United Nations General Committee

Last updated
United Nations General Committee
Legal statusActive
Headquarters New York, United States
Membership28 members
President
Philémon Yang
Parent organization
United Nations General Assembly
Website www.un.org/en/ga/general/general.shtml

The United Nations General Committee is a committee of the United Nations General Assembly whose main purpose is to organize the body's agenda, among other things.

Contents

Mandate

The Mandate of the General Committee consists of the following: [1] [2] [3]

The Committee meets periodically to review the progress of the General Assembly and its committees. It also meets at such times as the President deems necessary or upon the request of any other of its members.

An individual Vice-President of the General Assembly does not have the power to unilaterally add an item to the General Assembly's agenda, not even if they are a permanent member of the UN Security Council such as the United States. For example, the General Committee has regularly rejected agenda items about the participation of the Republic of China (Taiwan), [4] even when raised by a sitting Vice-President who formally recognizes the Republic of China (such as Guatemala in 1993). [5] [6]

Regional Groups

The rules of the General Assembly state that the President and 21 Vice-Presidents must be elected from the following Regional Groups: [7]

In addition, the chairs of the six Main Committees must consist of one from each group, with the remaining chair rotating unevenly between the three non-European groups [a] (prior to 1994, there were seven Main Committees, with two chairs from the African Group, one chair from every other group, and the remaining chair rotating between the Asia–Pacific Group and the Latin American and Caribbea Group "every alternate year"). [7]

The rules also state that every member of the General Committee must be from a different country. [8] As the permanent members of the Security Council are always vice-presidents, this rule officially bans the permanent members from being President of the General Assembly or chairs of any Main Committee.

Members

The composition of the Committee for the 79th Session of the General Assembly is as follows: the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the 21 Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and the chairs of the six main committees. The current members are as follow: [1]

President of the General Assembly

NameCountryPosition
Philémon Yang Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon President of the General Assembly

Vice-Presidents

Permanent Members of
the UN Security Council
African StatesAsia–Pacific StatesEastern European
and Other States
Latin American and
the Caribbean States
Western European
and Other States
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Flag of Algeria.svg Algeria Flag of the Federated States of Micronesia.svg Micronesia Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg Kyrgyzstan Flag of Barbados.svg Barbados Flag of Austria.svg Austria
Flag of France.svg France Flag of Angola.svg Angola Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand Flag of Moldova.svg Moldova Flag of Guatemala.svg Guatemala Flag of Italy.svg Italy
Flag of Russia.svg Russia Flag of Ghana.svg Ghana Flag of Tonga.svg Tonga Flag of Turkmenistan.svg Turkmenistan Flag of Venezuela.svg Venezuela
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom Flag of Madagascar.svg Madagascar
Flag of the United States.svg United States Flag of Senegal.svg Senegal

Chairpersons of the Six Main Committees

NameCountryPosition
Maritza Chan Valverde Flag of Costa Rica.svg Costa Rica Chair of the First Committee
Muhammad Abdul Muhith Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh Chair of the Second Committee
Zéphyrin ManiratangaFlag of Burundi.svg Burundi Chair of the Third Committee
Sanita Pavļuta-DeslandesFlag of Latvia.svg Latvia Chair of the Fourth Committee
Egriselda Aracely González LópezFlag of El Salvador.svg El Salvador Chair of the Fifth Committee
Rui VinhasFlag of Portugal (official).svg Portugal Chair of the Sixth Committee

See also

Notes

  1. The rule states the pattern ABAC→BABC→ABAC→ABAC→BABC repeating every 20 elections, where A is the African Group, B is the Asia-Pacific Group, and C is the Latin American and Caribbean Group.

References

  1. 1 2 "General Committee: Composition for the 79th session". General Assembly of the United Nations. United Nations. n.d. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  2. Manhire, Vanessa, ed. (2021). "United Nations Handbook 2021–22" (PDF). United Nations Handbook:: An Annual Guide for Those Working within the United Nations (58th ed.). Wellington: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand. ISSN   0110-1951. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2019.
  3. Ruder, Nicole; Nakano, Kenji; Aeschlimann, Johann (2017). Aeschlimann, Johann; Regan, Mary (eds.). The GA Handbook: A Practical Guide to the United Nations General Assembly (PDF) (2nd ed.). New York: Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations. ISBN   978-0-615-49660-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 November 2018.
  4. Damm, Jens; Lim, Paul (2012). European Perspectives on Taiwan. Springer Science+Business Media. pp. 160–63. ISBN   9783531943039. By mid 2009, 16 applications for membership on behalf of Taiwan had been sent to the UN, but, in each of these cases, the General Assembly's General Committee, which sets the Assembly's agenda, decided against even raising the question during the Assembly's session.
  5. United Nations General Assembly Session 48 Agenda item A/48/191 1993-08-09. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  6. United Nations General Assembly Session 64 Agenda item A/64/100 2009-06-15. Retrieved accessdate.
  7. "General Committee, Rules of Procedure | UN General Assembly". United Nations.