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Background Information 

FORUM FOR MULTILATERAL NEGOTIATION| FUNCTIONS AND POWERS | SEARCH FOR CONSENSUS INFORMAL MEETINGS | MAIN COMMITTEES | WORKING GROUPS | REGIONAL GROUPS | SESSIONS | CARRYING ON THE WORK OF THE ASSEMBLY |

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY OPENS ON 5 SEPTEMBER 2000

The General Assembly of the United Nations opens its fifty-fifth session on 5 September at United Nations Headquarters in New York. It brings together the delegations of all Member States, many of them led by heads of Government or Foreign Ministers, for an examination of international issues.

The General Assembly decided to designate its fifty-fifth session "The Millennium Assembly of the United Nations" and to convene, as an integral part of the Millennium Assembly, the Millennium Summit of the United Nations from 6 to 8 September 2000.

FORUM FOR MULTILATERAL NEGOTIATION

The General Assembly, set up in 1945 under the Charter of the United Nations, is the United Nations main deliberative organ and provides a forum for multilateral discussion of the full range of international issues covered by the Charter. The Assembly comprises all Members of the United Nations and meets in regular session each year from September to December, and thereafter as required.

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FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

As set out in the Charter of the United Nations, the functions and powers of the United Nations General Assembly are:

-To consider and make recommendations on the general principles of cooperation for maintaining international peace and security, including disarmament
-To discuss any question relating to international peace and security and, except where a dispute or situation is currently being discussed by the Security Council, to make recommendations on it
- To discuss, with the same exception, and make recommendations on any questions within the scope of the Charter or affecting the powers and functions of any organ of the United Nations
- To initiate studies and make recommendations to promote international political cooperation, the development and codification of international law, the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms and international collaboration in the economic, social, humanitarian, cultural, educational and health fields
- To make recommendations for the peaceful settlement of any situation which might impair friendly relations among nations
- To receive and consider reports from the Security Council and other United Nations organs
-To consider and approve the United Nations budget and establish the financial assessments of Member States
-To elect the non-permanent members of the Security Council and the members of other United Nations Councils and organs and, on the recommendation of the Security Council, to appoint the Secretary-General. Pursuant to its "Uniting for Peace" resolution of November 1950, the Assembly may also take action if the Security Council fails to act, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member, in a case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression. The Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. While the Assembly is empowered to make only non-binding recommendations to States on international issues within its competence, it has, nonetheless, initiated actions-political, economic, humanitarian, social and legal-which have affected the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

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THE SEARCH FOR CONSENSUS

Each Member State in the Assembly has one vote. Votes taken on designated important issues, such as recommendations on peace and security and the election of Security Council members, require a two-thirds majority of Member States, but other questions are decided by simple majority.
In recent years a special effort has been made to achieve consensus on issues, rather than requiring a formal vote, thus strengthening support for the Assembly's decisions. The President consults delegations to see whether they are willing to agree to the adoption of a resolution without a vote. If they are, he can formally propose that the resolution be so adopted.

INFORMAL MEETINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

At its fifty-second session, the General Assembly initiated a new way of achieving consensus on issues by discussing the reform of the United Nations in informal meetings of the plenary of the General Assembly. This practice was continued at the fifty-third and fifty-fourth sessions to discuss, in particular, issues related to the Millennium Assembly and the Millennium Summit of the United Nations.

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SIX MAIN COMMITTEES

After the election of its President and Vice-Presidents, and after the adoption of its agenda, the General Assembly usually commences its session with a two-week period of general debate, providing Member States with the opportunity to air their views on major international issues.
At the fifty-fifth session, the three-day Millennium Summit will open on the day following the opening of the session. The general debate of the fifty-fifth session will be held from 12 to 16 and from 18 to 22 September 2000.
Starting with the fifty-second session, the Secretary-General is presenting his report on the work of the Organization just before the beginning of the general debate.
With the close of the general debate, the Assembly begins consideration of the substantive items on its agenda. Because of the great number of questions which it is called upon to consider (176 separate agenda items at the fifty-fourth session, for example), the Assembly distributes most questions among its six Main Committees, which discuss them, seeking where possible to harmonize the various approaches of States, and then present draft resolutions for consideration to a plenary meeting of the Assembly. The Disarmament and International Security Committee (First Committee) is concerned with disarmament and related international security questions. The Special Political and Decolonization Com-mittee (Fourth Committee) deals with a variety of political subjects not dealt with by the First Committee and with decolonization. The Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee) is concerned with economic questions. The Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (Third Committee) deals with social and humanitarian issues. The Administra-tive and Budgetary Committee (Fifth Committee) deals with the administration and budget of the United Nations, and the Legal Committee (Sixth Committee) deals with international legal matters.
On a number of agenda items, however, such as the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East, the Assembly acts directly in its plenary meetings.
There are also a General Committee, composed of the President and 21 Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and the Chairpersons of the six Main Committees, which makes recommendations to the Assembly about the adoption of the agenda, the allocation of items and the organization of work, and a Credentials Committee, appointed by the General Assem-bly at each session. The latter Committee reports to the Assembly on the credentials of representatives.

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WORKING GROUPS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council as well as the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on the Causes of Conflict and the Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development in Africa may continue their work during the fifty-fifth session.

REGIONAL GROUPS

Over the years various informal regional groupings have evolved in the General Assembly as vehicles for consultation and to facilitate procedural work. The groups are the African States, the Asian States, the Eastern European States, the Latin American and Caribbean States, and the Western European and other States. Turkey, which for election purposes is in the Group of Western European and other States, is also a member of the Asian Group. The post of President of the General Assembly rotates among the regional groups (during the fifty-fifth session, the President will be from the Group of Western European and other States).

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SPECIAL SESSIONS AND EMERGENCY SPECIAL SESSIONS

In addition to its regular sessions, the Assembly may meet in special and emergency sessions.
At turning points over the years, the Assembly has convened 24 special sessions on issues which demanded particular attention, including problems of Palestine, United Nations finances, Namibia, disarmament, international economic cooperation, apartheid, drugs, the environment, population, women and social development.
The twenty-second special session of the General Assembly, devoted to the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, took place on 27 and 28 September 1999, the twenty-third special session of the Assembly, entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", took place from 5 to 10 June 2000 and the twenty-fourth special session of the Assembly, entitled "World Summit for Social Development and beyond: achieving social development for all in a globalizing world", took place from 26 June to 1 July 2000.
A special session of the General Assembly devoted to an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda will take place in June 2001 and a special session of the Assembly devoted to the follow-up to the World Summit for Children will take place in September 2001.
Ten emergency special sessions have addressed situations in which the Security Council found itself deadlocked, namely, the Middle East (1958 and 1967), Hungary (1956), Suez (1956), the Congo (1960), Afghanistan (1980), Palestine (1980 and 1982), Namibia (1981), the occupied Arab territories (1982) and illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian Territory (1997, 1998 and 1999). The Assembly also decided to adjourn the tenth emergency special session temporarily and to authorize the President of the Assembly to resume its meetings upon request from Member States.

CARRYING ON THE WORK OF THE ASSEMBLY

The work of the United Nations derives largely from the decisions of the General Assem-bly and is carried out:
-By committees and other bodies established by the Assembly to study and report on specific issues, such as disarmament, outer space, peacekeeping, economic development, the environment and human rights, and
-By the Secretariat of the United Nations-the Secretary-General and his staff of international civil servants.

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