Sixth Committee (Legal) — 71st session
Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (Agenda item 121)
Summary of work
Background
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 seventieth 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, 69/321 and 70/305).
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 seventieth session, the General Assembly adopted, inter alia, the provisional programme of work of the Sixth Committee (decision 70/305) for the seventy-first session.
Consideration at the seventy-first session
At its 2nd plenary meeting, on 16 September 2016, 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 32nd and 33rd meetings, on 7 and 11 November 2016. The views of the representatives who spoke during the Committee’s consideration of the item are reflected in the relevant summary records. (see A/C.6/71/SR.32 and 33).
Statements were made by the representatives of the Dominican Republic (on behalf of CELAC), Cuba, Brazil and Kenya.
Several delegations considered the revitalization of the General Assembly to be of paramount importance for achieving an effective, transparent and stronger 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 welcomed the adoption of General Assembly resolutions 69/321 and 70/305 on the revitalization of the work of the Assembly and encouraged the new Secretary-General to take all effective measures towards achieving gender and geographical balance within senior positions while securing the highest standard of efficiency, competence and integrity.
Several delegations emphasized the importance they attached to avoiding overlap of the consideration of topics in various fora, and encouraged coordination among the principal organs in order to promote an efficient relationship between those organs. The importance of the appropriate geographical representation in the appointment of coordinators of draft resolutions was emphasized. Several delegations also stressed the usefulness of introducing the system of electronic co-sponsorship as well as the electronic speakers’ list already used by other committees. It was suggested that the current system be maintained at the same time. Some delegations drew attention to the importance of having the report of the Host Country Committee issued at least one week in advance to its consideration.
Action taken by the Sixth Committee
At the 33rd meeting, on 11 November, the Chair introduced a draft decision containing the provisional programme of work of the Committee for the seventy-second session of the General Assembly, as proposed by the Bureau (A/C.6/71/L.30). At the same meeting, the Committee adopted draft decision A/C.6/71/L.30.
Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly
- Report of the Sixth Committee: A/71/519
- GA decision: 71/528 [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-second session (2017).
