Part 2 The United Nations: What it is, 2 The General Assembly

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Higgins Dame Rosalyn, DBE, QC ◽  
Webb Philippa ◽  
Akande Dapo ◽  
Sivakumaran Sandesh ◽  
Sloan James
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Member States ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

The UN General Assembly may be described as the world’s leading forum for political discussion. It currently has 193 member states—nearly four times its original membership of 51. In 2005, the General Assembly established an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the General Assembly and has re-established the group annually. A major preoccupation of the Working Group appears to be relations between the General Assembly and the Security Council, including a concern that the latter organ has encroached on the work of the former. This chapter discusses the General Assembly’s membership, voting, and procedure; meetings, regular, and special sessions; subordinate organs; voting; the role of the President; functions; limitations; and Article 11(2) of the UN Charter.

IMPROVING THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S WORKING METHODS AS A POSSIBILITY OF ENDING ITS MARGINALIZATION

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
JELICA GORDANIĆ
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Member States ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
The United Nations

The paper analyses improving the United Nations General Assembly’s working methods as one of the possibilities of ending its marginalization. The General Assembly is facing numerous difficulties, including an overburdened agenda, repetitive agenda items, the need for better working organization and non-implementation of resolutions by the member states. Among the UN member states there is consent to improve the General Assembly’s working methods, but also disagreements on mechanisms it can be achieved. In order to strengthen the role and competencies of the General Assembly, an ad hoc working group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (the AHWG) was established in 1991. So far, the AHWG group had made some contributions in improving the General Assembly’s working methods. The paper aims to show that efforts of the AHWG, although significant, are not sufficient to solve all problems of working methods of the General Assembly. The author concludes that the only effective way in solving the working methods of the General Assembly is the UN Charter revision.

scholarly journals Proposals for the Negotiation Process on the United Nations Global Compact for Migration

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 682-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Víctor Genina
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Migration ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Global Compact ◽  
Member States ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
High Level

On September 19th, 2016, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted Resolution 71/1, the text of the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (the “New York Declaration”). Resolution 71/1 is the outcome document of the high-level plenary meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants, held at the UN headquarters. The New York Declaration reflects how UN member states have decided to address the challenge of large movements of people in two main legal categories: asylum seekers/refugees and migrants. Resolution 71/1 includes an annex titled “Towards a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration” (the “global compact for migration” or “global compact”). This document is comprised of several thematic issues related to international migration that will be the basis of a globally negotiated agreement on how member states should respond to international migration at the national, regional, and international levels, as well as to issues related to international migration and development. The global compact for migration is intended to be adopted at a conference on international migration and development before the inauguration of the 73rd annual session of the UN General Assembly in September 2018. This paper addresses how UN member states should plan to address international migration in the future. It does not refer to refugees and asylum seekers: a global compact on refugees will be drafted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2018, and to be presented to the UN General Assembly for states' consideration during its 73rd annual session, which starts in September 2018.1 For those who have been involved in migration issues within the United Nations, the fact that member states have finally agreed to convene an international conference on international migration represents a major achievement. It is the result of an extended process that started decades ago and was made possible by a long chain of efforts by many state delegations and other stakeholders. The global compact for migration will not be the first outcome document dealing exclusively with international migration. A declaration2 adopted at a high-level meeting at the United Nations in October 2013, for example, paved the way for the 2018 conference. Nonetheless, the global compact represents a unique opportunity to address international migration comprehensively and humanely. This paper contributes to the discussion on the elements that should be included in the global compact for migration. The paper is divided into two sections. The first section analyzes the main elements of Annex II, “Towards a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration,” and the criteria that needs to be adopted in order to achieve a substantive outcome. In particular, participants in the negotiation process should aim to balance the concerns of states and the members of host societies, on one hand, with the needs and rights of migrants, on the other. The second section includes proposals to enrich the final global compact for migration and takes into account two documents written by two different actors within the UN system, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Migration, and the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants. In particular, the paper proposes that the global compact for migration: • sets forth principles that can inform the actions of governments in relation to international migration at all levels; • enunciates a clearer definition of state protection responsibilities in relation to migrants in crisis situations and so-called “mixed flows”3; affords a substantive role to civil society organizations, the private sector, and academic institutions in the global compact's follow-up and review process; • defines the institutional framework for the implementation and follow-up of the global compact within the United Nations, including through the work of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF); • establishes a mechanism to fund migration policies for states that lack enough resources to invest sufficiently in this task; and • builds a cooperation-oriented, peer-review mechanism to review migration policies. The paper has been conceived as an input for those who will take part in the negotiation of the global compact for migration, as well as those who will closely follow those negotiations. Thus, the paper assumes a level of knowledge on how international migration has been addressed within the United Nations during the last several years and of the complexities of these negotiation processes. The author took part in different UN negotiation processes on international migration from 2004 to 2013. The paper is primarily based on this experience.4

