UN Ambassador Nikki Haley responded forcefully late Tuesday night to outrage over the news that the United States voted “no” (with the minority) on a resolution which was passed by the 47-member Human Rights Council condemning the use of the death penalty in discriminatory fashion, in cases including homosexuality. Twenty-seven nations voted in favor of the resolution; 13 voted against it and 7 abstained.
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Haley claimed that the vote that took place in Geneva is the same US vote that took place under the Obama administration.
Fact: There was NO vote by USUN that supported the death penalty for gay people. We have always fought for justice for the LGBT community.
— Archive: Ambassador Nikki Haley (@AmbNikkiHaley) October 4, 2017
Fact: The vote that took place in Geneva is the same US vote that took place under the Obama admin. It was not a vote against LGBT #Fact
— Archive: Ambassador Nikki Haley (@AmbNikkiHaley) October 4, 2017
Haley is incorrect.
In 2014, the Obama administration abstained from the vote on a similar resolution. That resolution also did not contain any language on same-sex relations, which was added to this one.
Nauert's explanation is also a misleading summary of the actual text of the resolution. While the resolution does refer to various other times the death penalty has been condemned, the actual resolution's recommendations only address the discriminatory implementation of the death penalty. It does call upon countries to “consider” ratifying what's known as the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, but it does not require it.
The rest of the resolution's calls to action refer to how the death penalty is implemented, not whether it should be. It simply calls upon states that have not yet abolished the death penalty to ensure that it is not applied in a discriminatory way and to take all possible precautions to protect the civil rights of people who are facing that punishment.
