The General Assembly of U.N has performed important functions in social, economic culture and in the field of human rights.

Title: The General Assembly of U.N has performed important functions in social, economic culture and in the field of human rights.

Executive summary:

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA/GA) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the United Nations, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, receive reports from other parts of the United Nations and make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions . It has also established a wide number of subsidiary organs . The General Assembly meets under its president or Secretary-General in regular yearly sessions the main part of which lasts from September to December and resumed part from January until all issues are addressed (which often is just before the next session’s start). It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions. Its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Westminster Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations. Voting in the General Assembly on important questions – recommendations on peace and security; election of members to organs; admission, suspension, and expulsion of members; budgetary matters – is by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. Other questions are decided by majority vote. Each member country has one vote. Apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security under Security Council consideration. The one state, one vote power structure theoretically allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the North-South dialogue – the discussion of issues between industrialized nations and developing countries. These issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership. In 1945, the UN had 51 members. It now has 193, of which more than two-thirds are developing countries. Because of their numbers, developing countries are often able to determine the agenda of the Assembly (using coordinating groups like the G77), the character of its debates, and the nature of its decisions. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence and the principal outlet for their foreign relations initiatives. Although the resolutions passed by the General Assembly do not have the binding forces over the member nations(apart from budgetary measures), pursuant to its Uniting for Peace resolution of November 1950 (resolution 377 (V)), the Assembly may also take action if the Security Council fails to act, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member, in a case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression. The Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security .

Introduction:

Established in 1945 under the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly occupies a central position as the chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. Comprising all 193 Members of the United Nations, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter. It also plays a significant role in the process of standard setting and the codification of international law. The Assembly meets in regular session intensively from September to December each year, and thereafter as required.

Subsidiary organ:

The General Assembly subsidiary organs are divided into five categories: committees (30 total, six main), commissions (seven), boards (six), councils and panels (five), working groups, and “other”.

Committees:

1. Main committees:

The main committees are ordinally numbered, 1–6:

• The First Committee: Disarmament and International Security (DISEC)
• The Second Committee: Economic and Financial (ECOFIN)
• The Third Committee: Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian (SOCHUM)
• The Fourth Committee: Special Political and Decolonisation (SPECPOL)
• The Fifth Committee: Administrative and Budgetary
• The Sixth Committee: Legal.

The roles of many of the main committees have changed over time. Until the late 1970s, the First Committee was the Political and Security Committee (POLISEC) and there was also a sufficient number of additional “political” matters that an additional, unnumbered main committee, called the Special Political Committee, also sat. The Fourth Committee formerly handled Trusteeship and Decolonization matters. With the decreasing number of such matters to be addressed as the trust territories attained independence and the decolonization movement progressed, the functions of the Special Political Committee were merged into the Fourth Committee during the 1990s.

Each main committee consists of all the members of the General Assembly. Each elects a chairman, three vice chairmen, and a rapporteur at the outset of each regular General Assembly session

2. Other committees:

These are not numbered. According to the General Assembly website, the most important are:

• Credentials Committee – This committee is charged with ensuring that the <href=”#Diplomacy” title=”Credential”>diplomatic credentials of all UN representatives are in order. The Credentials Committee consists of nine Member States elected early in each regular General Assembly session.
• General Committee – This is a supervisory committee entrusted with ensuring that the whole meeting of the Assembly goes smoothly. The General Committee consists of the president and vice presidents of the current General Assembly session and the chairman of each of the six Main Committees.

Other committees of the General Assembly are enumerated .

Function and power of general assembly :

According to the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly may:

· Consider and make recommendations on the general principles of cooperation for maintaining international peace and security, including disarmament;

· Discuss any question relating to international peace and security and, except where a dispute or situation is currently being discussed by the Security Council, make recommendations on it;

· Discuss, with the same exception, and make recommendations on any questions within the scope of the Charter or affecting the powers and functions of any organ of the United Nations;

· Initiate studies and make recommendations to promote international political cooperation, the development and codification of international law, the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and international collaboration in the economic, social, humanitarian, cultural, educational and health fields;

· Make recommendations for the peaceful settlement of any situation that might impair friendly relations among nations;

· Receive and consider reports from the Security Council and other United Nations organs;

· Consider and approve the United Nations budget and establish the financial assessments of Member States;

· Elect the non-permanent members of the Security Council and the members of other United Nations councils and organs and, on the recommendation of the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General.

Pursuant to its “Uniting for Peace” resolution of November 1950 (resolution 377 (V)) , the Assembly may also take action if the Security Council fails to act, owing to the negative vote of a permanent member, in a case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression. The Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security (see “Special sessions and emergency special sessions”).

While the Assembly is empowered to make only non-binding recommendations to States on international issues within its competence, it has, nonetheless, initiated actions—political, economic, humanitarian, social and legal—which have affected the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

The landmark Millennium Declaration, adopted in 2000, and the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document reflect the commitment of Member States to reach specific goals to attain peace, security and disarmament along with development and poverty eradication; safeguard human rights and promote the rule of law; protect our common environment; meet the special needs of Africa; and strengthen the United Nations.

