Sixth Committee (Legal) — 67th session
Observer Status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly (Agenda item 166)
Summary of work
Background (source: A/67/100)
By a letter dated 2 May 2011 (A/66/141), the Permanent Representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey to the United Nations requested the inclusion of this item in the provisional agenda of the sixty-sixth session.
At its sixty-sixth session, the General Assembly, on the recommendation of the Sixth Committee, decided to defer a decision on the request for observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the Assembly to its sixty-seventh session (decision 66/527).
Consideration at the sixty-seventh session
The Sixth Committee considered the item at its 11th and 25th meetings, on 16 October and on 16 November 2012 (see A/C.6/67/SR.11 and 25).
Statements were made by the representatives of Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan.
At the 11th meeting, on 16 October, the representative of Kyrgyzstan, on behalf of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, introduced draft resolution entitled “Observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly” (A/C.6/67/L.2) and requested the Committee to postpone its discussion of this issue in order to allow him to conduct informal consultations on this matter. Under this draft resolution, the General Assembly would decide to invite the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States to participate in the sessions and the work of the General Assembly in the capacity of observer; and request the Secretary-General to take the necessary action to implement the resolution.
At the 25th meeting, on 16 November, the representative of Kyrgyzstan orally reported on the outcome of the informal consultations on this matter which did not result in consensus. He pointed out that the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States met the criteria for the granting of observer status in the Assembly established in the Assembly decision 49/426 of 9 December 1994 and should be granted observer status in the Assembly since it was an intergovernmental organization with an established legal status whose activities covered matters of interest of the General Assembly. Some delegations supported the above statement and stressed that all the relevant information was made available to the delegations which had had enough time to analyze them.
Some other delegations opposed the granting of observer status to the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly. Concern was expressed, inter alia, regarding the nature and the limited membership of the Council, the scope of its activities as a new international entity, its legal status and personality as well as the ability to cover matters of interest of the General Assembly in its activities.
Action taken by the Sixth Committee
At the 25th meeting, on 16 November, the representative of Kyrgyzstan, on behalf of the sponsors of the draft resolution A/C.6/67/L.2, in order to allow more time for building consensus on this item, proposed that the Committee recommend to the General Assembly to defer a decision on the request for observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly to its sixty-eighth session.
At the 25th meeting, on 16 November, the Committee adopted, without a vote, a draft decision under which the General Assembly would decide to defer a decision on the request for observer status for the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States in the General Assembly to the sixty-eighth session of the Assembly.
Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly
- Report of the Sixth Committee: A/67/478
- GA decision: 67/525 [for the text of the decision, see the Sixth Committee's report to the General Assembly]
This agenda item was subsequently considered at the sixty-eighth session (2013).
