| United
Nations General Assembly opens on 14 September 2004
The
General Assembly of the United Nations opens its fifty-ninth
session on 14 September at United Nations Headquarters in
New York. It brings together the delegations of all Member
States for an examination of a wide range of international
issues. During the two weeks of general debate at the beginning
of the session, many of the delegations are led by heads
of State or Government or foreign ministers.
Forum for multilateral negotiation
The General Assembly, set up in 1945 under the Charter of
the United Nations, is the main deliberative organ of the
United Nations and provides a forum for multilateral discussion
of the full spectrum of international issues covered by
the Charter. The Assembly comprises all 191 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 that 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 (resolution 377 (V)), 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 (see “Special sessions and emergency special
sessions” below).
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. The landmark Millennium Declaration that was adopted
in 2000 reflects the commitment of Member States to reach
specific goals spelled out in the Declaration to attain
peace, security and disarmament and development and poverty
eradication, to protect our common environment, to meet
the special needs of Africa and to strengthen the United
Nations.
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 deciding by a formal vote,
thus strengthening support for the Assembly’s decisions.
The President, after having consulted and reached agreement
with delegations, can propose that a resolution be adopted
without a vote.
Revitalization
of the work of the General Assembly
Throughout the years, there has been an ongoing effort to
make the work of the General Assembly more focused and relevant.
At the fifty-eighth session, it became a major priority.
Resolutions 58/126 and 58/316, adopted on 19 December 2003
and 1 July 2004, respectively, set out concrete measures
to reorder the work of the Assembly, streamline its agenda,
improve the practices and working methods of the Main Committees
and enhance the role of the General Committee.
Informal
meetings of the General Assembly
At its fifty-second session, the 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. The informal meetings were continued
during subsequent 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,
strengthening of the United Nations system and the revitalization
of the Assembly. At the fifty-eighth session, the practice
further included informal meetings of the General Committee,
open to all delegations, as well as panel discussions and
thematic briefings chaired by the President of the Assembly.
Elections
for the President and Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly
and Chairs of Main Committees
As a result of the ongoing revitalization of its work and
pursuant to rule 30 of its rules of procedure, as amended
by Assembly resolution 56/509 of 8 July 2002, the General
Assembly elected its President and Vice-Presidents and the
Chairs of the six Main Committees for the fifty-ninth session
on 10 June 2004, at least three months prior to the opening
of the session. Pursuant to Assembly resolution 58/126,
the other officers of the Main Committees were also elected
on the same day.
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 and Vice-Presidents
and the Chairs of the Main Committees for the fifty-ninth
session, the General Committee for that session was thus
fully constituted in advance.
Credentials
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
on Tuesday, 21 September 2004, providing Member States with
the opportunity to express 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 (170 agenda items at the fifty-eighth session,
for example), the Assembly allocates items relevant to its
work 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 and decisions 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, as well
as 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.
Working
groups of the General Assembly
The General Assembly has, in the past, authorized the establishment
of working groups to focus on matters of importance, including
the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on the Causes of Conflict
and the Promotion of Durable Peace and Sustainable Development
in Africa and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Integrated
and Coordinated Implementation of and Follow-up to the Outcomes
of the Major United Nations Conferences and Summits in the
Economic and Social Fields, both of which have completed
their work. 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 may continue its work during the fifty-ninth
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. For
the fifty-ninth session, the President has been elected
from the Group of African States.
Special
sessions and emergency special sessions
In addition to its regular sessions, the Assembly may meet
in special and emergency sessions.
Over
the years, the Assembly has convened 27 special sessions
on issues that demanded particular attention, including
the question 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, 2002, 2003 and
2004). 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 Assembly 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;
By the Secretariat of the United Nations—the Secretary-General
and his staff of international civil servants.
Published
by the United Nations Department of Public Information
44359—DPI/2358—August 2004
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