History
The General Assembly
The General Assembly is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. It is composed of representatives of all member states, each of which has one vote. Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority. Decisions on other questions are by simple majority.
FUNCTIONS AND POWERS Under the Charter, the functions and powers of the General Assembly include :
- to consider and make recommendations on the principles of cooperation in the maintenance of international peace and security, including the principles governing disarmament and arms regulation ;
- to discuss any question relating to international peace and security and, except where a dispute or situation is being discussed by the Security Council, to make recommendations on it ;
- to discuss and, with the same exception, make recommendations on any question within the scope of the Charter or affecting the powers and functions of any organ of the United Nations ;
- to initiate studies and make recommendations to promote international political cooperation, the development and codification of international law, the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, and international collaboration in economic, social, cultural, educational and health fields ;
- to make recommendations for the peaceful settlement of any situation, regardless of origin, which might impair friendly relations among nations ;
- to receive and consider reports from the Security Council and other United Nations organs ;
- to consider and approve the United Nations budget and to apportion the contributions among members ;
- to elect the non-permanent members of the Security Council, the members of the Economic and Social Council and additional members of the Trusteeship Council (when necessary) ; to elect jointly with the Security Council the Judges of the International Court of Justice ; and, on the recommendation of the Security Council, to appoint the Secretary-General.
The Economic and Social Council
The Charter established the Economic and Social Council as the principal organ to coordinate economic, social, and related work of the 14 UN specialized agencies, 10 functional commissions and five regional commissions. The Council also receives reports from 11 UN funds and programmes. The Council serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system. It is responsible for promoting higher standards of living, full employment, and economic and social progress ; identifying solutions to international economic, social and health problems ; facilitating international cultural and educational cooperation ; and encouraging universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It has the power to make or initiate studies and reports on these issues. It also has the power to assist the preparations and organisation of major international conferences in the economic and social and related fields and to facilitate a coordinated follow-up to these conferences. With its broad mandate the Council’s purview extends to over 70 per cent of the human and financial resources of the entire UN system.
In the Millennium Declaration, Heads of State and Government declared their resolve to strengthen further the Economic and Social Council, building on its recent achievements, to help it fulfill the role ascribed to it in the UN Charter. In carrying out its mandate, ECOSOC consults with academics, business sector representatives and more than 2,100 registered non-governmental organizations. The Council holds a four-week substantive session each July, alternating between New York and Geneva. The session includes a high-level segment, at which national cabinet ministers and chiefs of international agencies and other high officials focus their attention on a selected theme of global significance. This year, the high-level segment, which will take place in New York, will address the theme : "Achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, as well as implementing the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits : progress made, challenges and opportunities". The Council is expected to adopt a Ministerial Declaration on the theme of the high-level Segment, which will provide policy guidance and recommendations for action. The Ministerial Declaration, together with the outcome of the discussions of the coordination segment which will address the theme "Towards achieving internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration", will provide an important input to the 2005 GA plenary event. Policy leadership
ECOSOC has taken a lead role in key policy areas in recent years. Its 1999 high-level segment issued a "Manifesto on Poverty", which in many respects anticipated the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals that were approved at the UN Millennium Summit in New York. The Ministerial Declaration of the high-level segment in 2000 proposed specific actions to address the digital divide, leading directly to the formation in 2001 of the ICT [Information and Communication Technologies] Task Force. The consideration of African development at the 2001 high-level Segment resulted in the first formal international endorsement of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). In 2002 the High-level Segment adopted an innovative resolution on the contribution of human resources, in particular in the area of health and education, to development. The 2003 High-level Segment on the "promotion of an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development" led to a renewed attention of the issue and the launch of a related initiative on Madagascar. In 2004 the High-level Segment focused on Least Developed Countries and resources mobilization and an enabling environment for poverty eradication. The High-level Dialogue of the Council helped to highlight the specific problems of LDCs. It also led to the launch of a rural initiative in Benin.
Outside of the substantive sessions, ECOSOC initiated in 1998 a tradition of meeting each April with finance ministers heading key committees of the Bretton Woods institutions. These consultations initiated inter-institutional cooperation that paved the way for the success of the International Conference on Financing for Development, held in March 2002 in Monterrey, Mexico and adopted the Monterrey Consensus. At that conference, ECOSOC was assigned a primary role in monitoring and assessing follow-up to the Monterrey Consensus. These ECOSOC meetings have been considered important for deepening the dialogue between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions, and for strengthening their partnership for achieving the development goals agreed at the global conferences of the nineties. Participation in the meetings has broadened since the initial meeting in 1998. In addition to the chairperson of the Development Committee of the World Bank and the chairperson of the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the International Monetary Fund, the General Council of the World Trade Organization and the Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD are now also participating in the meeting.
(Source : ONU)
