Washington cast the single vote against, and said why: the resolution carried reparations and “cognitive justice” into a question about map projections. That objection deserves to be heard properly before it is answered — and the region’s stake in the answer is larger than these islands look on any projection.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica | Calvin G Brown | Sept. 7, 2026 - On Friday 4 September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the “Correct the Map” resolution by 164 votes to one. Six states abstained: Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine. The single vote against belonged to the United States. The text was tabled by Togo on behalf of the African Group and carried the endorsement of the African Union’s 54 member states. Among the sponsors, according to CNN’s account of the vote, was the Bahamas.