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HOW A GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION IS PASSED
1. An item is proposed by a country or countries to be included in the provisional agenda of the General Assembly.
2. An item on the provisional agenda is approved by the General Committee of the GA and assigned to one of the seven Main Committees or to the plenary: the GA approves or does not approve the recommendations of the General Committee.
3. One of the Main Committees or the GA Plenary discusses the item.
a. Each Member State gives its views in a general statement.
b. A draft resolution is prepared.
c. Amendments are proposed.
4. The Committee votes on a draft resolution and amendments.
a. If a draft resolution is passed as amended, the Committee reports to the GA.
b. If a draft resolution is not passed, the item is dropped.
5. The GA discusses the report of the Committee and its recommendation by way of a draft resolution that has been passed by the Committee.
a. Further statements are made by Member States.
b. Further amendments may be proposed.
6. The General Assembly votes on the draft resolution as amended.
Information Available about General Assembly Resolutions
1. A copy of the request to have an item included on the agenda.
2. Substantive reports on the item, e.g., Secretary General’s report, report of Special Rapporteur, Special Committee reports, Ad Hoc Committee of Experts, etc.
3. Records of committee debates. These records are eventually published as part of the General Assembly Official Records. The UN Chronicle provides summaries of the debates. Occasionally copies of speeches
are available from the Permanent Missions to the United Nations.
4. Reports of Committees given to the GA which provide summaries of debates and copies of any draft resolutions adopted by Committees.
5. Records of debates in the General Assembly Plenary. See 3. above.
6. The resolutions and decisions adopted by the General Assembly are available in press release form for distribution. These are also released at a later date as part of the Official Records.
7. On internet at www.un.org all kinds of UN information is available.
Director, Information Centres Division
Department of Public Information
United Nations Secretariat, Room 1060A
New York City, New York 10017, USA
Tel:+1-212-963-6837,
Fax:+1-212-963-7330
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