58th UN
General Assembly Begins September 16
The 58th session of the UN General Assembly begins on September 16 at UN
headquarters in New York. Heads of State or their representatives from the
191 countries belonging to the UN will participate, each speaking at the
assembly.
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In June, St Lucia’s Minister of External Affairs Julian R. Hunte of St. Lucia was elected the president of the UN General Assembly's 58th session. He represents the smallest country ever to hold this office.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Hunte said that only international cooperation offered any hope that, collectively, the international community could overcome the problems that threatened humanity as a whole. The unprecedented challenges that faced the UN, ranging from HIV/AIDS to terrorism, knew no borders and respected no boundaries, he said.
He stated that it was his intention, as President, to focus the Assembly’s efforts on the full implementation of the outcomes of more than a decade of United Nations summits and conferences and the United Nations development agenda, including the Millennium Development Goals.
The General Assembly is the UN’s main deliberative organ. It is composed of representatives of all member states, each of which has one vote. Decisions on important questions, such as peace and security, admission of new members and budgets, require a two-thirds majority. Decisions on other questions are by simple majority.
The General Assembly’s regular session usually begins in September each year. At the start of each regular session, the Assembly elects a new president, 21 vice-presidents and the chairpersons of the Assembly’s six main committees.
To ensure equitable geographical distribution, the presidency of the Assembly rotates each year among five groups of states: African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and the Caribbean and Western European and other states.
The Assembly may hold special sessions at the request of the Security Council, of a majority of member states or of one member if the majority of members agree.
At the beginning of each regular session, the Assembly holds a general debate, addressed by heads of state and government, expressing their views on the most pressing international issues.
Most questions are then discussed in its six main committees on disarmament and international security; Economic and financial; social, humanitarian and cultural; special political and decolonisation; administrative and budgetary; and legal.
While decisions of the Assembly have no legal force for governments, they carry the weight of world opinion and the moral authority of the world community.
The work of the UN year-round derives from the decisions of the General Assembly, that is, the will of the majority of members as expressed in resolutions adopted by the Assembly.