United Nations General Committee
| Legal status | Active |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York, United States |
| Membership | 28 members |
President | Annalena Baerbock |
Parent organization | United Nations General Assembly |
| Website | www |
The United Nations General Committee is a committee of the United Nations General Assembly whose main purpose is to organize the body's agenda, among other things.
The committee consists of 28 members: the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the 21 Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, and the Chairs of the six Main Committees.
Mandate
The Mandate of the General Committee consists of the following:[1][2][3]
- Creating a provisional agenda for the General Assembly, as well as any supplementary lists.
- Assisting the President of the General Assembly and the General Assembly in drawing up the agenda for each plenary meeting.
- Making recommendations to the General Assembly concerning the recess and closing dates of the session.
- Coordinating the proceedings of the main committees by allocating agenda items, as well as determining the priority of said items.
- Entertaining requests for the inclusion of additional items in the agenda.
- Assisting in the general conduct of the work of the General Assembly.
- Making recommendations to the General Assembly.
The Committee meets periodically to review the progress of the General Assembly and its committees. It also meets at such times as the President deems necessary or upon the request of any other of its members.
An individual Vice-President of the General Assembly does not have the power to unilaterally add an item to the General Assembly's agenda, not even if they are a permanent member of the UN Security Council such as the United States. For example, the General Committee has regularly rejected agenda items about the participation of the Republic of China (Taiwan),[4] even when raised by a sitting Vice-President who formally recognizes the Republic of China (such as Guatemala in 1993).[5][6]
Regional Groups
The rules of the General Assembly state that the President and 21 Vice-Presidents must be elected from the following Regional Groups:[7]
- 5 from the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council
- 6 from the African Group
- 5 from the Asia–Pacific Group
- 1 from the Eastern European Group (EEG)
- 3 from the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
- 2 from the Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
In addition, the chairs of the six Main Committees must consist of one from each group, with the remaining chair rotating unevenly between the three non-European groups[a] (prior to 1994, there were seven Main Committees, with two chairs from the African Group, one chair from every other group, and the remaining chair rotating between the Asia–Pacific Group and the Latin American and Caribbean Group "every alternate year").[7]
The rules also state that every member of the General Committee must be from a different country.[8] As the permanent members of the Security Council are always vice-presidents, this rule bans the permanent members from being President of the General Assembly or chairs of any Main Committee.
Members
President and Vice-Presidents
The President's seat is highlighted below. The permanent members of the Security Council are also Vice-Presidents.
Chairs of the six Main Committees
The six seats are negotiated between the regional groups; a single group does not always chair a specific Main Committee.
| Year | African Group | Asia-Pacific Group |
Eastern European Group |
Latin American and Caribbean Group |
Western European and Others Group |
Rotating seat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015[13] | Morocco | Nepal | Slovenia | Trinidad and Tobago | Netherlands | Malawi |
| 2016[14] | Algeria | Indonesia | Croatia | Colombia | Israel | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| 2017[15] | Cameroon | Iraq | Estonia | Venezuela | Iceland | Singapore |
| 2018[10] | Liberia | Afghanistan | Romania | Guatemala | Australia | Gabon |
| 2019[16] | Senegal | Iraq | Slovakia | Bolivia | Luxembourg | Cyprus |
| 2020[17] | Botswana | Nepal | Hungary | Uruguay | Spain | Chile |
| 2021[18] | Morocco | Qatar | Armenia | El Salvador | Malta | Djibouti |
| 2022[19] | Mozambique | Sri Lanka | Bulgaria | Dominican Republic | Belgium | Oman |
| 2023[20] | South Africa | Thailand | Lithuania | Uruguay | Austria | Egypt |
| 2024[21] | Burundi | Bangladesh | Latvia | Costa Rica | Portugal | El Salvador |
| 2025[22] | The Gambia | Thailand | Hungary | Guatemala | Italy | Philippines |
See also
Notes
- ^ The rule states the pattern ABAC→BABC→ABAC→ABAC→BABC repeating every 20 elections, where A is the African Group, B is the Asia-Pacific Group, and C is the Latin American and Caribbean Group.
- ^ In an odd inconsistency, the General Committee page of the United Nations website has listed an "Eastern European and Other States" group since about mid-2019.[9][10] Throughout the 2024 session, the page listed Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan as group members.[11] This does not match the original meeting record, which has no such group and puts the two countries in the Asia-Pacific Group as normal.[12] The page has correctly put Turkmenistan in the Asia-Pacific Group in 2020 and 2022.
References
- ^ "General Committee: Composition for the 79th session". General Assembly of the United Nations. United Nations. n.d. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
- ^ Manhire, Vanessa, ed. (2021). "United Nations Handbook 2021–22" (PDF). United Nations Handbook:: An Annual Guide for Those Working within the United Nations (58th ed.). Wellington: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand. ISSN 0110-1951. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2019.
- ^ Ruder, Nicole; Nakano, Kenji; Aeschlimann, Johann (2017). Aeschlimann, Johann; Regan, Mary (eds.). The GA Handbook: A Practical Guide to the United Nations General Assembly (PDF) (2nd ed.). New York: Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations. ISBN 978-0-615-49660-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 November 2018.
- ^ Damm, Jens; Lim, Paul (2012). European Perspectives on Taiwan. Springer Science+Business Media. pp. 160–63. ISBN 9783531943039.
By mid 2009, 16 applications for membership on behalf of Taiwan had been sent to the UN, but, in each of these cases, the General Assembly's General Committee, which sets the Assembly's agenda, decided against even raising the question during the Assembly's session.
- ^ United Nations General Assembly Session 48 Agenda item A/48/191 1993-08-09. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
- ^ United Nations General Assembly Session 64 Agenda item A/64/100 2009-06-15.
- ^ a b "Who are the Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly?". United Nations.
- ^ "General Committee, Rules of Procedure | UN General Assembly". United Nations.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 72nd session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ a b "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 73rd session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 79th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 14 January 2026. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "General Assembly official records, 78th session : 87th plenary meeting, Thursday, 6 June 2024, New York A/78/PV.87". United Nations Digital Library. 6 June 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 70th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 71st session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 72nd session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 74th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 2 June 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 75th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 76th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 24 March 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 77th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 78th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 79th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 11 September 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ^ "UN General Assembly - General Committee - Composition for the 80th session". United Nations. Archived from the original on 12 February 2026. Retrieved 13 February 2026.