Seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly

Seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly
President of the 73rd General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa
Host country  United Nations
Dates 18 September 2018 – September 2019
Venue(s) United Nations Headquarters
Cities New York City

The seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly was opened on 18 September 2018.[1] The President of the United Nations General Assembly is from the GRULAC group.

Organisation for the session

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, María Fernanda Espinosa was elected as President of the General Assembly on 5 June 2018.

Twenty-one Vice Presidents were also elected. Vice Presidents, other than the five permanent members of the Security Council, will be from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Iraq, Japan, Namibia, Panama, Qatar, San Marino, Spain, Sudan and Ukraine.[2]

As is tradition during each session of the General Assembly, Secretary-General António Guterres will draw lots to see which member state would take the helm at the first seat in the General Assembly Chamber, with the other member states following according to the English translation of their name, the same order would be followed in the six main committees.[3] For this session, Mali was chosen to take the first seat of the General Assembly Chamber.[2]

Committees

The following were elected as Chairs and officers of the General Assembly committees for this session:

General Debate

Most states will have a representative speaking about issues concerning their country and the hopes for the coming year as to what the UNGA will do. This is an opportunity for the member states to opine on international issues of their concern. The General Debate will occur from 25 September to 1 October 2018, with the exception of the intervening Sunday.[4] The theme for this year's debate was chosen by President María Fernanda Espinosa as “Making the United Nations relevant to all people: Global leadership and shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies”.[5]

The order of speakers is given first to member states, then observer states and supranational bodies. Any other observers entities will have a chance to speak at the end of the debate, if they so choose. Speakers will be put on the list in the order of their request, with special consideration for ministers and other government officials of similar or higher rank. According to the rules in place for the General Debate, the statements should be in one of the United Nations official languages of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian or Spanish, and will be translated by the United Nations translators. Each speaker is requested to provide 20 advance copies of their statements to the conference officers to facilitate translation and to be presented at the podium. Speeches are requested to be limited to five minutes, with seven minutes for supranational bodies.[3]

Foreign ministers and high representatives participating in the General Debate signed the Code of Conduct Towards Achieving a World Free of Terrorism. The Code of Conduct was the brainchild of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The main goal of the document is implementation of a wide range of international commitments to counter terrorism and establishing a broad global coalition towards achieving a world free of terrorism by 2045.[6]

Resolutions

The following are resolutions of the present UNGA as of 23 September 2018. More resolutions will come during the course of this UNGA.

Resolution Date Sponsor(s) Vote (Y-N-A) For Abstain Against Passed Notes
Inclusion of a supplementary item in the agenda: The situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.[7][8] 21 September 2018
68-13-48
 Yes
Inclusion of a supplementary item in the agenda: The responsibility to protect and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.[7][9] 21 September 2018
93-16-17
 Yes

Elections

The election of non-permanent members to the Security Council for 2018–2019 was held on 8 June 2018, in which South Africa, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Germany and Belgium were elected.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Bring the United Nations closer to the people, urges Assembly President in her inaugural speech". UN News. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 Delegates' Handbook, Seventy-third Session of the United Nations General Assembly (PDF). New York: United Nations. 2018.
  3. 1 2 "63rd Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Geneva, 1 - 5 October 2012" (PDF). Unhcr.org. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "6 things to know about the General Assembly as UN heads into high level week". UN News. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "Letter of the President-elect of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly to Heads of States" (PDF). 26 July 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "At UN General Assembly, FM presents Kazakh initiatives, meets foreign officials, US business representatives". astanatimes.com.
  7. 1 2 "3rd Plenary Meeting of General Assembly 73rd Session". United Nations Web TV. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  8. ↑ "Request for the inclusion of a supplementary item in the agenda of the seventy-third session: The situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine". United Nations. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "Request for the inclusion of a supplementary item in the agenda of the seventy-third session: The responsibility to protect and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity". United Nations. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  10. ↑ "Security Council Monthly" (PDF). www.reliefweb.int. June 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2018.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.