Contribution in the field of social and economic development :

1.Advancement of women :

Women bear a disproportionate burden of the world’s poverty. Statistics indicate that women are more likely than men to be poor and at risk of hunger because of the systematic discrimination they face in education, health care, employment and control of assets. Poverty implications are widespread for women, leaving many without even basic rights such as access to clean drinking water, sanitation, medical care and decent employment. Being poor can also mean they have little protection from violence and have no role in decision making.

According to some estimates, women represent 70 percent of the world’s poor. They are often paid less than men for their work, with the average wage gap in 2008 being 17 percent. Women face persistent discrimination when they apply for credit for business or self-employment and are often concentrated in insecure, unsafe and low-wage work. Eight out of ten women workers are considered to be in vulnerable employment in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with global economic changes taking a huge toll on their livelihoods.

Advancing women’s economic security and rights has always been a core UN Women priority. UN Women supports women to reshape conditions at both ends of the economic spectrum — from boosting women’s participation in economic policy-making to supporting efforts to provide women and their communities with practical skills needed for securing sustainable livelihoods.

In more than 40 countries, for example, UN Women supports national and local initiatives to include gender perspectives in budgeting processes, and to collect and use sex-disaggregated data in public policy formulation to ensure that macro-economic policy frameworks address women’s priorities. UN Women also works to strengthen women’s rights to land and inheritance, increase their access to credit and decent work, and empower women migrant workers as well as home-based workers.

2. Governance and institutional building:

i. Public Administration and development:

The Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) provides secretariat support to the United Nations Programme on Public Administration and Development. It assists the Member States of the United Nations in fostering efficient, effective, transparent, accountable, clean and citizen-centered public governance, administration and services through innovation and technology to achieve the internationally agreed development goals including the MDGs.

The mandates of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management are defined by resolutions and decisions adopted by the General Assembly (GA) and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.

The following resolutions and decisions are of particular relevance to the area of public administration. They include reference to reports by the Committee of Experts on Public Administration, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development, and World Summit on the Information Society.

A – General Assembly

E – Economic and Social Council

3. International trade:

The overall objective of the programme is to promote inclusive and sustainable development through international trade. It offers analysis and advice and seeks to build consensus, strengthen capacity and promote partnerships for trade policy, trade negotiations, trade in goods and services, competition law and consumer protection, and managing issues arising at the intersection of trade, the environment and climate change.

4. Macroeconomics and Finance:

The Economic and Social Council will hold its Special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on 22 April 2013 in the renovated ECOSOC Chamber at the UN Headquarters, New York. The overall theme of the meeting will be “Coherence, coordination and cooperation in the context of financing for sustainable development and the post-2015 development agenda”. The Secretary-General will address the meeting. The morning session will feature a High-level Panel of Ministers on “World economic situation and prospects in the wake of the world financial and economic crisis”.

The afternoon session will feature informal thematic debates on: (a) Financing for sustainable development, including through leveraging of private capital, in the context of the follow-up to the outcome of the Rio+20 Conference; and (b) Global partnership for development in the context of post-2015 development agenda. The thematic debates will be held consecutively in an informal plenary setting of the whole, in order to facilitate greater engagement of all participants and to promote an open exchange of views and experiences among all stakeholders, including civil society and the business sector. At the closing of the meeting, the President of ECOSOC will make concluding remarks. The full summary by the President of the Council will be issued as an official document of ECOSOC and the General Assembly.

5. Population:

A Population Commission was established by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 3 (III) of 3 October 1946. In its resolution 49/128 of 19 December 1994, the General Assembly decided that the Commission should be renamed the Commission on Population and Development. In the same resolution, the Assembly decided that it, the Council and the Commission should constitute a three-tiered intergovernmental mechanism that would play the primary role in the follow-up to the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, and that the Commission, as a functional commission assisting the Council, would monitor, review and assess the implementation of the Programme of Action at the national, regional and international levels and advise the Council thereon.

Under its terms of reference the Commission is to assist the Council by:

1. Arranging for studies and advising the Council on:

· Population issues and trends;

· Integrating population and development strategies;

· Population and related development policies and programmes;

· Provision of population assistance, upon request, to developing countries and, on a temporary basis, to countries with economies in transition; and

· Any other population and development questions on which either the principal or the subsidiary organs of the United Nations or the specialized agencies may seek advice.

6. Social Development:

The potential of young people to use technology to make exceptional contributions to society and history is in the spotlight today at a United Nations forum, where officials are calling on future leaders to use their expertise and compassion to address the challenges facing the world.

In his opening statement, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged participants to be “global citizens” and to help the Organizations rise to the challenges such as insecurity, climate change and unemployment by finding their own mission in life.

“Be part of creating a new vision. It is not only about telling us what kind of world you want. It is about partnering with us to realize a better future,” he told participants at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum in New York.

