Korea), Eritrea and Belarus – and 38 others abstaining.
At the end of a second morning of deliberations on competing draft resolutions addressing Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis, 67 States voted not to take action and vote on a second text penned by South Africa, Humanitarian situation emanating out of the conflict in Ukraine, which made no reference to Russia or its role originating the conflict.
Despite that, 50 countries gathered in the General Assembly Hall, did favour moving to a vote on the Russian-backed South African draft, and 36 abstained, but the resolution did not garner enough support to proceed to a full vote.
Humanitarian focus, top priority
Speaking before the vote, South African Ambassador Mathu Joyini explained that despite the success of the Ukraine-sponsored draft, her country it put forward its draft with the focus that the humanitarian situation be the immediate priority.
“Unfortunately, instead of placing the humanitarian crisis and our response at the centre of our deliberations, the political divisions in the Assembly suggest that perhaps, in the minds of some delegations, the humanitarian response is secondary to geopolitical objectives,” she said.
While neither the context that gave rise to the crisis nor international law should be ignored, they should not divert our focus from what we should be doing, namely, “working as a global community to end the war”.
‘Blood of Ukrainian children’
Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya spoke passionately against the South African draft, as having “inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or course of actions,” which he maintained, only bolstered a commonly-held sceptical view of “how the General Assembly is already perceived by the peoples of the world.”
In a forceful speech, he said Ukraine had had nothing to do with the text, written without any cross-regional consultations, and “promoted unliterally by one country.”
Mr. Kyslytsya made the analogy of a “child dying in your arms and instead of administering to him the proper medicine…you opt for a placebo.”
“Will you opt for it? Will you leave the dying child with no chance whatsoever? Just because…[it] was so easy to get and to swallow?”
The Ukrainian Ambassador described the failed resolution as like “fresh paint on the mouldy rotten structure of the Assembly, where the paint isn’t actually paint but the blood of Ukrainian children, women and defenders.
“Let’s spare the Assembly from this shame”, he said. “Let’s prove that the Assembly is still a solid structure and we are the United Nations that have been wise enough to avert imminent disaster”, urging all delegations to reject South Africa’s proposal.
乌克兰：大会以绝大多数通过决议，要求获得援助
联合国大会周四以压倒性多数要求在乌克兰保护平民和人道主义准入，同时还批评俄罗斯在一个月前的入侵造成了“可怕的”人道主义局势。
在其第 11 届紧急特别会议上，193 个会员国以 140 票赞成、5 票反对（俄罗斯、叙利亚、朝鲜民主主义人民共和国）（通常称为朝鲜）通过了一项由乌克兰和 90 个共同提案国起草的题为 “侵略乌克兰的人道主义后果”的决议、厄立特里亚和白俄罗斯——以及其他 38 人弃权。
在第二个上午对解决乌克兰人道主义危机的相互竞争的决议草案的审议结束时，67 个国家投票不采取行动，并对南非撰写的第二个文本“乌克兰冲突引发的人道主义局势”进行投票，该文本没有提及俄罗斯或其引发冲突的角色。
尽管如此，50 个国家聚集在大会堂，赞成对俄罗斯支持的南非草案进行投票，36 个国家弃权，但该决议没有获得足够的支持，无法进行全面投票。
人道主义重点，重中之重
南非大使马图·乔伊尼在投票前发表讲话时解释说，尽管乌克兰发起的草案取得了成功，但她的国家提出草案的重点是人道主义局势是当务之急。
“不幸的是，大会的政治分歧没有将人道主义危机和我们的应对措施置于我们审议的中心，而是表明，在一些代表团的心目中，人道主义应对措施可能次要于地缘政治目标，”她说。
虽然既不应忽视引发危机的背景，也不应忽视国际法，但它们不应将我们的注意力从我们应该做的事情上转移开，即“作为一个全球社会共同努力结束战争”。
“乌克兰儿童的血”
乌克兰大使 Sergiy Kyslytsya 热情地反对南非的草案，因为他坚持认为“不一致的想法、信仰、态度或行动方针”只会支持一种普遍持有的怀疑观点，即“大会如何被世界人民。”
他在一次强有力的演讲中表示，乌克兰与文本没有任何关系，没有任何跨地区协商就编写出来，并且“由一个国家在字面上推动”。
Kyslytsya 先生做了一个比喻，“一个孩子死在你的怀里，而不是给他服用适当的药物……你选择了安慰剂。”
“你会选择吗？你会让垂死的孩子没有任何机会吗？仅仅因为……[它] 很容易得到和吞下？”
乌克兰大使将失败的决议描述为“在议会发霉的腐烂结构上重新刷漆，油漆实际上不是油漆，而是乌克兰儿童、妇女和捍卫者的鲜血。
“让大会免于这种耻辱”，他说。“让我们证明大会仍然是一个稳固的结构，我们是联合国，有足够的智慧避免迫在眉睫的灾难”，敦促所有代表团拒绝南非的提议。