The Rôle of the General Assembly of the United Nations in the Admission of Members

1949 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Stuart Klooz
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The Third ◽  
The United Nations

The effort of the delegate from Argentina to press the admission of certain states into the United Nations despite the negative vote of one of the five permanent members of the Security Council was denounced by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Poland, Belgium, Pakistan, The Netherlands, and France as being contrary to the provisions of the Charter in the discussion on the adoption of the agenda during the Third Session of the General Assembly. These states held that even discussion of such an item by the Assembly was illegal.

Treaty-Making at the United Nations

2019 ◽  
pp. 50-68
Author(s):  
Stephen Mathias
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Multistage Process ◽  
Its Analysis ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Multilateral Treaty ◽  
Multilateral Treaties

Beginning in the mid-1970s, the UN General Assembly conducted a review of the multilateral treaty-making process. A 1980 Report of the Secretary-General on this review concluded that there was “extensive diversity” among the various procedures that had been utilized in treaty-making processes, including whether such processes made use of established entities or were ad hoc in nature, the extent to which this involved expert or representative bodies, and the extent of the involvement of the General Assembly. The only generalization that was seen to be possible was that such processes almost always involved a multistage process. This chapter assesses the conclusions of the Secretary-General’s 1980 Report in light of the practice of the intervening years, focusing, in particular, on the role of the Secretariat in the treaty-making process, and adopting for the purposes of its analysis the five stages in the multilateral treaty-making process as identified in the Secretary-General’s 1980 Report: initiation of treaty-making, formulation of multilateral treaties, adoption of multilateral treaties, post-adoption concerns, and supplementing and updating treaties. This chapter also briefly discusses other treaty-making activities of the Secretariat.

1. Report of the Interim Committee of the General Assembly on the Problem of Voting in the Security Council, July 15, 1948.

1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-202
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Third ◽  
The United Nations

1. On 21 November 1947, by its resolution 117 (II), the General Assembly requested the Interim Committee to:“1. Consider the problem of voting in the Security Council, taking into account all proposals which have been or may be submitted by Members of the United Nations to the second session of die General Assembly or to the Interim Committee;“2. Consult with any committee which the Security Council may designate to co-operate with the Interim Committee in the study of the problem;“3. Report, with its conclusions, to the third session of the General Assembly, the report to be transmitted to the Secretary-General not later than 15 July 1948, and by the Secretary-General to the Member States and to the General Assembly.”

Treaty Stipulations in Favor of Third States

1956 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Jiménez de Aréchaga
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Member States ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Article 50 ◽  
The Right ◽  
United Nations Charter

Many recent and important treaties contain provisions in favor of third states. The United Nations Charter, for instance, confers upon non-member states the right to participate in the discussion of disputes in which they are involved (Article 32); the right to bring such disputes to the attention of the Security Council or the General Assembly (Article 35); and the right to consult the Security Council with regard to the solution of special economic problems arising from the application of preventive or enforcement measures (Article 50). Also Articles 2 (7) and 81 have been interpreted and applied as conferring rights upon states not Members of the Organization.

scholarly journals The role of international law in international information security

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Nikolai Kostenko
Keyword(s):  
Information Security ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
International Security ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The United Nations

