IMPROVING THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S WORKING METHODS AS A POSSIBILITY OF ENDING ITS MARGINALIZATION

The paper analyses improving the United Nations General Assembly’s working methods as one of the possibilities of ending its marginalization. The General Assembly is facing numerous difficulties, including an overburdened agenda, repetitive agenda items, the need for better working organization and non-implementation of resolutions by the member states. Among the UN member states there is consent to improve the General Assembly’s working methods, but also disagreements on mechanisms it can be achieved. In order to strengthen the role and competencies of the General Assembly, an ad hoc working group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (the AHWG) was established in 1991. So far, the AHWG group had made some contributions in improving the General Assembly’s working methods. The paper aims to show that efforts of the AHWG, although significant, are not sufficient to solve all problems of working methods of the General Assembly. The author concludes that the only effective way in solving the working methods of the General Assembly is the UN Charter revision.

Part 2 The United Nations: What it is, 2 The General Assembly

10.1093/law/9780198808312.003.0002 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Higgins Dame Rosalyn, DBE, QC ◽

Webb Philippa ◽

Akande Dapo ◽

Sivakumaran Sandesh ◽

Sloan James

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

Working Group ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

General Assembly ◽

Political Discussion ◽

Member States ◽

Un General Assembly ◽

The UN General Assembly may be described as the world’s leading forum for political discussion. It currently has 193 member states—nearly four times its original membership of 51. In 2005, the General Assembly established an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the General Assembly and has re-established the group annually. A major preoccupation of the Working Group appears to be relations between the General Assembly and the Security Council, including a concern that the latter organ has encroached on the work of the former. This chapter discusses the General Assembly’s membership, voting, and procedure; meetings, regular, and special sessions; subordinate organs; voting; the role of the President; functions; limitations; and Article 11(2) of the UN Charter.

Arab League

International Organization ◽

10.1017/s0020818300021913 ◽

1953 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 281-281

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

North Africa ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

General Assembly ◽

The Political ◽

United Nations General ◽

Arab League ◽

The United Nations ◽

Arab States

The Political Committee of the Arab League met in Cairo beginning December 20, 1952, under the chairmanship of Fathy Radwan (Egypt) to discuss questions relating to Palestine and north Africa. On December 25, the committee issued a statement approving the failure of passage in the United Nations General Assembly of the resolution adopted by the Ad Hoc Political Committee calling for direct negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. The committee condemned “the mere idea of an invitation to Arabs to negotiate with the Israelis” and expressed the hope “that there would be no repetition of these attempts”.

“Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel”: Presentation and analysis

International Review of the Red Cross ◽

10.1017/s002086040008726x ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 35 (309) ◽

pp. 638-666 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Antoine Bouvier

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

International Law ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

General Assembly ◽

Progressive Development ◽

United Nations General ◽

Fast Pace ◽

On 9 December 1994 the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel. In so doing it completed a process of codification and progressive development of international law at an unusually fast pace, considering that the Ad Hoc Committee entrusted by the 48th General Assembly (1993) with drafting the Convention took less than nine months to complete its task.

Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses

Leiden Journal of International Law ◽

10.1017/s0922156597000368 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 501-508 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Malgosia Fitzmaurice

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

International Law ◽

Working Group ◽

General Assembly ◽

United Nations General ◽

The United Nations ◽

The Law ◽

International Law Commission ◽

Final Text

On 11 April 1997, the text of the Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses was presented by the Working Group of the Whole (WG) of the United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). This Convention is based on the 1994 Draft Articles on the same topic prepared by the International Law Commission (ILC). These Draft Articles were approved on second reading by the ILC during its 46th session in 1994 and subsequently submitted to the 49th session of the UNGA in 1994 for consideration by states. By its Resolution 49/52, the UNGA invited states to present written submissions to comment on the Draft Articles and at the same time it proposed that a working group on the whole of the UNGA Sixth Committee be established to convene during the 51st session of UNGA (September-December 1996) to elaborate the text for a convention. During its first session, the WG did not manage to accomplish this task. The final text submitted to the UNGA on 11 April 1997 was the result of the second session of the WG which had deliberated during the period from 24 March to 4 April 1997.

The Outcome of the Negotiations on the Global Pact for the Environment: A Commentary

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12030877 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 877 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Géraud de Lassus St-Geniès

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Working Group ◽

Environmental Law ◽

General Assembly ◽

International Environmental Law ◽

United Nations General ◽

Critical Commentary ◽

Treaty Negotiations ◽

In May 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution “Towards a Global Pact for the Environment”. This resolution established an intergovernmental working group to discuss the opportunity to open treaty negotiations to codify the fundamental principles of international environmental law into a treaty dubbed the Global Pact for the Environment. In May 2019, the intergovernmental working group completed its mandate and adopted a set of recommendations that were formally endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in August 2019. Contrarily to what the supporters of the Global Pact for the Environment project had hoped for, the working group only recommended the preparation of a “political declaration” without referring to the codification of the principles of international environmental law. This paper offers a critical commentary of the outcome of these negotiations. The analysis suggests that the decision to elaborate a Global Pact for the Environment would have entailed considerable risks for international environmental law and that if adopted, this instrument would not have necessarily helped to increase the problem-solving capacity of international environmental law. Based on the language used in the recommendation to prepare a “political declaration”, the paper also discusses some of the key elements that could shape and inform the upcoming negotiations of this declaration.

