Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization

 

RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization

  A The General Assembly, Reaffirming its support for the purposes and principles set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, Recalling its resolutions 686 (VII) of 5 December 1952, 992 (X) of 21 November 1955, 2285 (XXII) of 5 December 1967, 2552 (XXIV) of 12 December 1969, 2697 (XXV) of 11 December 1970, 2968 (XXVII) of 14 December 1972 and 3349 (XXIX) of 17 December 1974, Recalling also its resolutions 2925 (XXVII) of 27 November 1972, 3073 (XXVIII) of 30 November 1973 and 3282 (XXIX) of 12 December 1974 on the strengthening of the role of the United Nations, Recalling especially its resolution 3499 (XXX) of 15 December 1975, by which it established the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, and its resolutions 31/28 of 29 November 1976, 32/45 of 8 December 1977, 33/94 of 16 December 1978, 34/147 of 17 December 1979, 35/164 of 15 December 1980, 36/122 of 11 December 1981, 37/114 of 16 December 1982 and 38/141 of 19 December 1983, Taking note of the reports of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization submitted to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh and thirty-ninth sessions as well as of the views and comments expressed on them by Member States, Having considered the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization on the work of the session it held in 1984, Taking into account the elaboration by the Special Committee of the outline for the handbook on the peaceful settlement of disputes between States and the conclusions thereon, Noting the importance that pre-session consultations among the members of the Special Committee and other interested States may have in facilitating the fulfilment of its task, Conscious of the fact that the year 1985 marks the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations, Considering that the Special Committee has not yet fulfilled the mandate entrusted to it,

1. Takes note of the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization;

2. Decides that the Special Committee shall convene its next session from 4 to 29 March 1985;

3. Requests the Special Committee at its next session:

(a) To accord priority by devoting more time to the question of the maintenance of international peace and security in all its aspects in order to strengthen the role of the United Nations, in particular the Security Council, and to enable it to discharge fully its responsibilities under the Charter in this field; this necessitates the examination, inter alia, of the prevention and removal of threats to the peace and of situations which may lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute; the Special Committee will work on all questions with the aim of submitting its conclusions to the General Assembly, in accordance with paragraph 5 below, for the adoption of such recommendations as the Assembly deems appropriate. In doing so, the Special Committee should continue its work on the working paper on the prevention and removal of threats to the peace and of situations which may lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute or any revision thereof, as well as other proposals which might be made;

(b) To continue its work on the question of the peaceful settlement of disputes between States and, in this context:

(i) To continue consideration of the proposal contained in the working papers on the establishment of a commission for good offices, mediation and conciliation;

(ii) To examine the progress report of the Secretary-General on the elaboration of the draft handbook on the peaceful settlement of disputes between States;

4. Requests the Special Committee to keep the question of the rationalization of the procedures of the United Nations under review and to revert to its work on this topic when it deems appropriate;

5. Also requests the Special Committee to be mindful of the importance of reaching general agreement whenever that has significance for the outcome of its work;

6. Urges members of the Special Committee to participate fully in its work in fulfilment of the mandate entrusted to it;

7. Decides that the Special Committee shall accept the participation of observers of Member States, including in the meetings of its working groups;

8. Invites Governments to submit or to bring up to date, if they deem it necessary, their observations and proposals, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 3499 (XXX);

9. Requests the Secretary-General to render all assistance to the Special Committee;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to prepare, on the basis of the outline elaborated by the Special Committee and in the light of the views expressed in the course of the discussions in the Sixth Committee and in the Special Committee, a draft handbook on the peaceful settlement of disputes between States, and to report to the Special Committee at its session in 1985 on the progress of work, before submitting to it the draft handbook in its final form, with a view to its approval at a later stage;

11. Requests the Special Committee to submit a report on its work to the General Assembly at its fortieth session;

12. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fortieth session the item entitled "Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization".

B The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 2837 (XXVI) of 17 December 1971 on the rationalization of the procedures and organization of the General Assembly, Having considered the conclusions of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization contained in paragraph 151 of its report on the work of the session it held in 1984, Conscious of the need to discharge in the most efficient manner the functions incumbent upon it under the Charter of the United Nations,

1. Approves the conclusions of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization as set forth in the annex to the present resolution;

2. Decides that the conclusions referred to in paragraph 1 above shall be reproduced as an annex to its rules of procedure.

ANNEX Conclusions of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization concerning the rationalization of the procedures of the General Assembly

1. The agenda of the sessions of the General Assembly should be simplified as much as possible by grouping or merging related items, after consultation and with the agreement of the delegations concerned.

2. Specific items should be referred, where relevant, to other United Nations organs or to specialized agencies. The right of States to request that specific items be discussed in the General Assembly should remain unimpaired.

3. The recommendation in paragraph 28 of annex V to the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, according to which the Assembly should ensure, as far as possible, that the same questions, or the same aspects of a question, are not considered by more than one Main Committee, should be more fully implemented, except when it would be helpful for the Sixth Committee to be consulted on the legal aspects of questions under consideration by other Main Committees.

4. The General Committee should play more fully its role under rule 42 of the rules of procedure and paragraphs 1 and 2 of General Assembly decision 34/401, reviewing periodically the work of the Assembly and making the necessary recommendations.

5. The Chairmen of the Main Committees should take the initiative, in the light of past experience, to propose the grouping of similar or related items and the holding of a single general debate on them.

6. The Chairmen of the Main Committees should propose to the Committee the closing of the list of speakers on each item at a suitably early stage.

7. Agreed programmes of work should be respected. To this end, meetings should start at the scheduled time and the time allotted for meetings should be fully utilized.

8. The officers of each Main Committee should review periodically the progress of work. In case of need, they should propose appropriate measures to ensure that the work remains on schedule.

9. Negotiation procedures should be carefully selected to suit the particular subject-matter.

10. The Secretariat should facilitate informal consultations by providing adequate conference services.**

11. The mandate of subsidiary organs should be carefully defined in order to avoid overlapping and duplication of work. The General Assembly should also review periodically the usefulness of its subsidiary organs.

12. Resolutions should be as clear and succinct as possible.