The US was the only country that voted against a recent Africa-sponsored resolution at the UN.
On Friday, the UN General Assembly voted to adopt a new world map that accurately depicts Africa’s size. Togo introduced the resolution. It sought to replace the age-old Mercator map with the Equal Earth projection, which is considered more accurate.
As cartography Professor James Cheshire at University College London puts it, the Mercator projection was created in 1659 to help European sailors navigate the oceans. “That was what it was intended to do, and that’s what it does brilliantly well,” he told the BBC.
But it carries a colonial legacy and reinforces a long-standing Eurocentric hierarchy of global importance.
Yet on Friday, the US voted against adopting the modern, more accurate equal-earth projector.
PREMIUM TIMES reports that the US was the only country that voted against the resolution. Even Israel, one of its closest allies and a country that has shared Washington’s position in the General Assembly over the past year, voted in favour of the resolution. All 54 African countries voted in favour as well.
The US decision has drawn worldwide attention and sparked discussion about its rationale, which Nigerian international relations expert Owei Lakemfa described as “ridiculous.”
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, mocked the US and argued that it voted against the resolution because it is uncomfortable with a representation of the world that doesn’t centre the traditional Western perspective.
However, rather than viewing the US vote against Africa’s interests as an isolated event, a review of major UN resolutions in the past year shows it as another instance of the US opposing Africa’s interests on restorative justice.
Earlier in the year, the US stood against the request to recognise the transatlantic slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Ghana made the request to the assembly, backed by African states, in pursuit of healing and reparative justice.
Ghana introduced the resolution, which sought to declare the “trafficking of enslaved Africans and racialised chattel enslavement of Africans as the gravest crime against humanity” in March.
A total of 123 member states voted in favour of the resolution, including 54 African member states. However, 52 countries abstained, mostly European countries. The abstentions include Britain, Portugal, and Spain, which were, arguably, the most guilty of the slave trade and colonialism.
The transatlantic slave trade represents one of the darkest chapters in human history, marked by the systematic exploitation, displacement, and dehumanisation of millions of Africans.
An estimated 15 million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic between the 15th and 19th centuries. Many died during the Middle Passage, while survivors were subjected to forced labour and systemic abuse in the West.
Yet, the US was one of the three countries that voted against a resolution that described the slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity. The other two were Argentina and Israel.
The resolution also urged states to consider apologising for the slave trade and the creation of a reparations fund, which Ghana says will be used to repair the damage caused by the slave trade.
Aside from pan-African resolutions put forward by African countries, the US has also voted against several other resolutions of interest to African countries. This includes issues in which African states voted overwhelmingly in favour.
Last December, for instance, it voted against the resolution on South-South and Triangular Cooperation, which sought to help developing countries tackle challenges and achieve their goals.
The resolution sought to strengthen cooperation among developing countries. It also argued that financing and resource mobilisation are prerequisites for scaling up such cooperation.
A total of 182 countries voted in favour of the resolution, including Nigeria, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, South Sudan, and South Africa. Ten abstained, while the US was the only country to vote against it.
The US also voted against the demand for an end to US sanctions against Cuba in October.
PREMIUM TIMES reported the strong relations between Cuba and African states. Relations between the two sides date back to ..-colonial era.
Cuba has also made significant contributions in healthcare, education, and technical development across multiple African countries.
The resolution was an attempt to reaffirm the demand for an end to the US economic, commercial and financial embargo on Cuba, which it had declared multiple times.
At least 165 states, including African states, in the 184-member chamber voted in favour of the resolution, including Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Angola, and the 50 African member states of the UN.
The US was among the seven countries that voted against the resolution.
Also, when the UN General Assembly considered a high-level UN meeting to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) in July 2026, the US kicked against the time.
The DDPA is a UN framework, which seeks to address racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”
At the General Assembly on Friday, US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said the resolution mocked the work and purpose of the UN General Assembly.
