Sixth Committee (Legal) — 74th session
Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (Agenda item 121)
- Authority: resolutions 58/316
Documentation
- Draft decision: A/C.6/74/L.22
Summary of work
Background (source: A/74/100/Add.1)
At its forty-fifth session, the General Assembly, under the item entitled “Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations”, decided to include in the draft agenda of the forty-sixth session the item entitled “Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly” (decision 45/461). The Assembly had the item on its agenda at its forty-sixth to forty-eighth and fifty-second sessions and has had the item on its agenda annually since its fifty-third session (resolutions 46/77, 47/233, 48/264, 55/285, 56/509, 57/301, 58/126, 58/316, 61/292, 62/276, 63/309, 64/301, 65/315, 66/294, 67/297, 68/307, 69/321, 70/305, 71/323, 72/313 and 73/341 and decisions 52/479, 53/491 and 54/491).
At its fifty-eighth session, the Assembly decided that, in July of each year, the General Committee would conduct a review of the proposed programme of work for the forthcoming session of the Assembly, on the basis of a report submitted by the Secretary-General, and submit recommendations on the matter to the Assembly at its forthcoming session; and that the report would include information on the status of documentation to be issued during the forthcoming session (resolution 58/316).
At its seventy-third session, the Assembly considered the item in a joint debate, with the item entitled “Implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations”, where statements were made by the President and 19 delegations (see A/73/PV.35). The Assembly decided to establish, at its seventy-fourth session, an ad hoc working group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, open to all Member States, to identify further ways to enhance the role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency of the Assembly, inter alia, by building on the progress achieved in past sessions as well as on previous resolutions, including evaluating the status of their implementation, and to submit a report thereon to the Assembly at its seventy-fourth session; and to continue to update the inventory to be attached to the report to be submitted at the seventy-fourth session of the Assembly, including the separate indication of relevant provisions that were not implemented, with reasons therefor; requested the Secretary-General to submit an update on the provisions of the Assembly resolutions on revitalization addressed to the Secretariat for implementation that have not been implemented, with an indication of the constraints and reasons behind any lack of implementation, for further consideration by the Ad Hoc Working Group at the seventy-fourth session; decided to continue the consideration of the issue of the cost of the use of the Delegates’ Dining Room and other venues at United Nations Headquarters in New York by delegations during its seventy-fourth session; called upon all of the Main Committees of the Assembly to continue their consideration of addressing gaps, overlaps and duplication in their respective agendas as they relate to the 2030 Agenda as a whole, and in this regard requested them to make proposals available for discussion during the seventy-fourth session of the Assembly; emphasized that the Assembly and its Main Committees, at the seventy-fourth session, in consultation with Member States, should continue their consideration of and make concrete proposals for the further biennialization, triennialization, clustering and elimination of items on the agenda of the Assembly, including through the introduction of a sunset clause, with the clear consent of the sponsoring State or States, taking into account the relevant recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group, during the seventy-fourth session of the Assembly; requested the Secretary-General to submit a comprehensive report during the seventy-fourth session on the ways to improve the accessibility of the United Nations Headquarters premises for persons with disabilities; and decided to further assess during the seventy-fourth session of the Assembly the selection and appointment process of the Secretary-General, consolidate the advances gained in the relevant Assembly resolutions and explore possible steps to further improve the process, including the collaboration between the Assembly and the Security Council, consistent with Article 97 of the Charter, as well as to explore the possibility for the incumbent Secretary-General to present a vision statement for the next term and to brief the Member States on its content (resolution 73/341).
Since its sixtieth session, pursuant to resolution 58/316 and in order to facilitate the work of the Main Committees, the Assembly has decided annually, on the recommendation of the General Committee, to allocate the item to all the Main Committees for the purpose of discussing their working methods, as well as considering and taking action on their respective tentative programmes of work. Accordingly, at its seventy-third session, the Assembly approved the provisional programme of work and timetable of the First Committee for 2019 (decision 73/515); the proposed programme of work and timetable of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) (decision 73/520); the programmes of work of the Second Committee (decision 73/544) and the Third Committee (decision 73/528); and the provisional programme of work of the Sixth Committee (decision 73/532) for the seventy-fourth session of the Assembly.
Consideration at the seventy-fourth session
At its 2nd plenary meeting, on 20 September 2019, the General Assembly, on the recommendation of the General Committee, decided to allocate the item to all the Main Committees for the purpose of discussing their working methods and considering and taking action on their respective tentative programmes of work for the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly.
The Sixth Committee considered the item at its 34th and 35th meetings, on 11 and 20 November 2019 (see A/C.6/74/SR.34 and 35).
Statements were made by the representatives of Mexico and Togo.
It was suggested that, when preparing the programme of work for future sessions, consideration should be given to reducing the length and number of meetings allocated to the working groups depending on its respective workload, so as to allow more time for plenary sessions and informal consultations. While welcoming the more succinct statements made by delegations during the plenary debate and the use of PaperSmart portal for uploading written statements, view was also expressed that it was important to allow delegations to fully express their views in plenary debate, especially on the report of the International Law Commission, with the concern that comments contained in written statements uploaded on PaperSmart in languages other than English might not be used by the Special Rapporteurs of the Commission.
Action taken by the Sixth Committee
At the 35th meeting, on 20 November, the Chair introduced a draft decision containing the provisional programme of work of the Committee for the seventy-fifth session of the General Assembly, as proposed by the Bureau (A/C.6/74/L.22). At the same meeting, the Committee adopted the draft decision A/C.6/74/L.22 without a vote.
Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly
- Report of the Sixth Committee: A/74/445
- GA decision: 74/521 [for the text of the decision, see the Sixth Committee's report to the General Assembly]
This agenda item will be considered at the seventy-fifth session (2020).
