Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly

  • Author: UN General Assembly (47th sess. : 1992-1993)
  • Document source:
  • Date:
    14 September 1993

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 2837 (XXVI) of 17 December 1971, 33/138 of 19 December 1978, 39/88 of 13 December 1984, 45/45 of 28 November 1990, 46/77 of 12 December 1991, 46/140 of 17 December 1991 and 46/220 of 20 December 1991,

Conscious of the increasingly important role of the United Nations in fulfilling the purpose set forth in Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations,

Recalling that the Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members,

Recognizing in this regard that the General Assembly is the only principal organ of the United Nations consisting of all the Members of the United Nations in which each Member State has equal opportunity to participate in the decision-making process,

Emphasizing the importance of the functions and powers of the General Assembly in any questions or matters within the scope of the Charter, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter,

Desiring to undertake efforts to enhance the capacity of the General Assembly to fulfil the role envisaged for it under the Charter and increase its effectiveness in the interest of strengthening the overall work of the Organization,

Underlining that the revitalization of the General Assembly should be addressed in a comprehensive manner,

Recognizing in this regard the need, as a first step, to rationalize the Committee structure of the General Assembly to respond better to the requirements of the new phase of international relations,

Recognizing also the importance of the reports of the Security Council and other principal organs of the United Nations to the General Assembly and of their substantive and in-depth consideration by the Assembly.

1.         Decides that the Main Committees of the General Assembly shall be as follows:

(a)        Disarmament and International Security Committee (First Committee);

(b)        Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee);

(c)        Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee);

(d)        Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (Third Committee)

(e)        Administrative and Budgetary Committee (Fifth Committee);

(f)         Legal Committee (Sixth Committee);

2.         Also decides to amend the rules of procedure of the General Assembly as set forth in the annex to the present resolution;

3.         Further decides that, as an interim measure and pending a decision on the pattern of the election of the six Chairmen of the Main Committees, the six Chairmen of the Main Committes at the forty-eighth session shall be elected as follows:

Two representatives from African States;

One representative from an Asian State;

One representative from an Eastern European State;

One representative from a Latin American or Caribbean State;

One representative from a Western European or other State;

4.         Recommends that, pending further consideration of the revitalization process, the agenda items at present allocated to the Special Political Committee and to the Fourth Committee be allocated at the forty-eighth session to the new Special Political and Decolonization Committee;

5.         Encourages Member States to participate actively in a substantive and in-depth discussion on, and consideration of, the reports of the Security Council and other principal organs of the United Nations, in order to fulfil the relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations;

6.         Decides to continue consideration of the revitalization process of the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session in a comprehensive manner in an informal open-ended working group, which will make proposals as appropriate on questions relating to, inter alia, the rationalization of the agenda, the reports of the other principal organs of the United Nations in accordance with the Charter and the reports requested of the Secretary-General;

7.         Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-eighth session the item entitled "Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly".

ANNEX

Rule 31 shall read as follows:

The General Assembly shall elect a President and twenty-one Vice-Presidents, who shall hold office until the close of the session at which they are elected. The Vice-Presidents shall be elected, after the election of the Chairmen of the six Main Committees referred to in rule 98, in such a way as to ensure the representative character of the General Committee."

The first sentence of rule 38 shall read as follows:

"The General Committee shall comprise the President of the General Assembly, who shall preside, the twenty-one Vice-Presidents and the Chairmen of the six Main Committees."

Rule 98 is amended according to paragraph 1 of the present resolution.

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