Group of Asia and the Pacific Small Island Developing States

The precedent of the geographic distribution of seats was set by the United Nation's predecessor, the League of Nations. Under the League's system, a Nomination's Committee was created in order to create election slates for distribution of seats in the Council of the League.[3]

This proved a difficult task as the number of seats was on the Council was constantly changing. However, from 1926 to 1933 an unofficial pattern of distribution emerged where the non-permament seats on the Council were distributed along the following lines:[3]

• 3 for Latin American states
• 1 for a Scandinavian state
• 1 for a Little Entente state (Czechoslovakia, Romania or Yugoslavia)
• 1 for a member of the British Commonwealth
• 1 for a Far Eastern state
• 1 seat each for Spain and Poland

Under this system, members from the current Asia and the Pacific Group only had two guaranteed seats on the Council, the Far East seat and Japan's permanent seat.

During the drafting of the United Nations Charter, the idea of geographic distribution of seats of the new organisation's bodies was one of the priorities of the drafters. On the United State's recommendation, the very first General Committee of the United Nations was composed of:[3]

• The five permanent members of the Security Council
• 3 Latin American states
• 2 British Commonwealth states
• 2 Eastern European states
• 1 Western European state
• 1 Middle Eastern state

This distribution began the precedent of using regional groups for the allocation of seats in United Nations bodies. For example, the first election to the Economic and Social Council used a similar scheme, allocating seats along the following lines:[3]

• The five permanent members of the Security Council
• 4 Latin American states
• 2 British Commonwealth states
• 3 Eastern European states
• 2 Western European states
• 2 Near East states

However, these arrangements were not formal and were based on "Gentlemen’s Agreements."

Following a wave of decolonisation, there were multiple admissions into the United Nations from Asian and Pacific states. After the Bandung Conference in 1955, there was increasing solidarity among post-colonial states which led to pressure being put on the United Nations for increased representation of these states. This pressure led to Resolution 1192 (XII) of 12 December 1957. This resolution established a formal pattern for distribution of seats on the General Committee awarding four for Asian and African states.[3][6]

Continued pressure eventually also led to reform of the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council with the passage of Resolution 1991 (XVIII) of 17 December 1963. This resolution formally set up a pattern for the election of members to the Security Council and stipulated that five seats were to be allocated to African and Asian states. It also formally set up a pattern for the election of members to the Economic and Social Council and allocated seven seats for African and Asian states.[3][7]

After continued decolonisation and an increase in membership of the United Nations, the groups were again modified in 1964. Prior to this African and Asian states were included in the same group. However, theses two regions were split with each one receiving its own group. This split allowed even more geographical distribution of seats among the Member States in different UN bodies.[8]

At its creation, the Group was simply known as the Asia Group. However, by the 1970s, Pacific island nations were gaining independence and joining the group. By the mid-2000s the number of Pacific island nations in the group had reached over one fifth of the membership, so they began to advocate for a change of name of the Group.[9]

These efforts were met with success in 2011 when the United Nations agreed to include "Pacific" in the name of the Group, changing it to the Group of Asia and the Pacific Small Island Developing States at China's insistence. This change in name recognises the growing role Pacific island nations play in the United Nations System.[10]

The Asia and the Pacific Group holds 3 seats on the Security Council, 2 non-permanent and 1 permanent. The current members of the Security Council from the Group are:[11][12]

Country	Term
China	Permanent
Indonesia	1 January 2019 – 31 December 2020
Viet Nam	1 January 2020 – 31 December 2021

The Asia and the Pacific Group holds 11 seats on the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The current members of the Economic and Social Council from the Group are:[13][14]

Country	Term
India	1 January 2018 – 31 December 2020
Japan
Philippines
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	1 January 2019 – 31 December 2021
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Turkmenistan
Bangladesh	1 January 2020 – 31 December 2022
China
Republic of Korea
Thailand

The Asia-Pacific Group holds 13 seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council. The current members of the Economic and Social Council from the Group are:[15][16]

Country	Term
Afghanistan	1 January 2018 – 31 December 2020
Nepal
Qatar
Pakistan
Bahrain	1 January 2019 – 31 December 2021
Bangladesh
Fiji
India
Philippines
Indonesia	1 January 2020 – 31 December 2022
Republic of Korea
Japan
Marshall Islands

Every five years in the years ending in 1 and 6, the Asia-Pacific Group is eligible to elect a president to the General Assembly.[1]

The following is a list of presidents from the region since its official creation in 1963:[17]

Year Elected	Session	Name of President	Country	Note
1966	21st	Abdul Rahman Pazhwak	Afghanistan	Also chaired the 5th and 6th emergency special sessions of the General Assembly
1971	26th	Adam Malik	Indonesia
1976	31st	H. S. Amerasinghe	Sri Lanka
1981	36th	Ismat T. Kittani	Iraq	Also chaired the 7th and 9th emergency special sessions and the 12th special session of the General Assembly
1986	41st	Humayun Rasheed Choudhury	Bangladesh	Also chaired the 14th special session of the General Assembly
1991	46th	Samir S. Shihabi	Saudi Arabia
1996	51st	Razali Ismail	Malaysia	Also chaired the 10th emergency special and 19th special sessions of the General Assembly
2001	56th	Han Seung-soo	Republic of Korea	Also chaired the 10th emergency special session of the General Assembly
2006	61st	Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa	Bahrain	Also chaired the 10th emergency special session of the General Assembly
2011	66th	Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser	Qatar
2016	71st	Peter Thomson	Fiji
Future
2021	76th	TBD	TBD
2026	81st	TBD	TBD
2031	86th	TBD	TBD