The aim of the study is to develop the main approaches to providing states with international information security. The role of the Russian Federation and other states in advances in information and telecommunications within the framework of international security is being investigated. Attention is drawn to the rapid formation and use of information and communication technologies, which have made up a large and lasting dependence of adverse government mechanisms on real cyber technologies and has been the reason new threats. The role of the Russian Federation in the purposeful work of shaping the United Nations doctrine on world information international security is being investigated. The UN General Assemblys Resolution A/RES/56/19, Advances in Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security adopted on 7 January 2002, endorsed the idea of researching current and possible threats to information security and drawing attention to the likely collective measures to eliminate them. The Russian Federations proposal for education, the composition of government experts, which could concentrate and discuss the most important stages that aim the subjects of international law to participate in the UN General Assembly Resolution of December 8, 2003 No. 58/32 Achievements in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security are analyzed. The article draws particular attention to the document of the UN General Assembly A/55/140 which outlined five principles on international information security. The article examines in detail the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly Advances in Information and Telecommunications in the context of International Security from December 4, 1998 to October 22, 2018 to ensure international information security. The novelty of the study is the conclusions and proposals on problematic issues in the field of international information security, which would contribute to the adoption of a single international UN Convention, which would contain a conceptual apparatus, objectives, objectives, types of threats, priorities and mechanisms for their implementation, as well as provisions on the responsibility of States in the international information space.

The Kashmir Dispute and the United Nations

1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Korbel
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Good Case ◽  
Special Groups ◽  
Social Council ◽  
Subordinate Group ◽  
The United Nations

During the last two years, the major organs of the United Nations have shown an increasing tendency to attempt the solution of international problems through the employment of special bodies and committees, rather than trying directly to resolve the myriad problems of each dispute. The General Assembly has established special groups on the Balkans, Korea and Palestine and has turned a number of questions over to its Interim Committee, while both the Trusteeship Council and the Economic and Social Council have often worked through ad hoc bodies. The Security Council has also delegated its powers under the Charter on a number of occasions. While retaining general supervision, and requiring that final results be subject to its approval, the Security Council in the case of Indonesia, Palestine and Greece, for example, has created sub-groups possessing a wide latitude of action operating under rather general instructions. Since this procedure enables a subordinate group to concentrate on the problem in hand – and since the creation of such a group may well be undertaken as a means of circumventing the Council's unanimity principle in voting – a study of the subsidiary commissions is of some interest. The United Nations Commission on India and Pakistan is a good case in point.

Security Council Legislation, Article 2(7) of the UN Charter, and the Principle of Subsidiarity

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 539-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICHOLAS TSAGOURIAS
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Member States ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Law Making

AbstractThis article considers the relationship between the United Nations and its member states in view of the Security Council's assertion of legislative powers. It claims that the exponential growth in UN powers at the expense of the powers of its member states cannot be arrested by legal means, because of the nature of the UN system and the absence of legally enforceable criteria and compulsory dispute-settlement mechanisms. For this reason, it proposes a different approach to law-making in the area of international peace and security – one that is built around the principle of subsidiarity, as reflected in Article 2(7) of the UN Charter. The role of the principle of subsidiarity in this respect is to determine which authority is best suited to exercise legislative power and how such power should be exercised in order to attain the objective of peace and security more efficiently. It is thus contended that the principle of subsidiarity promotes co-operative relations between the United Nations and its member states by protecting the latters' jurisdictional authority from unnecessary interference.

scholarly journals Strengthening the role of the General Assembly in appointment of the Secretary General: Necessities and possibilities

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 781-801
Author(s):  
Jelica Gordanić
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
General Assembly

The Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. Due to the veto power of the permanent members, lack of transparency and the recommendation of only one candidate, the appointment of the Secretary-General is basically a decision of the Security Council. UN member states, civil society organizations and schoolars point out the need for a more active role of the General Assembly during the appointment of the Secretary-General. Formation of the ad hoc working group for the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly raised this problem to a higher level. Current procedure of appointment of the Secretary-General was reasonable at the time of the adoption of the UN Charter. The circumstances of the 21st century require different solutions. The paper aims to show the necessity and possibilities of strengthening the role of the General Assembly in the process of appointment of the Secretary-General and obstacles existing in this regard. The long-term activities of the ad hoc working group for the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly gave positive results in terms of more active role of the General Assembly during the appointment of the Secretary General in 2016. The paper aims to show that the results achieved by the ad hoc working group are not long-term efficient. The most effective solution for strengthening the role of the General Assembly in the appointment of the Secretary-General is the revision of the UN Charter.

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