Sixth Committee (Legal) — 78th session

Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (Agenda item 120)

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Documentation

Summary of work

Background (source: A/78/100/Add.1)

At its forty-fifth session, the General Assembly, under the item entitled “Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations”, decided to include in the draft agenda of the forty-sixth session the item entitled “Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly” (decision 45/461). The Assembly had the item on its agenda at its forty-sixth to forty-eighth and fifty-second sessions and has had the item on its agenda annually since its fifty-third session (resolutions 46/77, 47/233, 48/264, 55/285, 56/509, 57/301, 58/126, 58/316, 61/292, 62/276, 63/309, 64/301, 65/315, 66/294, 67/297, 68/307, 69/321, 70/305, 71/323, 72/313, 73/341, 74/303, 75/325 and 77/335 and decisions 52/479, 53/491, 54/491, 74/537 A and B, 75/510, 75/548 A and B, 76/519, 76/523, 76/525, 76/537, 76/545,76/546 and 77/538 A and B).

At its fifty-eighth session, the Assembly decided that, in July of each year, the General Committee would conduct a review of the proposed programme of work for the forthcoming session of the Assembly, on the basis of a report submitted by the Secretary-General, and submit recommendations on the matter to the Assembly at its forthcoming session; and that the report would include information on the status of documentation to be issued during the forthcoming session (resolution 58/316).

At its seventy-seventh session, the Assembly considered the item in a joint debate, with the item entitled “Implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations”, where statements were made by the President and 25 delegations (see A/77/PV.30).

At the same session, the Assembly decided to establish, at its seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth sessions, in accordance with the biennialized format agreed in resolution 75/325, an ad hoc working group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, open to all Member States, (a) to identify further ways to enhance the role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency of the Assembly, inter alia, by building on the progress achieved in past sessions as well as on previous resolutions, including evaluating the status of their implementation, with the primary focus on: (i) during the seventy-eighth session: role and authority of the Assembly, and working methods; and (ii) during the seventy-ninth session: strengthening the accountability, transparency and institutional memory of the Office of the President of the Assembly and selection and appointment of the Secretary-General and other executive heads; (b) to also place the primary focus on implementation of the resolution during the seventy-eighth session, and to submit a report thereon to the Assembly at its seventy-ninth session; and (c) to consider the next resolution during the seventy-ninth session and biennially thereafter; decided that the ad hoc working group should continue its review of the inventory of Assembly resolutions on revitalization annexed to the report of the ad hoc working group submitted at the seventy-seventh session and, as a result, continue to update the inventory to be attached to the reports to be submitted at the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth sessions of the Assembly, including the separate indication of relevant provisions that were not implemented, with reasons, and therefore invited each Main Committee to further discuss its working methods, as appropriate, under the agenda item on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly earlier at the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth sessions, including the possibility of holding substantive and interactive dialogues; requested the General Committee, while exercising its functions under rule 40 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly, and within its mandate, to discuss gaps, overlaps and duplication and make recommendations annually to the Assembly for its consideration; requested the Secretary-General, during the seventy-eighth session of the Assembly, to assess and report on executable options for consideration by the Assembly on making available to all Member States the bulk registration of participants in official conferences and meetings of the United Nations, without prejudice to the current available option in this regard; requested a briefing by the Secretariat at the seventy-eighth session assessing the impact of the entry into effect of the earlier start date of the Assembly at the seventy-eighth session, and on the expected impact of possibly moving the start date to late August, and decided to discuss during the seventy-ninth session options regarding an earlier start date of the regular session; decided to further assess during the seventy-ninth session of the Assembly the selection and appointment process of the Secretary-General, to consolidate the advances gained in the relevant Assembly resolutions and to explore possible steps to improve future processes, including the collaboration between the Assembly and the Security Council, consistent with Article 97 of the Charter; decided to discuss, at its seventy-ninth session, questions related to the term assigned to the President of the Assembly and the financial and logistical implications thereof; and requested the Secretariat to issue, during the seventy-ninth session, within existing resources, in coordination with the Office of the President of the Assembly, a compendium of best practices of past Presidents that could serve to contribute to strengthening the institutional memory of the Office (resolution 77/335).