The forum’s theme focuses on leveraging science, technology, innovation and culture to improve societies. Participants are ‘tomorrow’s innovators’, including youth representatives from Member States, students and young entrepreneurs with science and technology backgrounds and youth-led non-governmental organizations.

Human rights:

1. Special Representative on Violence Against Children :

SRSG Santos Pais joined high-level Government officials, UNICEF and civil society representatives in a strong call for the inclusion of children protection from violence as a key dimension in the post 2015 development agenda.

Hosted by UNICEF, the event “The Prevention of Violence against children and its place in the Post-2015 Agenda” was co-organized by the Governments of Canada and Liberia, moderated by the Government of Sweden, and also included the participation of a representative from the US Government, of the Global Director of the UN Millennium Campaign and of the Secretary General of ChildFund Alliance.

The event was a momentous occasion to discuss and mobilize support for the inclusion of children’s protection from violence in the post 2015 Agenda. As noted by SRSG Santos Pais, countries affected by violence tend to lag behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and when violence prevails, people are more likely to be malnourished and live in poverty, and children are three times more likely to be out of school.

“For children, violence goes hand in hand with deprivation, high risks of poor health, poor school performance and long term welfare dependency. Placing children protection from violence in the post 2015 Agenda is therefore a human rights imperative and a question of good governance and good economics”, emphasized the SRSG.

2. UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict:

In adopting Resolution 1820 on women, peace and security in June, the Security Council has recognized that sexual violence as a tactic of war deserves its urgent attention. The resolution is full of brilliant language, changing the way we think about sexual violence, and demanding that efforts to protect civilians address women’s security. It affirms that there can be no security without women’s security.

We need to be clear that this resolution addresses sexual violence in conflict situations, not sexual violence in general. The latter is a criminal justice problem, which needs to be addressed by each country’s police and judicial systems. But when sexual violence is widespread and used systematically against civilians for military or political gain, it is a matter for the Security Council.

The two categories converge when sexual violence does not stop after a conflict ends: when rape is taken up by ordinary citizens and demobilized soldiers on a mass scale. Failure to stop it seriously undermines efforts to re-establish the rule of law. Emerging governance institutions, such as the police and judiciary, lack credibility when one group of citizens—former combatants – enjoys impunity for serious crimes against other groups. This too is a security issue, one which requires a security response.

To protect civilians, we need a targeted and gender-specific approach to security and post-conflict stabilization. Because sexual violence is different from conventional means and methods of war. It happens in private spaces that are rarely patrolled by the military or police – at times – often deep in the night – when security actors are scarce. And it generally goes unreported, because the victims – not the attackers – are shamed and stigmatized.

For this reason, UNIFEM, DPKO, UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, together with the Governments of Canada and the United Kingdom, organized a conference in Wilton Park last May to review the response of military peacekeepers. We jointly prepared an Analytical Inventory of tactics that uniformed personnel have employed to prevent widespread and systematic sexual violence and to proactively protect women and children. Scheduled for publication in early 2009, this will provide a platform for assessing, improving and up-scaling good practice.

3. Children and Armed Conflict :

Since the 90s and beginning with the groundbreaking report of Graça Machel in 1996 as well as the establishment of the mandate of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict in 1997, the General Assembly has succeeded in placing the issue of children and armed conflict firmly on the international agenda.

The General Assembly has adopted important treaties and several resolutions to better protect children from the effects of war. These resolutions are annually negotiated within the third committee of the General Assembly on social, humanitarian, and cultural affairs.

Treaties:

§ The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1998)

§ The Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000)

§ The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (2000)

4. Human trafficking:

Human trafficking is the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. Smuggling migrants involves the procurement for financial or other material benefit of illegal entry of a person into a State of which that person is not a national or resident. Virtually every country in the world is affected by these crimes. The challenge for all countries, rich and poor, is to target the criminals who exploit desperate people and to protect and assist victims of trafficking and smuggled migrants, many of whom endure unimaginable hardships in their bid for a better life. As the only United Nations entity focusing on the criminal justice element of these crimes, the work that UNODC does to combat human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants is underpinned by the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols on trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling.

Conclusion:

Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented a report, In Larger Freedom, that criticized the General Assembly for focusing so much on consensus that it was passing watered-down resolutions reflecting “the lowest common denominator of widely different opinions.” He also criticized the Assembly for trying to address too broad an agenda, instead of focusing on “the major substantive issues of the day, such as international migration and the long-debated comprehensive convention on terrorism”. Annan recommended streamlining the General Assembly’s agenda, committee structure, and procedures; strengthening the role and authority of its president; enhancing the role of civil society; and establishing a mechanism to review the decisions of its committees, in order to minimize unfunded mandates and micromanagement of the United Nations Secretariat. Annan reminded UN members of their responsibility to implement reforms, if they expect to realize improvements in UN effectiveness . Despite the general assembly of U.N. has many shortcomings but it has performed important functions in the area of social and economic culture and in the field of human rights .