UN General Assembly

This article will give you an idea of the role of the UN General Assembly. The United Nations General Assembly is a part of UN nations where member nations participate in policy making.

The power, structure, functions and procedure of the United Nations General Assembly are laid out and provided in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The United Nations General Assembly is the only part of the United Nations where all UNO members have equal representation. 

Its primary functions include:

• Budgeting of the UN
• Appointment of a non-permanent member to the Security Council of UNO
• Selection of the Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Making recommendations, passing resolutions and establishing subsidiaries to help advance its broad mandates

United Nations General Assembly 

The United Nations General Assembly, currently in its 76th session, is part of the United Nations. It was established to allow every nation to participate in policy making on international issues that require the attention of the United Nations. It is the only part of the United Nations that gives equal representation to every nation.

The first session of the UN General Assembly was held on January 10, 1946, in the Methodist Central Hall in London, with the Representation of 51 nations. The second session was held in New York City and the third in Paris. It was then moved to the permanent headquarters of the United Nations in New York City. 

The important sessions of the United Nations General Assembly are held from September to January under the president of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City at the UN headquarters.

Voting in the United Nations General Assembly is done in two ways. First, when the concerns are regarding the recommendations around peace and security, budgetary concerns, election, admission, suspension or expulsion of members. The resolution is passed by a two-thirds majority of the members present. Second, when the resolution is to be passed on recommendations that are not concerning any of the above-mentioned issues. It is decided through a simple majority where every country has one vote. 

Usually, the recommendations of the United Nations General Assembly are not binding, because it lacks the authority to enforce them except in the matters of the United Nations budget or adoption of a scale of assessment. 

The United Nations General Assembly can make recommendations on any matter within the UN’s scope except for peace and security issues since they fall under the umbrella of the Security Council of UNO.

Permanent member of UNO

Five countries are permanent members of UNO. The UN Charter of 1945 grants them a permanent seat on the Security Council of UNO. The five Sovereign states that are the permanent members are: 

• China 
• France
• Russia
• The United Kingdom
• The United States of America  

Agenda

The provisional agenda is made 60 days before the session’s opening, but the agenda is planned up to seven months before the commencement of the session.

After the commencement of the session, the final agenda is decided in the plenary meeting, which assigns work to several committees who subsequently present their report to the Assembly for acceptance by consensus or by vote. The agenda items are numbered. 

In recent years, the sessions of the General Assembly are supposed to be held over three months. Still, due to additional responsibilities, the sessions now have been extended to be held shortly before the commencement of the new session.

According to the UN Rules of Procedure, the habitually scheduled portions of the sessions begin on “the Tuesday of the third week in September, counting from the first week that contains at least one working day.”

Resolutions

There are a variety of resolutions that the General Assembly votes on that are brought forth by sponsoring states. The international community’s perspective on a set of global issues is represented in this way.

Most of the resolutions passed by the General Assembly are not legally or practically binding, since the UN does not have any authority or power to enforce them. The General Assembly can only enforce resolutions made in a few specific areas like the Budget of the United Nations.

Conclusion 

In this article, we have learned what the United Nations General Assembly is and its scope of work. We have learned that even though the United Nations can pass resolutions on various matters, those resolutions are not legally binding, since the United Nations does not have any power to enforce them except on some issues like the United Nations budget. We also studied how voting is done in two different ways depending on the concerns regarding the recommendation.