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🇭🇷 Croatia /Conflict & Security

UN adopts new world map, but one detail sparks anger in Kyiv: ‘Completely unacceptable’

From Večernji List · () Croatian

Translated from Croatian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Approved/passed
  • The UN General Assembly adopted a nonbinding resolution encouraging use of the Equal Earth projection, with 164 countries voting in favor and the United States voting against.
  • Ukraine abstained because Crimea appears in a different shade from the rest of Ukraine without being shown as part of Russia, a depiction Kyiv says visually separates the peninsula from Ukrainian territory.
  • The resolution seeks to correct distortions associated with the Mercator projection, particularly the underrepresentation of Africa, but does not address sovereignty or territorial status.

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a new world map intended to represent the actual size of continents more accurately, especially Africa. But the vote triggered a political dispute over how the map depicts Crimea.

The resolution, titled “Correct the Map,” was proposed by Togo with support from African Union members. It passed with 164 votes. The United States was the only country to vote against it, while Ukraine, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Serbia abstained.

Completely unacceptable.

· UkraineKyiv rejected the way the map visually separates Crimea from the rest of Ukraine.

Kyiv explained its abstention by pointing to the Equal Earth projection’s treatment of territories under Russian occupation. Crimea appears in a different shade from the rest of Ukraine, but the map does not show it as part of Russia. Ukraine says that presentation visually separates Crimea from Ukrainian territory and called it “completely unacceptable.” Ukrainian lawmaker Kira Rudik said Ukraine could not support the resolution because of the depiction, stressing, “Crimea is Ukraine.”

Crimea is Ukraine.

· Kira RudikThe Ukrainian lawmaker explained why Ukraine abstained from the resolution.

Russia occupied and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, but the peninsula remains part of Ukraine under international law, the article says. Kyiv did not challenge the resolution’s central aim of correcting historical cartographic distortions, particularly those affecting Africa. The Mercator projection, widely used since the 16th century, makes areas near the poles appear much larger than they are. Under traditional maps, Africa and Greenland can appear roughly comparable in size, although Africa is actually about 14 times larger.

The Equal Earth projection was developed in 2018 as an alternative that more accurately represents the relative areas of continents. All 54 African Union members previously backed it. Togo’s foreign minister, Robert Dussey, said before the vote, “A fair world begins with a fair map.” The European Union supported the resolution but emphasized that it does not affect sovereignty, territorial status or internationally recognized borders. The resolution does not legally require countries to abandon the Mercator projection.

A fair world begins with a fair map.

· Robert DusseyThe Togolese foreign minister promoted the cartographic initiative before the vote.
About this summary

Originally published by Večernji List in Croatian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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