GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTS AGENDA AND ORGANIZATION OF WORK FOR FIFTY-SECOND SESSION; 158 ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED
Press Release
GA/9301
GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTS AGENDA AND ORGANIZATION OF WORK FOR FIFTY-SECOND SESSION; 158 ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED
19970919 Secretary-General to Make Brief Presentation of His Report On Work of Organization to Plenary before Opening of General DebateThe General Assembly this morning adopted a 158-item agenda for its fifty-second session. The agenda includes three new items -- on amending the statute of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal, on granting observer status for the Andean Community and an item entitled "Towards a culture of peace".
By adopting this morning the report of its General Committee on the organization of the fifty-second session, the Assembly decided that the items on the Andean Community and a culture of peace would be among the 63 to be considered directly in plenary meetings. The Sixth Committee (Legal) will take up the item on amending the statute of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal.
A new sub-item -- "Draft guiding principles for international negotiations", also included in the Assembly's agenda, will be taken up along with other sub-items under the consideration by the Sixth Committee of the United Nations Decade of International Law.
Responding to a statement by the representative of Pakistan regarding the item on "United Nations reform: measures and proposals", the President of the Assembly said he was currently undertaking extensive consultations to determine what would be the mechanism for the consideration of the Secretary- General's report on the reform. The Assembly would take a decision on the format of the mechanism, he added. The representative of the United States spoke in support of the President's statement.
In addition, the Assembly deferred consideration of two items on its provisional agenda -- one on the question of the Malagasy islands of Glorieuses, Juan de Nova, Europa and Bassas da India and the other on the question of East Timor. It also decided that the item on the situation in Cyprus would be allocated at an appropriate time during the session.
The Assembly decided not to include the item on the "Need to review Assembly resolution 2758 (XXVI) of 25 October 1971 owing to the fundamental change in the international situation and the coexistence of two governments across the Taiwan Strait".
Also this morning, the Assembly adopted its organization of work for the fifty-second session, which is scheduled to recess no later than Tuesday, 16 December. The closing date of the fifty-second session will be subject to the implementation of resolution 51/241 of 31 July, on the strengthening of the United Nations system. All the Main Committees were instructed to start their work as soon as possible and make every effort to complete their work by Friday, 28 November. It was agreed that morning meetings of the plenary and the Committees should start at 10 a.m. and, as a cost-saving measure, every effort should be made to ensure that afternoon meetings begin at 3 p.m. and adjourn by 6 p.m., and that no meetings be held on weekends.
Also on the recommendation of its General Committee, the Assembly decided that, in order to avoid the late start of meetings, it would waive the requirement of the presence of at least one-third of the Members to declare a plenary meeting open and permit the debate to proceed and one-quarter of the Members to declare a meeting of a Main Committee open and permit the debate to proceed.
The general debate was scheduled to begin on Monday, 22 September, and end on Friday, 10 October, and the list of speakers in that debate will be closed on Wednesday, 24 September. It was also decided that past practices should be followed concerning explanation of vote, right of reply, points of order, length of statements, records of meetings, seating arrangements, limitation of concluding statements, resolutions, documentation, and reproduction of statements in the Main Committees.
The Assembly took note of the Secretary-General's observations that Member States should submit proposals involving statements on programme budget implications sufficiently in advance to avoid the cancellation of meetings and the postponement of the consideration of items.
Further, the Assembly adopted the recommended format for commemorative meetings, including limiting each statement to 15 minutes. Observances and commemorative meetings would take place, as far as possible, immediately following the general debate.
The Assembly took note of the recommendations of the Committee on Conferences regarding special conferences, as well as its recommendations that the following subsidiary organs be authorized to meet during the main part of the fifty-second session: the Committee for Programme and Coordination;
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Committee on Conferences; Committee on Relations with the Host Country; Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; and the Working Group on the Financing of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Also this morning, the Assembly decided to hear a brief presentation by the Secretary-General of his annual report on the work of the Organization on Monday, 22 September, as the first item in the morning prior to the opening of the general debate.
