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UNITED NATIONS, Sep 15 (IPS) – The General Assembly and the ECOSOC Affairs Department have approximately forty staff, with the combined role of facilitating the deliberations and decision-making of intergovernmental bodies such as the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiary bodies .
This involves several aspects to help the President, the Member States and the other participants. For example, we prepare the agenda of the intergovernmental body and a work program (i.e. a calendar) for the meetings of that body. We also draw up the scripts for the chairman and the list of speakers for the meeting, taking into account rules about who can speak and when.
We advise all those involved on applicable procedural rules, but also on the practices and precedents of these bodies and how these rules are applied. For example, the General Assembly has both the president and 21 vice presidents. Each of the six Main Committees has a chairman, three vice-chairmen and a rapporteur. We advise them about the procedure, including how to deal with unexpected questions or procedural motions from the audience.
We take care of the meeting room arrangements and documentation. The latter includes draft resolutions and decisions: we receive these from the Member States and have them processed for issuance as an official document in six languages.
These could be draft amendments from other countries that disagreed with the content of the original draft resolutions. We conduct registered votes as necessary, as well as secret ballots for elections. We also compiled a final report of the body.
How the preparations take place
Preparations for a regular session of the General Assembly starting in September begin months and months in advance. The document relating to the agenda of the session (which normally contains about 170-180 points) is prepared in February with a so-called “provisional list of points to be included in the provisional agenda”.
The list of agenda items will continue to grow as new agenda items become mandatory through the adoption of resolutions. That is why we will continue to update the list and send out the so-called “provisional agenda” in July. Preparation of the list of speakers for the general debate will begin in June, with heads of state or government and other high-ranking representatives due to speak at the General Assembly in September.
In the meantime, the chairman of the new session in June will largely be elected by so-called acclamation or without a secret ballot. If there are competing candidates, the elections will take place by secret ballot by the member states. The chosen candidate will take office when the new session begins in September, but there is a period between June and September when both the incumbent president and the newly elected president work together in handing over the new session.
We have put together an information note on High-Level Week in September, as well as a publication called the “Delegates’ Handbook” with practical information on meeting rooms, facilities and services available to delegates. The High-Level Week in September includes, in addition to the general debate, other meetings on specific topics, as prescribed by the resolutions of the General Assembly.
In September 2023, (1) the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development will take place under the auspices of the General Assembly, (2) the High-Level Dialogue on Financing Development, (3) the Preparatory Ministerial Meeting for the Summit of the future and high-level meetings on (4) universal health coverage, (5) prevention, preparedness and response to pandemics and (6) fight against tuberculosis, as well as (7) the high-level plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the international Day for the total eradication of nuclear weapons.
The Secretary-General will also convene the Climate Ambition Summit. Many of them will have a final document, which Member States will negotiate many months before adoption in September.
A story of two halves
Once High-Level Week is over, we have the remainder of the “main” portion of the September through December session. In addition to the plenary meeting of the General Assembly, the six Main Committees, from the First Committee to the Six Committee, hold meetings during this period, each on the basis of its own “work program”.
These Main Committees are assigned agenda items, on the basis of which they adopt draft resolutions to be recommended to the plenary session of the General Assembly. In December, the plenary meeting will discuss these recommendations from the Main Committees, while continuing to deal with its own agenda items.
The subsequent period, from January to September, is called the “resume portion” of the session. That part does not have a fixed calendar, but rather consists of meetings that the President of the General Assembly holds on his own initiative or in response to a mandate given by a resolution of the General Assembly. The resumed part of the session will also include informal consultations on topics mandated by resolutions adopted during the main part, for example to negotiate the organizational arrangements and/or an outcome document of a future high-level meeting. These consultations are normally led by permanent representatives from different regions, who are appointed as facilitators by the President of the General Assembly.
The list of speakers for the general debate
First and foremost, Member States are requested to inform the Secretariat of their three preferred moments. For each day’s morning meeting and afternoon meeting, there are only a certain number of speakers, so we can only accommodate speakers up to that number. The speakers for each meeting are listed according to the established protocol, starting with the heads of state, vice presidents and crown princes or princesses and heads of government.
Media and seating
Media accreditation is provided by the Department of Global Communications, and there is a media booth where journalists and camera crews can observe what is happening in the General Assembly. A similar area has been set up outside the General Assembly Hall where journalists can listen to leaders entering/leaving the hall. The Department of Global Communications is also putting together a press kit for the session.
Every year in June, the Secretary General draws a ticket from a box containing all the names of the Member States. The selected country will occupy the first seat in the Hall once the new session begins in September, and from there the seating arrangement will follow English alphabetical order. The same seats apply to the Main Committees.
How we guarantee inclusivity
This has been a very important issue for the General Assembly, the ECOSOC Affairs Division and the Member States. Four years ago, the General Assembly passed a resolution to introduce accessible seating, making wheelchair-accessible seating available at the request of a delegation. The General Assembly Hall has a certain number of such seats, so the requesting delegation is moved to such a seat, and the seats of other delegations are moved one seat.
There are currently two Member States that continuously request accessible seating. This summer, a further improvement will be made in the General Assembly Hall by installing a lift in front of the stage, so that a speaker in a wheelchair can speak from the stage.
Benefits of live broadcast
The General Assembly implies universal participation of all member states in all matters confronting humanity. So it is very important to share information about the deliberation with the people who will be affected by it. Civil society, businesses, academics and media are increasingly involved, so it is a natural progression to offer this function and strengthen the General Assembly’s global platform.
Kenji Nakano is head of the General Meeting Affairs department
Source: UN TODAY, the official magazine of international civil servants, Geneva
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© Inter Press Service (2023) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service