Seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly

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Seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly
← 72nd 18 September 2018 – 17 September 2019 74th →
President of the 73rd General Assembly
María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés
Host country United Nations
Venue(s)General Assembly Hall at the United Nations Headquarters
CitiesNew York City
ParticipantsMember States of the United Nations
Websitewww.un.org/en/ga/

The Seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly was opened on 18 September 2018.[1] The President of the United Nations General Assembly was from the GRULAC group.

Organisation for the session[edit]

President[edit]

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés was elected as President of the General Assembly on 5 June 2018.[2]

Vice-Presidents[edit]

There will be twenty-one vice-presidents for the 73rd Session. They will be:[2][3]

The five permanent members of the Security Council:

As well as the following nations:

Committees[edit]

The following were elected as Chairs and officers of the General Assembly committees for the 73rd Session:[2]

First Committee (Disarmament and International Security)

Name Country Position
H.E. Mr. Ion Jinga  Romania Chairperson
Ms. Marissa Edwards  Guyana Vice-chair
Mr. Noël Diarra  Mali Vice-chair
Mr. José Ataíde Amaral  Portugal Vice-chair
Ms. Muna Zawani Md Idris  Brunei Darussalam Rapporteur

Second Committee (Economic and Financial)

Name Country Position
H.E. Mr. Jorge Skinner-Kleé Arenales  Guatemala Chairperson
Mr. Mehdi Remaoun  Algeria Vice-chair
Ms. Hessa Muneer Mohammed Rashed AlAteibi  United Arab Emirates Vice-chair
Mr. Cedric Braquetti  Monaco Vice-chair
Ms. Anneli Lepp  Estonia Rapporteur

Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural)

Name Country Position
H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Saikal  Afghanistan Chairperson
Ms. Lahya Itedhimbwa Shikongo  Namibia Vice-chair
Mr. Martin Kováčik  Slovakia Vice-chair
Mr. Andrés Molina Linares  Guatemala Vice-chair
Ms. Katharina Konzett-Stoffl  Austria Rapporteur

Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization)

Name Country Position
H.E. Mr. Lewis Garseedah Brown II  Liberia Chairperson
Mr. Faisal Nasser M. Alhakbani  Saudi Arabia Vice-chair
Mr. Dániel Goldea  Hungary Vice-chair
Mr. Michael O'Toole  Ireland Vice-chair
Mr. Luis Mauricio Arancibia Fernández Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Rapporteur

Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary)

Name Country Position
H.E. Ms. GiIlian Bird  Australia Chairperson
Mr. Fabio Esteban Pedraza-Torres  Colombia Vice-chair
Mr. Andre Lipand  Estonia Vice-chair
Mr. Haseeb Gohar  Pakistan Vice-chair
Mr. Hicham Oussihamou  Morocco Rapporteur

Sixth Committee (Legal)

Name Country Position
H.E. Mr. Michel Xavier Biang  Gabon Chairperson
Ms. Maria Angela Ponce  Philippines Vice-chair
Ms. Barbara Kremžar  Slovenia Vice-chair
Mr. Patrick Luna  Brazil Vice-chair
Ms. Nadia Alexandra Kalb  Austria Rapporteur

Seat Allocation[edit]

As is tradition during each session of the General Assembly, Secretary-General António Guterres will draw lots to see which member state would take the helm at the first seat in the General Assembly Chamber, with the other member states following according to the English translation of their name, the same order would be followed in the six main committees.[4] For this session, Mali was chosen to take the first seat of the General Assembly Chamber.[3]

General Debate[edit]

Most states will have a representative speaking about issues concerning their country and the hopes for the coming year as to what the UNGA will do. This is an opportunity for the member states to opine on international issues of their concern. The General Debate will occur from 25 September to 1 October 2018, with the exception of the intervening Sunday.[5] The theme for this year's debate was chosen by President María Fernanda Espinosa as "Making the United Nations relevant to all people: Global leadership and shared responsibilities for peaceful, equitable and sustainable societies".[6]

