GENERAL
INFORMATION
UNITED
NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY OPENS ON 10
SEPTEMBER 2002
The
General Assembly of the United Nations
opens its fifty-seventh session on 10
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.
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.
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, fifty-fourth and
fifty-fifth sessions to discuss, in
particular, issues related to the Millennium
Summit of the United Nations, the special
session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS
and the revitalization of the Assembly.
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EARLY
ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT
OF TNE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND CHAIRS OF
MAIN COMMITTEES
In a departure from past practice, and
as a result of the ongoing revitalization
of its work, the General Assembly elected
the President and Vice-Presidents for
the fifty-seventh session two months
earlier than usual, in July 2002, in
accordance with resolution 56/509 of
8 July 2002. Pursuant to the same resolution,
the six Main Committees also elected
in July their respective Chairs for
the fifty-seventh session.
For future sessions, resolution 56/509
calls on the General Assembly to elect
its President and 21 Vice-Presidents
at least three months in advance of
the opening of the session over which
they are to preside. The same holds
for elections of the Chairs of the Main
Committees. Election of other officers
of the Main Committees shall be held
at least by the end of the first week
of the session.
GENERAL
COMMITTEE
A General Committee, composed of the
President and 21 Vice-Presidents of
the Assembly and the Chairs of the six
Main Committees, makes recommendations
to the Assembly about the adoption of
the agenda, the allocation of items
and the organization of work. With the
early election of the President, Vice-Presidents
and Chairs of the Main Committees for
the fifty-seventh session, the General
Committee for that session was thus
fully constituted in advance.
GREDENTIALS
COMMITTEE
A Credentials Committee, appointed by
the General Assembly at each session,
reports to the Assembly on the credentials
of representatives.
GENERAL
DEBATE
The General Assembly will open its annual
general debate two days after the opening
of the fifty-seventh session, providing
Member States with the opportunity to
air their views on major international
issues.
The Secretary-General will present his
report on the work of the Organization
immediately prior to the general debate,
a practice that began with the fifty-second
session.
SIX
MAIN COMMITTEES
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 (177 separate
agenda items at the fifty-sixth session,
for example), the Assembly distributes
many questions among its six Main Committees,
which discuss them, seeking where possible
to harmonize the various approaches
of States, and then present to a plenary
meeting of the Assembly draft resolutions
for consideration. The Disarmament and
International Security Committee (First
Committee) is concerned with disarmament
and related international security questions.
The Special Political and Decolonization
Committee (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
Administrative 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.
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WORKING
GROUPS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The
Open-ended Working Group on the Quesstion
of Equitable Representation on and Increase
in the Membership of the Security Council
and Other Matters Related to the Security
Council may continue its work during
the fifty-seventh session. As to the
Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on the
Causes of Conflict and the Promotion
of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development
in Africa, its mandate was extended
until the fifty-seventh session.
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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. For the fifty-seventh
session, the President has been elected
from the Group of Eastern European 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 27 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, social development, human settlements
and HIV/AIDS. The twenty-seventh special
session of the General Assembly, held
from 8 to 10 May 2002, was devoted to
children.
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, 1999, 2000, 2001
and 2002). 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.
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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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Published
by the United Nations Department of
Public Information
DPI/2281--August 2002 |
