Middle-East

Palestine wins bid to join UN with Kenya among countries voting Yes

UN General Assembly adopts resolution, recommending Security Council reconsider the matter of Palestine’s membership favourably; changing modalities for its participation in meetings. (X/UN)

By Mwangi Maina | Friday, May 10, 2024

The resolution, adopted by the assembly with 143 votes in favour and nine against (including the US and Israel), with 25 abstentions, does not grant full UN membership to Palestine but recognizes its eligibility to join.

Kenya has endorsed a Palestinian bid for full UN membership, acknowledging that it is qualified to join and urging the UN Security Council to reconsider the matter favourably.

The vote, conducted by the 193-member United Nations General Assembly on Friday, served as a global measure of support for Palestine's aspirations for statehood, following the recent US veto in the UN Security Council.

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Outgoing Kenyan UN Envoy Martin Kimani after the vote remarked, “We can no more deny others who legitimately seek self-determination than we can deny our nature as a country made from an independence struggle.”

The resolution, adopted by the assembly with 143 votes in favour and nine against (including the US and Israel), with 25 abstentions, does not grant full UN membership to Palestine but recognizes its eligibility to join.

The resolution asserts that "the State of Palestine … should therefore be admitted to membership" and "recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favourably."

From Africa, only Malawi has abstained from voting.

UN General Assembly determines that the State of Palestine is qualified and should be admitted as a member to the United Nations.

UNGA further recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter.https://t.co/xWc4QO8ruV pic.twitter.com/6dEl4ps8pp
— United Nations (@UN) May 10, 2024

What does the resolution mean?

According to UN, by adopting this resolution, the General Assembly will upgrade the rights of the State of Palestine within the world body - but not the right to vote or put forward its candidature to organs such as the Security Council or the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Granting Palestinian membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council. At the same time, the Assembly determines that the State of Palestine is qualified for such status and recommends that the Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”.

None of the upgrades in status will take effect until the new session of the Assembly opens on September 10.

Here are some of the changes in status that Palestine will have a right to later this year:

To be seated among Member States in alphabetical order;

Make statements on behalf of a group;

Submit proposals and amendments and introduce them;

Co-sponsor proposals and amendments, including on behalf of a group;

Propose items to be included in the provisional agenda of the regular or special sessions and the right to request the inclusion of supplementary or additional items in the agenda of regular or special sessions;

The right of members of the delegation of the State of Palestine to be elected as officers in the plenary and the Main Committees of the General Assembly;

Full and effective participation in United Nations conferences and international conferences and meetings convened under the auspices of the General Assembly or, as appropriate, under the auspices of other organs of the United Nations.