Since its sixtieth session, pursuant to resolution 58/316 and in order to facilitate the work of the Main Committees, the Assembly has decided annually, on the recommendation of the General Committee, to allocate the item to all the Main Committees for the purpose of discussing their working methods, as well as considering and taking action on their respective tentative programmes of work. Accordingly, at its seventy-seventh session, the Assembly approved the provisional programme of work and timetable of the First Committee for 2023 (decision 77/519); the proposed programme of work and timetable of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) (decision 77/534); the draft programmes of work of the Second Committee (decision 77/539) and the Third Committee (decision 77/544); and the provisional programme of work of the Sixth Committee (decision 77/521) for the seventy-eighth session of the Assembly. At the same session, the Assembly decided that the Bureau of the Second Committee would convene informal dialogues to discuss the revitalization of the work of the Committee in the first months of 2023 and that the Second Committee would convene a plenary meeting following those dialogues to take stock of the deliberations and, as appropriate, take action on any recommendations, for subsequent approval by the Assembly, to allow any change to come into effect ahead of the seventy-eighth session (decision 77/538).

Consideration at the seventy-eighth session

The Sixth Committee considered the item at its 36th and 37th meetings, on 8 and 17 November 2023 (see A/C.6/78/SR.36 and A/C.6/78/SR.37).

Statements were made by the representatives of Portugal (on behalf of a group of like-minded countries: Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Tunisia and Portugal), Australia (on behalf of Canada, Australia and New Zealand (CANZ)), Costa Rica and Egypt.

Concerns were expressed regarding the working methods of the Sixth Committee, particularly as regards the inertia in the Committee in following up on the work of the International Law Commission and in providing the Committee’s own contribution to the codification and progressive development of international law. It was recalled that each Main Committee was requested to further discuss its working methods, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 77/335.

Supports were expressed for the appointment of a Focal Point by the Bureau who can help consolidate institutional memory and facilitate further informal exchanges on possible improvements to the Committee’s working methods. The view was expressed that it was time to examine more closely how the Sixth Committee engaged with a wide variety of topics, and whether its goals could and would be more effectively achieved through enhanced procedural engagement, particularly in relation to International Law Commission products, with regard to which the need to achieve a greater degree of coherence and coordination across their consideration by the Sixth Committee was perceived. It was proposed that the Committee establish a subsidiary body modelled on the Planning Group of the International Law Commission in order to conduct discussions on working methods, agenda management and programme procedures.

Other suggestions included leveraging digital technologies to create forums for dialogue before the start of the Committee’s work, encouraging ILC members to take advantage of virtual working methods to increase informal, intersessional dialogue with the Committee and its members, and holding regular sessions of the International Law Commission in New York more frequently, in order to foster more substantive exchange between the Commission and Member States.

The view was further expressed that the concept and objective of consensus were never intended to undermine the substantive engagement of the Committee across the topics under discussion. It was further recommended that there be enhanced rotation among the coordinators of draft resolutions at regular intervals, and that the appointment of coordinators should be appropriately balanced in terms of geographic representation, gender diversity, and representation of the principal legal systems of the world. It was also proposed that the Committee should commence a more thorough and systematic discussion over ways to support small and developing delegations to enhance their engagement with the Commission.

Other recommendations included: allocating adequate time to different agenda items according to their nature and complexity; limiting the number of side events during the international law week; having reasonable time limits for statements during the debate on the ILC report; scheduling informal briefings before the plenary debate on the respective agenda items; avoiding overlap between the meetings of the Sixth Committee and other meetings and negotiations on legal issues; and adopting a sunset approach for stagnant agenda items.

Archived videos and summaries of plenary meetings

Video   36th meeting (8 November 2023, 10:00am – 11:30am) | Summary

Video   37th meeting (17 November 2023, 10:00am – 1:00pm) | Summary

Action taken by the Sixth Committee

At the 37th meeting, on 17 November, the Chair introduced a draft decision containing the provisional programme of work of the Committee for the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly, as proposed by the Bureau (A/C.6/78/L.17).

At the same meeting, the Committee adopted the draft decision A/C.6/78/L.17 without a vote.

Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly

This agenda item will be considered at the seventy-ninth session (2024).

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