Sixth Committee (Legal) — 77th session
Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (Agenda item 124)
- Authority: resolutions and and decision 75/548 B
Documentation
- — Draft decision
Summary of work
Background (source: )
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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and 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 and 76/546).
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 ).
At its seventy-fifth session, the Assembly decided to establish, at its seventy-sixth and seventy-seventh sessions, an ad hoc working group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, open to all Member States, 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, with the primary focus on: (a) during the seventy-sixth session: role and authority of the Assembly, and working methods; and (b) during the seventy-seventh 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; decided that the next resolution would be considered during the seventy-seventh session and biennially thereafter; invited Member States to continue discussions on efforts to limit the number of side events held in parallel with or in the margins of the general debate and other high-level sessions, with a view to taking stock and exploring further improvements, as necessary, during the seventy-eighth session of the Assembly; requested the President of the Assembly at its seventy-eighth session to draw lessons learned from the implementation of the provisions contained in paragraphs 13 to 18 and 32 to 44 of its resolution and identify further proposals on alignment; decided to further assess during the seventy-seventh 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; requested the Secretariat to provide to the Ad Hoc Working Group during the seventy-seventh session of the Assembly a written update with recommendations, and a briefing on the functioning of the Office of the President of the Assembly, as a follow-up to the report of the Task Force convened by the Secretary-General in November 2015 and circulated in the annex to the letter dated 11 March 2016 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Assembly (), taking into consideration its previous relevant resolutions; and 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-fifth session and, as a result, continue to update the inventory to be attached to the reports to be submitted at the seventy-sixth and seventy-seventh sessions of the Assembly, including the separate indication of relevant provisions that were not implemented, with reasons therefor (resolution ).
At its seventy-sixth 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 26 delegations (see ).
Since its sixtieth session, pursuant to resolution 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-sixth session, the Assembly approved the provisional programme of work and timetable of the First Committee for 2022 (decision 76/519); the proposed programme of work and timetable of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) (decision 76/523); the draft programmes of work of the Second Committee (decision 76/545) and the Third Committee (decision 76/537); and the provisional programme of work of the Sixth Committee (decision 76/525) for the seventy-seventh session of the Assembly.
Consideration at the seventy-seventh session
The Sixth Committee considered the item at its 35th and 36th meetings, on 10 and 18 November 2022 (see and ).
Statements were made by the representatives of ?El Salvador?(also on behalf of Colombia, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Portugal and Sierra Leone),?Egypt,?Cuba,?Sierra Leone?and?Algeria.
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 .
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 and holding regular sessions of the International Law Commission in New York, in order to foster more substantive exchange between the Commission and Member States. The view was further expressed that the practice of taking decisions by consensus was 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. 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.
In terms of a further view, reaching consensus remained the preferred mode of decision-making in the Sixth Committee. This applied specifically to topics of an erga omnes nature. Threatening the continuance of the consensus tradition in the Sixth Committee in the pursuit of “quick gains” was therefore neither prudent nor strategic. It was further recommended that improved communication between the Sixth Committee and the International Law Commission was very important, in order to ensure that the views of Member States were represented in the work of the Commission. It was also suggested that the Commission develop clear criteria to distinguish between the types of its products, and the exact legal consequences attached to each of them. In terms of a further recommendation, there was a need to “revitalize” the work of the Working Groups, especially since it was difficult envisage in-depth exchanges in Working Groups amidst the very heavy meeting schedules in October and November each year. As such, it could be useful to consider holding the meetings of the working groups in resumed sessions of the Sixth Committee outside the peak meeting times.
Other recommendations included: allocating adequate time to different agenda items according to their nature and complexity; avoiding negotiations on the various agenda items starting close to the deadline for submission of texts to the Secretariat; ensuring that delegations have all the necessary reports for the negotiation of the corresponding draft resolutions; that delegations proposing the grant of observer status to international organizations should make available the respective constituent instruments of each organization; being informed in good time of the coordinators designated for each agenda item, and having appointments of such coordinators be made on the basis of equitable geographical representation; and avoiding adopting draft resolutions on different dates in the midst of the debate on other agenda items.
Archived videos and summaries of plenary meetings
(10 November 2022, 10:00am – 1:00pm) | Summary
(18 November 2022, 10:00am – 1:00pm) | Summary
Action taken by the Sixth Committee
At the 36th meeting, on 18 November, the Chair introduced a draft decision containing the provisional programme of work of the Committee for the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly, as proposed by the Bureau ().
At the same meeting, on 18 November, the Committee adopted the draft decision without a vote.
Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly
- Report of the Sixth Committee:
- GA decision: 77/521 [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-eighth session (2023).
