NationMaster - Encyclopedia: UNGA

The United Nations General Assembly (GA) is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations. It is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. It is made up of all United Nations member states and meets in regular yearly sessions under a president elected from among the representatives. Image File history File links Unpicture. ... The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jan Eliasson Photo: Pawel Flato Jan Eliasson (born September 17, 1940) is a Swedish diplomat who will take over the post of President of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2005, for its sixtieth session. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Sweden. ... Portal:Currentevents September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa will be the President of the 61st United Nations General Assembly when it opens on September 12, 2006. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Bahrain_(bordered). ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1150x1150, 77 KB) Summary square version of Image:Flag_of_the_United_Nations. ... United Nations System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A map of UN member states and their dependencies as recognized by the UN. Regions excluded: Antarctica, Palestinian territories, Vatican City, and Western Sahara. ... The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis. ...

As the only UN organ in which all members are represented, the Assembly serves as a forum for members to discuss issues of international law and make decisions on the functioning of the organization. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Overview

The General Assembly meets in regular, special and emergency special session. It's regular annual session usually begins on the third Tuesday in September and its work is suspended in late December. It reconvenes as required in the following year. The session concludes in September on the day before the next session begins. The President of the General Assembly is elected at least three months prior to the opening of each session (until 2003, the President was elected at the first meeting of the session). The General Debate follows, when all the members have the opportunity to address the assembly over a two-week period. Traditionally, the Secretary-General makes the first statement, followed by the president of the assembly. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Westminster Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations. The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Methodist Central Hall, London Westminster Central Hall, Westminster Methodist Hall or Methodist Central Hall Westminster is a building in London, England. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom. ...

Voting in the General Assembly on important questions – recommendations on peace and security; election of members to organs; admission, suspension, and expulsion of members; budgetary matters – is by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. Other questions are decided by majority vote. Each member country has one vote. Apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security under Security Council consideration. The one state, one vote power structure theoretically allows states comprising just eight percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. One state, one vote is a system of representation in which each state in a federation has equal representation. ...

During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the North-South dialogue – the discussion of issues between industrialized nations and developing countries. These issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership. In 1945, the UN had 51 members. It now has 192, of which more than two-thirds are developing countries. Because of their numbers, developing countries are often able to determine the agenda of the Assembly (using coordinating groups like the G77), the character of its debates, and the nature of its decisions. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence and the principal outlet for their foreign relations initiatives. The following article helps to explain the structure of the United Nations General Assembly, the universal decision-making body of the United Nations. ... In addition to the current 191 member states, the United Nations welcomes several other international agencies, entities, and one non-member state (for several years prior to their admission after a referendum in 2002, Switzerland was also an observer state). ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Coloured world map indicating Human Development Index (as of 2003). ... link titlelink titlelink titlelink titlelink title--210. ...

Special Sessions

Special sessions may be convened at the request of the UN Security Council, or a majority of UN members, or, if the majority concurs, of a single member. A special session was held in October 1995 at the head of government level to commemorate the UN's 50th anniversary. Another special session was held in September 2000 to celebrate the millennium; it put forward the Millennium Development Goals. A further special session (2005 World Summit) was held in September 2005 to commemorate the UN's 60th anniversary; it assessed progress on the Millennium Development Goals, and discussed Kofi Annan's In Larger Freedom proposals. A session of the Security Council in progress The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The Millennium Development Goals are eight goals that all 191 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. ... UN headquarters in New York City The 2005 World Summit, 14â€“16 September 2005, was a follow-up summit meeting to the United Nations 2000 Millennium Summit, which led to the Millennium Declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). ... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- â†’ Deaths in September September 28 : Constance Baker Motley September 25 : M. Scott Peck September 25 : Don Adams September 20 : Simon Wiesenthal September 14 : Robert Wise September 10 : Hermann Bondi September 8 : Donald Horne September 7 : Moussa Arafat... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Emergency Special Sessions

The General Assembly may take action on maintaining international peace and security if the UN Security Council is unable, usually due to disagreement among the permanent members, to exercise its primary responsibility. If not in session at the time, the General Assembly may meet in emergency special session within twenty-four hours of the request therefor. Such emergency special session shall be called if requested by the Security Council on the vote of any seven members, or by a majority of the Members of the United Nations. A session of the Security Council in progress The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ...

The "Uniting for Peace" resolutions, adopted in 1950, empower the Assembly to convene in emergency special session to recommend collective measures – including the use of armed force – in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression. Two-thirds of the members must approve any such recommendation. Emergency special sessions under this procedure have been held on ten occasions. The two most recent, in 1982 and 1997 through 2003 respectively, have both been convened in response to actions by Israel. The ninth considered the situation in the occupied Arab territories following Israel's unilateral extension of its laws, jurisdiction, and administration to the Golan Heights. The tenth was triggered by the occupation of East Jerusalem and dealt with the issue of Palestine. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 377, also known as the Uniting for Peace Resolution, states that, in the event that the UN Security Council cannot maintain international peace, a matter can be taken up by the General Assembly. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... An emergency special session is an unscheduled meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to make urgent decisions over a particular issue. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centered on the Palestine issue: the ongoing dispute and conflict over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. ... East Jerusalem is that part of Jerusalem which was held by Jordan from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War until the Six-Day War in 1967. ... The West Bank map The Gaza Strip map Palestinian territories is one of a number of terms used to describe, from Arab point of view, areas captured by Israel in the Six-day War of 1967, whose political status has been the subject of negotiations between Israel and the Palestine...