Regarding the item on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, the Assembly decided to refer to the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) chapters of the report of the Special Committee on Decolonization relating to specific Territories. The question of the implementation of the Declaration as a whole would be taken up in plenary.
In other action, the Assembly decided that the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) should be considered directly in plenary while the Fourth Committee would hear interested organizations and individuals; certain relevant paragraphs of the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to be considered in plenary, should be drawn to the attention of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security); and, the report of the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) should be referred to the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) for consideration under the item on operational activities for development.
The Assembly decided further to allocate the item on the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), on the understanding that the reports of the JIU dealing with subject matters assigned to other Main Committees would be referred also to those Committees.
During the review of the allocation of items to the Main Committees, the representative of France said that the French version of the report of the General Committee was incomplete; it did not contain the allocation of items for four of the Main Committees. However, he added, he would not pose a problem to the Assembly's decision on the General Committee's recommendations. The incident was an indication that the Secretariat staff was overworked and of the limits to which they could function efficiently under those circumstances.
The representative of Swaziland echoed the spirit of understanding expressed by the representative of France and those who had accidentally
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received an incomplete document in their own language. A document of such significance should be made ready well before it was adopted by the Assembly.
The Assembly will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 22 September, to hear the Secretary-General's presentation of his report on the work of the Organization and begin its general debate.
Assembly Work Programme
The General Assembly met this morning to consider the report of its General Committee on the organization of the work of the fifty-second session. The report recommends an agenda of 158 items, including three new items and a new sub-item.
In its report (document A/52/250), the Committee recommends the following agenda:
1. Opening of the session by the Chairman of the delegation of Malaysia.
2. Minute of silent prayer or meditation.
3. Credentials of representatives to the fifty-second session of the General Assembly:
(a) Appointment of the members of the Credentials Committee;
(b) Report of the Credentials Committee.
4. Election of the President of the General Assembly.
5. Election of the officers of the Main Committees.
6. Election of the Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly.
7. Notification by the Secretary-General under Article 12, paragraph 2, of the Charter of the United Nations.
8. Adoption of the agenda and organization of work: reports of the General Committee.
9. General debate.
10. Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization.
11. Report of the Security Council.
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12. Report of the Economic and Social Council.
13. Report of the International Court of Justice.
14. Report of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
15. Elections to fill vacancies in principal organs:
(a) Election of five non-permanent members of the Security Council;
(b) Election of 18 members of the Economic and Social Council.
16. Elections to fill vacancies in subsidiary organs and other elections:
(a) Election of 29 members of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme;
(b) Election of seven members of the Committee for Programme and Coordination;
(c) Election of 19 members of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law;
(d) Election of the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.
17. Appointments to fill vacancies in subsidiary organs and other appointments:
(a) Appointment of members of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions;
(b) Appointment of members of the Committee on Contributions;
(c) Appointment of a member of the Board of Auditors;
(d) Confirmation of the appointment of members of the Investments Committee;
(e) Appointment of members of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal;
(f) Appointment of members of the International Civil Service Commission;
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(g) Appointment of members and alternate members of the United Nations Staff Pension Committee;
(h) Appointment of the members of the Consultative Committee on the United Nations Development Fund for Women;
(i) Appointment of members of the Committee on Conferences;
(j) Appointment of a member of the Joint Inspection Unit.
18. Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
19. Admission of new Members to the United Nations.
20. Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance:
(a) Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations;
(b) Special economic assistance to individual countries or regions;
(c) Emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan;
(d) Assistance to the Palestinian people;
(e) Participation of volunteers, "White Helmets", in activities of the United Nations in the field of humanitarian relief, rehabilitation and technical cooperation for development;
(f) Strengthening of international cooperation and coordination of efforts to study, mitigate and minimize the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.
21. Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly.
22. Cooperation between the United Nations and the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation.
23. Multilingualism.
24. Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal.
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25. Cooperation between the United Nations and the Latin American Economic System.
26. University for Peace.
27. Return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin.
28. Universal Congress on the Panama Canal.
29. Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
30. Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba.
31. Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
32. Zone of peace and cooperation of the South Atlantic.
33. Cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States.
34. Cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization.
35. Elimination of coercive economic measures as a means of political and economic compulsion.
36. Question of Palestine.
37. The situation in the Middle East.
38. Support by the United Nations system of the efforts of governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies.
39. Oceans and the law of the sea:
(a) Law of the sea;
(b) Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks;
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(c) Large-scale pelagic drift-net fishing, unauthorized fishing in zones of national jurisdiction and fisheries by-catch and discards.
40. Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
41. Assistance in mine clearance.
42. Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity.
43. The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security.
44. The situation of democracy and human rights in Haiti.
45. The situation in Central America: procedures for the establishment of a firm and lasting peace and progress in fashioning a region of peace, freedom, democracy and development.
46. Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development.
47. The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
48. Question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).
49. Report of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991.
50. Report of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Genocide and Other Such Violations
Committed in the Territory of Neighbouring States between 1 January and 31 December 1994.
51. Declaration of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity on the aerial and naval military attack against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya by the present United States Administration in April 1986.
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52. Armed Israeli aggression against the Iraqi nuclear installations and its grave consequences for the established international system concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and international peace and security.
53. Consequences of the Iraqi occupation of and aggression against Kuwait.
54. Implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations.
55. Question of the Comorian island of Mayotte.
56. Launching of global negotiations on international economic cooperation for development.
57. The situation in Burundi.
58. Restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields.
59. Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters.
60. Strengthening of the United Nations system.
61. Question of Cyprus.
62. Compliance with arms limitation and disarmament obligations.
63. Verification in all its aspects, including the role of the United Nations in the field of verification.
64. Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
65. Reduction of military budgets:
(a) Reduction of military budgets;
(b) Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures.
66. The role of science and technology in the context of international security and disarmament.
67. Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the region of the Middle East.
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68. Establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in South Asia.
69. Conclusion of effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.
70. Prevention of an arms race in outer space.
71. General and complete disarmament:
(a) Notification of nuclear tests;
(b) Small arms;
(c) Transparency in armaments;
(d) Nuclear-weapon-free southern hemisphere and adjacent areas;
(e) Convening of the fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament: report of the Preparatory Committee for the Fourth Special Session of the General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament;
(f) Relationship between disarmament and development;
(g) Observance of environmental norms in the drafting and implementation of agreements on disarmament and arms control;
(h) Measures to curb the illicit transfer and use of conventional arms;
(i) Prohibition of the dumping of radioactive wastes;
(j) Regional disarmament;
(k) Follow-up to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons;
(l) Consolidation of peace through practical disarmament measures;
(m) Nuclear disarmament;
(n) Conventional arms control at the regional and subregional levels;
(o) Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the
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Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction;
(p) Non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and of vehicles for their delivery in all its aspects.
72. Review and implementation of the Concluding Document of the Twelfth Special Session of the General Assembly:
(a) United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific;
(b) Regional confidence-building measures;
(c) Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons.
73. Review of the implementation of the recommendations and decisions adopted by the General Assembly at its tenth special session:
(a) Report of the Disarmament Commission;
(b) Report of the Conference on Disarmament;
(c) Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters;
(d) United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.
74. The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
75. Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects.
76. Strengthening of security and cooperation in the Mediterranean region.
77. Implementation of the Declaration of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace.
78. Consolidation of the regime established by the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco).
79. African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty.
80. Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and
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Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction.
81. Maintenance of international security.
82. Review of the implementation of the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security.
83. Rationalization of the work and reform of the agenda of the First Committee.
84. Effects of atomic radiation.
85. International cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
86. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
87. Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.
88. Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects.
89. Questions relating to information.
90. Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories transmitted under Article 73 e of the Charter of the United Nations.
91. Activities of foreign economic and other interests which impede the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in Territories under colonial domination.
92. Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples by the specialized agencies and the international institutions associated with the United Nations.
