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THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly (GA) is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. It is made up of representatives of all Member States, each of which has one vote. Decisions on important questions, such as recommendations on peace and security, admissions of new members and budgetary matters require a two-thirds majority vote. Other decisions are reached by a simple majority. The General Assembly discusses and makes recommendations on any question within the scope of the Charter or affecting the powers and functions of any organ of the United Nations with the exception of matters being discussed by the Security Council.
The General Assembly’s regular session begins each year on the third Tuesday in September and continues usually until mid-December. At the start of each regular session, the GA elects a new President, 21 Vice-Presidents and the Chairpersons of the Assembly’s seven Main Committees. To ensure equitable geographical representation, the Presidency of the GA rotates each year among the five United Nations regions:
Africa
Asia
Eastern Europe
Latin America
Western Europe and Other States
At the beginning of each regular session, the Assembly holds a general debate during which Member States express their views on a wide range of international matters. Because of the hundreds of questions the Assembly is called upon to consider, most questions are allocated to the seven Main Committees:
The Work of the United Nations General Assembly’s Six Main Committees
First Committee Political and Security
Special Political Committee Political questions not discussed by the First Committee
Second Committee Economic and Financial
Third Committee Social, Humanitarian and Cultural
Fourth Committee Trusteeship (including non-self governing territories)
Fifth Committee Administrative and Budgetary
Sixth Committee Legal
The Main Committees correspond to the major fields of responsibility of the Assembly. They consider agenda items referred to them by the GA and prepare recommendations and draft resolutions for submissions to the GA plenary. Although most items are referred to a committee, the GA may decide to deal with certain items without prior reference to a committee. All UN Members have the right to be represented on each of these committees. Each committee elects its own officers. Committee decisions are made by a majority of the members present and voting. A majority of the committee members constitutes a quorum. After the committees have completed their consideration of the matters submitted to them, they submit draft resolutions to the plenary GA usually towards the end of the regular session. The decisions of the GA have no legally binding force for governments. However, they do carry the weight of world opinion and the moral authority of the world community.
Because of the great number of questions it is called upon to consider, the General Assembly distributes most substantive questions among its six Main Committees. Their work is assigned by topic according to the mandates of the committees. When the Committees conclude their work, they then present draft resolutions for consideration to a plenary meeting of the Assembly.
The First Committee, The Disarmament and International Security Committee, is concerned with disarmament and related international security questions. They address issues related to nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and to small arms and light weapons. They also deal with Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions and negotiations on a verification protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention. The majority of delegations advocated comprehensive, multidisciplinary and regionally-based approaches to tackle the proliferation of small and light weapons.
The Second Committee, The Economic and Financial Committee is concerned with economic questions and environmental issues. Some of their issues include eradication of poverty, the role of the UN in promoting development, and technical cooperation among developing countries. Desertification, strengthening international economic cooperation for development through partnership, the problems of international migration and of development are other issues. They also work on implementation of the commitments and policies agreed upon in the Declaration on International Economic Cooperation, prevention of corrupt practices and illegal transfer of funds and enhancing international cooperation towards a durable solution to the external debt problem of developing countries.
The Third Committee, The Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, deals with social and humanitarian issues. Some of the issues of the Third Committee deal with human rights including human rights in Rwanda, Haiti, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Kosovo, the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Cambodia. Other issues include torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, racism, the right of peoples to self-determination, the rights of the child and of the girl child, assistance for refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa, preparations for the special session of the GA entitled “Women 200: gender equality,” the development of peace for the 21st century, follow-up to the 4th World Conference on Women and full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
They also work on the issues of traditional practices affecting the health of women and girls, international cooperation against the world drug problem, strengthening the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, action against crime and corruption, improving literacy, implementation of the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons, and policies and programmes involving youth.
The Fourth Committee, The Special Political and Decolonization Committee deals with a variety of political subjects not dealt with by the First Committee and with Decolonization. Their work includes the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, the questions of American Samoa, Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guam, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands, Tokelau, New Caledonia and Western Sahara. It also includes economic and other issues that affect the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories, a comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects and issues around Israel and the Palestinian people. It also addresses the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space and the effects of atomic radiation.
The Fifth Committee, the Administrative and Budgetary Committee, tackles the administration and budget of the United Nations. It also considers the scale of assessments for the regular budget, and the measures to encourage timely, full and unconditional payment of assessed contributions. It considers the financing of the United Nations’ missions in Kosovo, East Timor, and Sierra Leone.
The Sixth Committee, The Legal Committee, deals with international legal matters. The issues of this committee include the nationality of persons in relation to the succession of states, measures to eliminate international terrorism, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the UN and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, the establishment and strengthening of the International Criminal Court, report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country (the US), UN programme of assistance in the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law and the Centennial of International Peace Conference.
The General Committee (GC) of the General Assembly is composed of the GA President, the 21 Vice-Presidents of the GA and the Chairpersons of the seven Main Committees: a total of 29 members. No two GC members may be from the same Member State delegation. This ensures a broad representation within the GC. Chairpersons of other GA committees may attend GC meetings as non-voting participants in discussions. The General Committee studies:
1. The Provisional Agenda This is drawn up by the Secretary-General and sent to UN Members at least 60 days before the opening of the regular GA session. The provisional agenda includes the Secretary-General’s report, reports from other UN organs, agenda items remaining from the previous GA session, all items proposed by other principal organs of the UN and any UN Member, budget items and items proposed by non-UN- members allowed by the Charter.
2. Supplementary Items These items may be proposed by any UN Member, principal organ or the Secretary-General 30 days before the GA session starts. These items will be placed on a supplementary list and communicated to UN
Members at least 20 days before the opening of the GA session.
3. Additional Items These are items of an important and urgent character proposed less than 30 days before the opening of the GA or during its regular session. A majority of the Members present and voting may decide to place additional items on the agenda. No additional items may be considered for seven days after being placed on the agenda and until a committee has reported on it unless approved by a two-thirds majority of the GA.
After consideration, the General Committee then makes recommendations to the GA about including or rejecting these items for inclusion on the plenary agenda and/or placing any items on the provisional agenda for consideration at a future session. It determines the priority of agenda items and allocates items to the Main Committees for study and the preparation of recommendations and draft resolutions to be submitted to the GA plenary session. The General Committee coordinates the proceedings of the committees and, in general, conducts the work that falls under the GA President’s jurisdiction. It may make recommendations for the closing date of the GA session, but may not decide any political questions.
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