Sixth Committee (Legal) — 70th session
Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (Agenda item 120)
- Authority: resolution 69/321
Summary of work
Background (source: A/70/100/Add.1)
This item, which was included in the agenda of the forty-sixth session of the General Assembly, in 1991, had originally been proposed for inclusion in the draft agenda of that session by the President of the Assembly at its forty-fifth session (see decision 45/461).
The General Assembly considered the question at its forty-sixth to forty-eighth, fifty-second and fifty-third sessions (resolutions 46/77, 47/233 and 48/264 and decisions 52/479 and 53/491).
At its fifty-fourth session, the General Assembly decided to defer consideration of the item and to include it in the draft agenda of its subsequent session (decision 54/491).
The General Assembly continued its consideration of the item from its fifty-fifth to its sixty-eighth sessions (resolutions 55/285, 56/509, 57/301, 58/126 annex, 61/292, 62/276, 63/309, 64/301, 65/315, 66/294, 67/297, 68/307 and 69/321).
At its resumed fifty-eighth session, in July 2004, the General Assembly adopted a number of measures, inter alia, to reorganize the agenda of the Assembly; and decided to review the provisions of the reorganized agenda at its sixty-first session with a view to making further improvements (resolution 58/316).
At its sixty-ninth session, the General Assembly adopted, inter alia, the provisional programme of work of the Sixth Committee (decision 69/529) for the seventieth session.
Consideration at the seventieth session
At its 2nd plenary meeting, on 18 September 2015, the General Assembly, on the recommendation of the General Committee, decided to allocate the item to all the Main Committees for the purpose of discussing their working methods and considering and taking action on their respective tentative programmes of work for the seventy-first session of the General Assembly.
The Sixth Committee considered the item at its 28th and 29th meetings, on 16 and 20 November 2015 (see A/C.6/70/SR.28 and 29).
Statements were made by the representatives of Ecuador (on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), Colombia (on behalf of the Group of Friends in favour of a Woman Candidate for Secretary-General of the United Nations (Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Malawi, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Nauru, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Poland, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Timor-Leste, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zambia and Uruguay)), Namibia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Portugal, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Argentina and Paraguay.
Several delegations considered the revitalization of the General Assembly to be of paramount importance for reform of the United Nations. They stressed that transparency and inclusiveness were cornerstones for the work to be undertaken and reiterated their commitment to continuing to strengthen the role and authority of the General Assembly. Some delegations objected to the encroachment by the Security Council on the mandate of the General Assembly. The adoption of General Assembly resolution 69/321 on the revitalization of the work of the Assembly was welcomed by a number of delegations. In this context, it was observed by some delegations that in view of the processes set forth in that resolution there was increasing support for the possibility of selecting and appointing a woman to the post of Secretary-General.
Several delegations commented on various working methods of the Sixth Committee, including on the importance they attached to avoiding overlap of the consideration of topics in various fora. The significance of timely issuance of reports and documents for the Committee’s consideration, the appropriate geographical representation in the appointment of coordinators of draft resolutions and timely communication thereof, as well as the allocation of sufficient time for the various topics on the agenda and the negotiations of draft resolutions was also highlighted. While some delegations suggested that the Committee adopt all its draft resolutions on the last day of the session, it was also observed that the adoption of draft resolutions throughout the session could be better organized.
Action taken by the Sixth Committee
At the 29th meeting, on 20 November, the Chair introduced a draft decision containing the provisional programme of work of the Committee for the seventy-first session of the General Assembly, as proposed by the Bureau (A/C.6/70/L.18). At the same meeting, the Committee adopted draft decision A/C.6/70/L.18.
Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly
- Report of the Sixth Committee: A/70/526
- GA decision: 70/527 [for the text of the decision, see the Sixth Committee's report to the General Assembly]
This agenda item will be considered at the seventy-first session (2016).