93. Offers by Member States of study and training facilities for inhabitants of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
94. The situation in the occupied territories of Croatia.
95. Macroeconomic policy questions:
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(a) Financing of development, including net transfer of resources between developing and developed countries;
(b) Trade and development;
(c) Science and technology for development;
(d) External debt crisis and development.
96. Sectoral policy questions:
(a) Industrial development cooperation;
(b) Business and development;
(c) Food and sustainable agricultural development.
97. Sustainable development and international economic cooperation:
(a) Renewal of the dialogue on strengthening international economic cooperation for development through partnership;
(b) Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s;
(c) Population and development;
(d) International migration and development, including the convening of a United Nations conference on international migration and development;
(e) Implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II);
(f) First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty;
(g) Women in development;
(h) Human resources development;
(i) Cultural development.
98. Environment and sustainable development:
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(a) Implementation of decisions and recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development;
(b) Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa;
(c) Protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind;
(d) International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction;
(e) Convention on Biological Diversity;
(f) Implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States;
(g) Special session for the purpose of an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21.
99. Operational activities for development:
(a) Operational activities for development of the United Nations system;
(b) Economic and technical cooperation among developing countries.
100. Training and research: United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
101. Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.
102. Social development, including questions relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family.
103. Crime prevention and criminal justice.
104. International drug control.
105. Advancement of women.
106. Implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women.
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107. Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, questions relating to refugees, returnees and displaced persons and humanitarian questions.
108. Promotion and protection of the rights of children.
109. Programme of activities of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.
110. Elimination of racism and racial discrimination.
111. Right of peoples to self-determination.
112. Human rights questions:
(a) Implementation of human rights instruments;
(b) Human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
(c) Human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives;
(d) Comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action;
(e) Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
113. Financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors:
(a) United Nations peacekeeping operations;
(b) United Nations Institute for Training and Research;
(c) Voluntary funds administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
114. Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations.
115. Programme budget for the biennium 1996-1997.
116. Proposed programme budget for the biennium 1998-1999.
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117. Improving the financial situation of the United Nations.
118. Joint Inspection Unit.
119. Pattern of conferences.
120. Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations.
121. United Nations common system.
122. Financing of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in the Middle East:
(a) United Nations Disengagement Observer Force;
(b) United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
123. Financing of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission.
124. Financing of the activities arising from Security Council resolution 687 (1991):
(a) United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission;
(b) Other activities.
125. Financing of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.
126. Financing and liquidation of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia.
127. Financing of the United Nations Protection Force, the United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia, the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force and the United Nations Peace Forces headquarters.
128. Financing of the United Nations Operation in Somalia II.
129. Financing of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique.
130. Financing of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
131. Financing of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia.
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132. Financing of the United Nations Mission in Haiti.
133. Financing of the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia.
134. Financing of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda.
135. Financing of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991.
136. Financing of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan.
137. Financing of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Genocide and Other Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighbouring States between 1 January and 31 December 1994.
138. Financing of the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
139. Financing of the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium.
140. Financing of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force.
141. Financing of the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti.
142. Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations:
(a) Financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations;
(b) Relocation of Ukraine to the group of Member States set out in paragraph 3 (c) of General Assembly resolution 43/232.
143. Report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services.
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144. Convention on jurisdictional immunities of States and their property.
145. United Nations Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law.
146. United Nations Decade of International Law:
(a) United Nations Decade of International Law;
(b) Action to be taken in 1999 dedicated to the centennial of the first International Peace Conference and to the closing of the United Nations Decade of International Law.
(c) Draft guiding principles for international negotiations.
147. Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its forty- ninth session.
148. Report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its thirtieth session.
149. Report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country.
150. Establishment of an international criminal court.
151. Report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.
152. Measures to eliminate international terrorism.
153. Human resources management.
154. Financing of the Military Observer Group of the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala.
155. Amendment to article 13 of the statute of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal.
156. Towards a culture of peace.
157. United Nations reform: measures and proposals.
158. Observer status for the Andean Community in the General Assembly.
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