An Explanation on United Nations General Assembly

The UNGA, i.e., the United Nations General Assembly, is a principal organ of the United Nations. It serves as the major policy-making, deliberative, and representative organ of the United Nations. Moreover, in its 76th session, its functions, powers, composition, and procedures are present in chapter number 4 of the United Nations Charter. Furthermore, the United Nations General Assembly is also accountable for the UN budget as well as for various other essential activities like appointing the Secretary-General for the United Nations, appointing the temporary members to the Security Council, building recommendations with the help of resolutions, and getting reports from different parts of the UN system. It establishes various subsidiary organs to aid in its broad mandate as well. Notably, the United Nations General Assembly is the only organ of the UN in which all member states comprise the same representation.

The General Assembly is held under the president of the United Nations General Assembly or the UN Secretary-General in the sessions held every year at the United Nations headquarters, located in New York City. The major portions of these meetings are usually held from September to January until all the complications are known or analysed. Moreover, for some special emergency sessions, they can also be reconvened simultaneously. However, the first session commenced on the 10th of January in 1946, and the location was ‘Methodist Central Hall,’ situated in London, UK.

History of the United Nations General Assembly

The initial session of the United Nations General Assembly was held on the 10th of January in the year 1946, and the location was ‘Methodist Central Hall,’ situated in London, United Kingdom. Moreover, there were representatives of 51 countries at the time of the assembly. After that, various other sessions took place in different cities of different nations such as the United States of America, France, Switzerland, etc.

Agenda of the United Nations General Assembly

The agenda is planned 7 months before the assembly, particularly for every session every year. Moreover, it starts with the opening list of the items to be involved in the provisional agenda. Later, it is converted into a provisional agenda sixty days before the start of the session. Once the session starts, the concluding agenda is considered for adoption in a plenary meeting which allocates the work to numerous major committees.

The consistent plenary sessions of the general assembly in the last few years have been initially planned to be held over only 3 months. However, the additional workloads have increased these sessions until the next session. The scheduled portions of the sessions are followed according to a fixed routine as well as it begins on the Tuesday of September’s third week, according to the United Nations rules of procedure. The concluding 2 of these consistent sessions were scheduled with a routine gap of exactly 3 months afterward in the starting of December month. Later, they were continued in January and lasted till just before the commencement of the sessions.

Workings of the General Assembly

As the UNGA is a major policy-building body of the organisation, it contains all the member states. It provides a unique forum for many-sided discussion of the full spectrum of the United Nations Charter’s global issues and complications. Moreover, every single state from the 193 member states of the UN has the same vote.

The United Nations General Assembly takes major decisions for the United Nations, counting the following:

• Appointing the Secretary-General on the recommendation of the Security Council
• Electing the non-permanent members of the Security Council
• Approving the budget of the United Nations

The assembly is held in regular and consistent sessions, starting from September and going up to December or even after that if needed every year. Moreover, it has a dedicated agenda and discusses various specific issues with the items and subitems of the dedicated agenda. As a result, the adoption of the resolution takes place at the same time. Furthermore, since COVID-19 has arrived, the United Nations has been conducting these assemblies with the proper acceptance of the guidelines provided by the WHO so that the disease doesn’t spread because of the United Nations General Assemblies.

Some of the particular examples comprise the use of virtual platforms for conducting meetings and the acceptance of the e-voting techniques through the procedure for decision-making when a meeting is not possible personally. Moreover, the virus is not the only issue that the world is facing. However, racism, inequality, intolerance, climate change, hunger, poverty, armed conflict, and various other problems and issues are also there.

Conclusion

The UNGA, i.e., the United Nations General Assembly, is an assembly that occurs every single year with a new agenda. It was initiated and started by the United Nations. It occurs in various countries and various cities of different countries as well. Moreover, the initial session of the United Nations General Assembly was held at ‘Methodist Central Hall’ situated in London, the United Kingdom, on the 10th of January in 1946.