One voice or different choice? Vote defection of European Union member states in the United Nations General Assembly

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations ◽

10.1177/1369148118768184 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 652-673 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nicolas Burmester ◽

Michael Jankowski

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

United Nations ◽

Union Member ◽

General Assembly ◽

The European Union ◽

Member States ◽

United Nations General ◽

The United Nations ◽

European Union Member States

Existing research suggests that European Union member states are increasingly able to act in concert in the United Nations General Assembly. Based on several hundred co-ordination meetings per year, the European Union ‘speaks with one voice’ on most of the resolutions voted upon in the United Nations General Assembly. However, little is known about instances where the European Union member states do not vote coherently. Three questions remain unanswered. First, what factors determine deviating voting behaviour of European Union member states? Second, who are the most frequent defectors from the European Union’s majority position? Third, which voting blocs within the European Union can be identified? The article answers these questions in a quantitative design by controlling for domestic factors, issues of resolutions and the position of the United States. The results suggest that domestic factors determine deviating voting behaviour far less than agenda-related issues and the position of the United States.

The institutional design of the United Nations General Assembly: an effective equalizer?

International Relations ◽

10.1177/0047117817690567 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 3-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Diana Panke

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

International Organizations ◽

Institutional Design ◽

General Assembly ◽

Final Decision ◽

Policy Cycle ◽

Member States ◽

United Nations General ◽

Most international organizations are based on the principle of equality of states. Their institutional design grants all member states the same formal rights. Although formally equal, states differ immensely concerning their power capacities and size. Can institutional designs of international organizations mitigate real-world power- and size-related differences between member states, and if so, to which extent? To provide an answer, this article focuses on the United Nations General Assembly, which combines an equalizing institutional design with a large very heterogeneous membership. It shows that the strength of the equalizing effect varies across stages of the policy cycle. It is the weakest in the negotiation stage and the strongest in the final decision-making stage, while institutional design of international organizations has a de facto equalizing effect of medium strength in the agenda setting stage. Thus, while power and capacity differences matter, larger powerful states are not systematically better off throughout the entire policy cycle.

In quest of universal goals: Analysis of statements from the open working group on sustainable development goals and the United Nations general assembly voting

Asia-Pacific Development Journal ◽

10.18356/fca2d7e0-en ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 35-60

Author(s):

Denis Degterev

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

United Nations ◽

Working Group ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

General Assembly ◽

United Nations General ◽

Development Goals ◽

The United Nations ◽

Open Working

Regional Power Revisited: How to Explain Differences in Coherency and Success of Regional Organizations in the United Nations General Assembly

International Negotiation ◽

10.1163/15718069-12341256 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 265-291 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Diana Panke

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

General Assembly ◽

Regional Power ◽

Regional Organizations ◽

Member States ◽

Mixed Methods Approach ◽

United Nations General ◽

Argumentative Strategies ◽

Abstract The United Nations General Assembly is the International Organization (IO) with the broadest worldwide membership. While regional organizations are not members themselves, they can and often do become active through their own member states. This article addresses two questions: Do regional organizations differ in their ability to speak with one voice in IOs and, if so, why? Are some regional organizations more successful than others and, if so, why? Based on liberal theory and a mixed-methods approach, the research suggests, firstly, that regional organizations are in a better position to engage in collective action in IOs if they can develop group positions for a broad range of items. This is easier the greater the capacities and the stronger the incentives of the member states, the smaller the number of actors participating in regional organizations’ coordination meetings, and the more homogenous groups are. Secondly, regional organizations are especially successful in IOs if they have common positions that their experienced and knowledgeable member states can push via argumentative strategies and if regional organizations can rely on the larger membership when it comes to playing two-level games in UNGA negotiations (tied-hands strategy) and when it comes to voting in IOs.

Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of World Autism Awareness Day

International Journal of Educational Reform ◽

10.1177/105678791702600401 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 260-272

Author(s):

Tim Morse

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

General Assembly ◽

Member States ◽

10Th Anniversary ◽

United Nations General ◽

Educational Challenges ◽

Students With Autism ◽

The United Nations ◽

Main Components

On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139 which established World Autism Awareness Day—one of only four official health-specific UN Days. The original resolution had four main components, which included celebrating World Autism Awareness Day every April 2 and encouraging member states to raise the awareness of autism at all levels in society. In accordance with this latter component of the resolution, the purpose of this article is to raise educators’ awareness about some of the most salient issues that need to be addressed as schools continue to implement necessary reforms for meeting the educational challenges posed by students with autism.