The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has officially adopted an unprecedented and highly contested resolution called „Correct the Map“ (#CorrectTheMap). The historic vote, held at the headquarters in New York, ended with 164 votes “in favor“, 6 “abstains“ and only one vote “against“ – that of the United States. The decision caused a major diplomatic scandal, dividing world powers on issues related to historical justice and colonial heritage.
What is the reason for the scandal?
The initiative, officially proposed by the state of Togo and categorically supported by all 55 member states of the African Union, insists on a gradual abandonment of the traditional Mercator map projection from the 16th century. According to the submitters, current world maps drastically reduce the real geographical scale of Africa, Latin America and South Asia at the expense of artificially enlarged territories in the Northern Hemisphere.
In reality, the continent of Africa is about 14 times larger than the island of Greenland, but on mass maps the two territories appear almost identical. The resolution encourages governments, educational institutions and technology giants to switch to the modern and proportionally accurate projection „Equal Earth“.
(For campaign details: bbc.com)
Why did the US vote “against“?
Washington's position has become a central point of the debate. US Representative Yarina Ferentzevich categorically rejected the document, describing it as a “radical ideological project“. The American side stated that the debates around 500-year-old maps and concepts of “cognitive justice“ and “memorial reparations“ only divert attention from the real global problems of security and peace. Washington called such resolutions “parasitic structures“ that undermine the legitimacy of the UN.
(The full statement is quoted from: dw.com)
The split among the states and the position of Ukraine
Among the six states that chose to abstain from the vote were Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Lithuania, Estonia and Serbia. Kiev argued its neutrality with the fact that in some of the existing versions and materials of the new projection “Equal Earth“ the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia (including Crimea) are depicted in a way that violates the country's sovereignty and contradicts previous official UN decisions. On the other hand, Russia surprisingly supported the resolution, although in the new scaling will shrink its visual map boundaries relative to the equatorial zones.
(Vote analysis: aroundprague.cz/en/news/un-approves-move-away-from-familiar-world-map-africa-set-to-look-bigger)
What's next?
Although the resolution voted by the General Assembly is not legally binding and does not prohibit the use of Mercator maps (especially for the purposes of maritime and air navigation), it provides a powerful impetus for change in global education and media. Togo's Foreign Minister, Robert Doucey, announced that his country will replace all geography textbooks by the end of the year and is planning a large-scale meeting in Lomé together with UNESCO and companies such as Google Maps to implement the new standard. France, which co-sponsored the text, also officially confirmed that it is abandoning the old model in favor of geographical truth.