At the first Special Session of the UN General Assembly held in 1947, Oswaldo Aranha, then head of the Brazilian delegation to the UN, began a tradition that has remained until today whereby the first speaker at this major international forum is always a Brazilian. 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Painting of Oswaldo Aranha Oswaldo Euclides de Souza Aranha (1894-1960) was a Brazilian politician, diplomat and statesman. ...

Subsidiary organs

The General Assembly subsidiary organs are divided into 5 categories: Boards (6), Commissions (7), Committees (30 total, 6 main), Councils and Panel (5), working group and others (4) (see external links).

General Assembly reform

See also: Reform of the United Nations In recent years there have been many calls for reform of the United Nations. ...

On 21 March 2005, Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented a report, In Larger Freedom, that criticized the General Assembly for focusing so much on consensus that it was passing watered-down resolutions reflecting "the lowest common denominator of widely different opinions." He also criticized the Assembly for trying to address too broad an agenda, instead of focusing on "the major substantive issues of the day, such as international migration and the long-debated comprehensive convention on terrorism." Annan recommended streamlining the General Assembly's agenda, committee structure, and procedures; strengthening the role and authority of its President; enhancing the role of civil society; and establishing a mechanism to review the decisions of its committees, in order to minimize unfunded mandates and micromanagement of the UN Secretariat. Annan reminded UN members of their responsibility to implement reforms, if they expect to realize improvements in UN effectiveness[1]: March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The United Nations Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal divisions of the United Nations. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Human migration denotes any movement by humans from one locality to another, often over long distances or in large groups. ... This article is becoming very long. ... The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis. ... Civil society or civil institutions refers to the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations or institutions which form the basis of a functioning society as opposed to the force backed structures of a state (regardless of that states political system). ... An unfunded mandate is a statute that requires government or private parties to carry out specific actions, but does not appropriate any funds for that purpose. ... In business management, micromanagement is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of their employees, generally used as a pejorative term. ... The United Nations Secretariat is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and it is headed by the United Nations Secretary General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. ...

See also

The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly on a yearly basis. ... The below is a list of the ambassadors to the United Nations, together with their country, and when their position was last confirmed. ... The United Nations Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal divisions of the United Nations. ... United Nations System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A session of the Security Council in progress The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ... The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development. ... The event was broadcast on NBC in the United States The Music for UNICEF Concert: A Gift of Song was a benefit concert of popular music held in the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on January 9, 1979. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with United Nations International School. ...

External links

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United Nations (UN)

UN System: General Assembly • Security Council • Economic and Social Council • Secretariat • Trusteeship Council • International Court of Justice

Programs, Funds, Agencies: UNCTAD • UNDCP • UNDP • UNEP • UNESCO • UNFPA • UNHCR • UN-HABITAT • UNICEF • UNRWA • WFP • WHO
March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... United Nations System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the organ of the United Nations charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. ... The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development. ... The United Nations Secretariat is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and it is headed by the United Nations Secretary General, assisted by a staff of international civil servants worldwide. ... The United Nations Trusteeship Council, one of the principal organs of the United Nations, was established to help ensure that non-self-governing territories were administered in the best interests of the inhabitants and of international peace and security. ... Peace Palace, seat of the ICJ. The International Court of Justice (known colloquially as the World Court or ICJ; French: Cour internationale de justice) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. ... The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body, UNCTAD is the principal organ of the United Nations General Assembly dealing with trade, investment and development issues. ... The United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) and the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention (CICP) are part of the United Nations Office for Drug Control & Crime Prevention (ODCCP). ... The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the largest multilateral source of grant technical assistance in the world. ... Klaus TÃ¶pfer, UNEP Exec. ... UNESCO logo UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... The United Nations Fund for Population Activities was started in 1969 and renamed the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in 1987. ... Headquartereded in Geneva, Switzerland, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (established December 14, 1950) protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations and assists in their return or resettlement. ... is the United Nations agency for human settlements. ... UNICEF logo The United Nations Childrens Fund or UNICEF was established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946. ... The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a relief and human development agency, providing education, healthcare, social services and emergency aid to over four million Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and the Syrian Arab... // World Food Programme Hunger and undernutrition claim more lives than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combinedâ€”25,000 people a day, one every four seconds. ... Flag of World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, acting as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ...

United Nations resolutions: General Assembly • Security Council Membership: Member states • Observers A United Nations resolution (or UN resolution) is a decision of a United Nations (UN) bodies. ... A United Nations General Assembly Resolution is voted on by all member states of the United Nations in the General Assembly and requires a simple majority(50% of all votes plus one) to pass (with the exception of important questions which require two-thirds majority) Notable General Assembly resolutions 1947... A United Nations Security Council Resolution is voted on by the fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council, the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ... A map of UN member states and their dependencies as recognized by the UN. Regions excluded: Antarctica, Palestinian territories, Vatican City, and Western Sahara. ... In addition to the current 191 member states, the United Nations welcomes several other international agencies, entities, and one non-member state (for several years prior to their admission after a referendum in 2002, Switzerland was also an observer state). ...

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