UN General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly is made up of all United Nations member states. The Assembly meets in regular session once a year under a president elected from among the representatives. The regular session usually begins on the third Tuesday in September and ends in mid-December. Special sessions can be convened at the request of the Security Council, of 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.
 United Nations General Assembly
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.
As the only UN organ in which all members are represented, the Assembly serves as a forum for members to launch initiatives on international questions of peace, economic progress, and human rights. It can initiate studies; make recommendations; develop and codify international law; promote human rights; and further international economic, social, cultural, and educational programs.
The Assembly may take action on maintaining international peace if the UN Security Council is unable, usually due to disagreement among the permanent members, to exercise its primary responsibility. 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 nine occasions. The most recent, in 1982, considered the situation in the occupied Arab territories following Israel's unilateral extension of its laws, jurisdiction, and administration to the Golan Heights.
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 191, 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, 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.
Observers
Several non-member states, international organizations and other entities have observer status at the General Assembly. The observers are:
See also
Reference
Referenced By
10 December | 10th December | 14 December | 14th December | 1962 | AIEA | Abu Ammar | Algerian Crisis | Algerian War | Algerian War of Independence | Algerian revolution | Apartheid | Apartheid/Israel | Apartheid in international law | Aparthied | Arafat | Belarusian SSR | Belorussian SSR | Byelorussian S.S.R. | Byelorussian SSR | Bylelorussian SSR | Carlos Mesa | Carlos Mesa Gisbert | Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others | Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide | Crime of apartheid | December 10 | December 10th | December 14 | December 14th | ECOSOC | Foreign relations of North Korea | Foreign relations of Panama | Francophonie | General Secretary of the United Nations | Genocidal organization | Genocide | Genocides | Genozide | Hisory of Rwanda | History of Libya | History of Rwanda | IAEA | ICCt | ICTY | International Atomic Energy Agency | International Atomic Energy Authority | International Court of Justice | International Criminal Court | International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia | International Francophone Conference | International Organization of la Francophonie | Israeli-Palestinian conflict timeline | Israeli West Bank barrier | Javier Perez de Cuellar | Javier Pérez de Cuéllar | Korea | Korean Peninsula | La Francophonie | Libya/History | List of UN General Assembly Resolutions | Namibia/Government | North Korea/Transnational issues | Notable UN General Assembly Resolutions | October 2003 | Palestine | Palestine/Archive 1 | Palestine/Archive 2 | Palestine/Archive 3 | Palestine/Meaning | Palestinia | Panama/Transnational issues | Political status of Taiwan | Politics of Namibia | Resolution 1441 | Rwanda/History | Secretary-General of United Nations | Secretary-General of the United Nations | Secretary General of the United Nations | Security Council | Suppression of the traffic in persons and of the exploitation of the prostitution of others | Taiwan problem | Terra Nullius | U.N. | U.N. Security Council | UN Economic and Social Council | UN General Assembly Resolutions | UN General Secretary | UN Member States | UN Secretariat | UN Secretary-General | UN Secretary General | UN Security Council | UN Security Council Resolution 1441 | UN Security Council resolution on Iraq | UN Trusteeship Council | UN War Crimes Tribunal | UN resolution | U Thant | United Nation Security Council ...
|
