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A resolution entitled "Pattern of conferences" was adopted by the General Assembly at its twelfth session, in 1957, under the agenda item entitled "Budget estimates for the financial year 1958" (resolution 1202 (XII)). Since 1962 the item has been included in the agenda of the Assembly at its seventeenth, eighteenth, twentieth to twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth to fifty-eighth sessions.
At its twenty-ninth session, in 1974, the General Assembly established the Committee on Conferences, composed of 22 Member States (resolution 3351 (XXIX)).
At its forty-third session, the General Assembly decided to retain the Committee on Conferences as a permanent subsidiary organ composed of 21 members to be appointed by the President of the Assembly, after consultations with the chairmen of the regional groups, for a period of three years (resolution 43/222 B) (see also item 114 (f)).
Since its forty-third session, the General Assembly has considered the item annually (resolutions 44/196, 45/238, 46/190, 47/202, 48/222, 49/221, 50/206, 51/211, 52/214, 53/208, 54/248, 55/222, 56/242, 57/283 B & 58/250).
At its fifty-ninth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to ensure that conference management services at the United Nations Office at Nairobi were in line with other duty stations (sect. II.A, para. 7); reaffirmed that all meetings of Nairobi-based United Nations bodies shall take place in Nairobi, except as otherwise authorized by the General Assembly or the Committee on Conferences acting on its behalf (sect. II.A, para. 8); expressed deep concern over the remaining vacancies in the interpretation and translation services, in particular at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (sect. II.A, para. 10); welcomed the efforts undertaken to increase utilization and to make more efficient use of the conference facilities at the Economic Commission for Africa (sect. II.A, para. 12); requested the Secretary-General to ensure that the conference centre at the Economic Commission for Africa established and developed linkages with other centres and bodies, introduced and utilized an integrated conference management system and considered the implementation of other modern technology systems, as appropriate, for a more efficient delivery of services (sect. II.A, para. 13); reiterated its request that the Secretary-General develop further effective measures to strengthen the responsibility and accountability system within the Secretariat, including the establishment of an interdepartmental mechanism to monitor the process in order to ensure the timely submission of documents for processing (sect. II.B, para. II); requested the Secretary-General to examine the option of setting a time frame for the publication of summary records, to study the related practical and financial implications and to present a pilot project to the General Assembly at its sixtieth session (sect. II.B, para. 13); also requested the Secretary-General to elaborate on all options, including those set out in paragraphs 59 to 63 of his report, in accordance with legislative mandates, and to report on their practical and financial implications (sect. II.B, para. 14); further requested the Secretary-General to enhance the use of printing on demand for parliamentary documentation as a means of improving services provided to Member States, in full compliance with current legislative mandates, on the basis of experience gained and lessons learned, taking fully into account the special needs of developing countries and the views expressed by Member States and to consider the use of printing on demand for publications (sect. II.B, para. 17); requested the Secretary-General to encourage compliance with drafting guidelines as set out in paragraph 15 of its resolution 53/208 B, to the extent possible (sect. III, para. 4); urged the Secretary-General to continue consultations with a view to considering the possible broadening of the electronic distribution of documentation while maintaining the distribution of printed copies, as required (sect. III, para. 5); the level of self-revision (sect. IV, para. 5); reiterated its request to the Secretary-General, in updating the workload standards, to address the question of the appropriate level of self-revision that is consistent with quality in all official languages (sect. IV, para. 6); and requested the Secretary-General to report to it at its sixtieth session on the above-mentioned matters (resolution 59/265).
The General Assembly in its decision 60/551, decided to defer to the resumed part of the sixtieth session the consideraton of agenda item 127: Pattern of conferences (decision 60/551) |
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