List of emergency special sessions of the United Nations General Assembly

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An emergency special session is an unscheduled meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to make urgent recommendations on a particular issue. They are typically rare—a fact reflected in there being only 10 in the history of the United Nations. [1] Most emergency special sessions run for a single "meeting", which itself can run over a number of days—the Tenth, however, is the only emergency special session to be resumed more than once (the Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was resumed once), meaning that that Session has spanned across a number of "meetings".

United Nations General Assembly Principal organ of the United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), the only one in which all member nations have equal representation, and the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the UN, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General of the United Nations, receive reports from other parts of the UN, and make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions. It has also established numerous subsidiary organs.

The Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centred on the Palestine issue. It was held by the UN in 1980, convened by Senegal and was the only special session to have been resumed besides the Tenth, which considered the same issue.

The UN General Assembly's 'Uniting for Peace' resolution (A/RES/377 A) [2] demands a majority—procedural—vote of the Security Council, or a request by a majority of UN Member states being received by the Secretary-General, for the convocation of an emergency special session, within 24 hours.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 377 A, the "Uniting for Peace" resolution, states that in any cases where the Security Council, because of a lack of unanimity amongst its five permanent members, fails to act as required to maintain international peace and security, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately and may issue any recommendations it deems necessary in order to restore international peace and security. If not in session at the time the General Assembly may meet using the mechanism of the emergency special session.

United Nations Security Council one of the six principal organs of the UN, charged with the maintenance of international peace and security

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), charged with ensuring international peace and security, accepting new members to the United Nations and approving any changes to its charter. Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations and international sanctions as well as the authorization of military actions through resolutions – it is the only body of the United Nations with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states. The council held its first session on 17 January 1946.

Emergency special sessionTopicConvened byDateResolution
First Suez Crisis Emblem of the United Nations.svg United Nations Security Council 1–10 November 1956 A/3354
Second Soviet invasion of Hungary 4–10 November 1956 A/3355
Third Lebanon crisis 8–21 August 1958 A/3905
Fourth Congo Crisis 17–19 September 1960 A/4510
Fifth Six-Day War Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 17 June – 18 September 1967 A/6798
Sixth Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Emblem of the United Nations.svg United Nations Security Council 10–14 January 1980 ES-6/1, 2
Seventh Israeli–Palestinian conflict Flag of Senegal.svg  Senegal

22–29 July 1980
20–28 April 1982
25–26 June 1982
16–19 August 1982
24 September 1982

ES-7/1, 2, 3
ES-7/4
ES-7/5
ES-7/6
ES-7/9

Eighth South African occupation of Namibia (South West Africa)Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 3–14 September 1981 ES-8/1, 2
Ninth Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights (Golan Heights Law) Emblem of the United Nations.svg United Nations Security Council 29 January-5 February 1982 ES-9/1
Tenth Israeli-Palestinian conflict (East Jerusalem and Israeli-occupied territories)Various

24–25 April 1997
15 July 1997
13 November 1997
17 March 1998
5, 8 and 9 February 1999
18 and 20 October 2000
20 December 2001
7 May 2002
5 August 2002
19 September 2003
20–21 October 2003
3 December 2003
20 July 2004
24 January 2007
4 April 2007
23 January 2009
21 December 2017
13 June 2018

ES-10/1, 2
ES-10/3
ES-10/4
ES-10/5
ES-10/6
ES-10/7
ES-10/8, 9
ES-10/10
ES-10/11
ES-10/12
ES-10/13
ES-10/14
ES-10/15
ES-10/16
ES-10/17
ES-10/18
ES-10/L.22 (draft)
ES-10/L.23

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References

  1. Emergency Special Sessions UN General Assembly (retrieved 2011-06-21)
  2. United Nations General Assembly Session -1 Resolution377. A/RES/377(V) Retrieved 2008-02-10.