The order of speakers is given first to member states, then observer states and supranational bodies. Any other observers entities will have a chance to speak at the end of the debate, if they so choose. Speakers will be put on the list in the order of their request, with special consideration for ministers and other government officials of similar or higher rank. According to the rules in place for the General Debate, the statements should be in one of the United Nations official languages of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian or Spanish, and will be translated by the United Nations translators. Each speaker is requested to provide 20 advance copies of their statements to the conference officers to facilitate translation and to be presented at the podium. Speeches are requested to be limited to five minutes, with seven minutes for supranational bodies.[4]

Foreign ministers and high representatives participating in the General Debate signed the Code of Conduct Towards Achieving a World Free of Terrorism. The Code of Conduct was the brainchild of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The main goal of the document is implementation of a wide range of international commitments to counter terrorism and establishing a broad global coalition towards achieving a world free of terrorism by 2045.[7]

Resolutions[edit]

The following are resolutions the General Assembly has passed in its 73rd session, as of 3 December 2018.[8][9]

Resolution Date Plenary or Committee Agenda Item Vote Passed Topic
A/RES/73/1 24 September 2018 Plen. 66 No Vote Yes Political declaration adopted at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit
A/RES/73/2 10 October 2018 Plen. 119 No Vote Yes Political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
A/RES/73/3 10 October 2018 Plen. 129 No Vote Yes Political declaration of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the fight against tuberculosis
A/RES/73/4 12 October 2018 C.5 140 No Vote Yes Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations: requests under Article 19 of the Charter
A/RES/73/5 16 October 2018 Plen. 125 146-3-15 Yes Chair of the Group of 77 for 2019
A/C.1/73/X 26 October 2018 Plen. This draft resolution was not formally introduced 31-55-54 No Preservation of and compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty[10]
A/RES/73/6 26 October 2018 Plen. 30 No Vote Yes Fiftieth anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space: space as a driver of sustainable development
A/RES/73/7 29 October 2018 Plen. 77 No Vote yes Report of the International Criminal Court
A/RES/73/8 1 November 2018 Plen. 43 189-2-0 Yes Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba
A/RES/73/9 9 November 2018 Plen. 92 No Vote Yes Report of the International Atomic Energy Agency
A/RES/73/10 26 November 2018 Plen. 128 (u) No Vote Yes Cooperation between the United Nations and the Central European Initiative
A/RES/73/11 26 November 2018 Plen. 128 (y) No Vote Yes Cooperation between the United Nations and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL)
A/RES/73/12 26 November 2018 Plen. 128 (k) No Vote Yes Cooperation between the United Nations and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
A/RES/73/13 26 November 2018 Plen. 128 (o) No Vote Yes Cooperation between the United Nations and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization
A/RES/73/14 26 November 2018 Plen. 128 (v) No Vote Yes Cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM
A/RES/73/15 26 November 2018 Plen. 128 (l) No Vote Yes Cooperation between the United Nations and the Council of Europe
A/RES/73/16 26 November 2018 Plen. 128 (w) No Vote Yes Cooperation between the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Independent States
A/RES/73/17 26 November 2018 Plen. 133 No Vote Yes Impact of rapid technological change on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and targets
A/RES/73/18 30 November 2018 Plen. 39 100-12-62 Yes Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
A/RES/73/19 30 November 2018 Plen. 39 156-8-12 Yes Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine
A/RES/73/20 30 November 2018 Plen. 39 152-8-14 Yes Special information programme on the question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat
A/RES/73/21 30 November 2018 Plen. 39 96-13-64 Yes Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat
A/RES/73/22 30 November 2018 Plen. 38 148-11-14 Yes Jerusalem
A/RES/73/23 30 November 2018 Plen. 38 99-10-66 Yes The Syrian Golan
A/RES/73/24 3 December 2018 Plen. 12 No Vote Yes Sport as an enabler of sustainable development
A/RES/73/25 3 December 2018 Plen. 14 No Vote Yes International Day of Education
A/RES/73/165 17 December 2018 Plen. 14 No Vote Yes United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants

Elections[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Bring the United Nations closer to the people, urges Assembly President in her inaugural speech". UN News. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "United Nations Handbook 2018–19" (PDF). United Nations Handbook:: An Annual Guide for Those Working within the United Nations (56th ed.). Wellington: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand: 22. 2018. ISSN 0110-1951.
  3. ^ a b Delegates' Handbook, Seventy-third Session of the United Nations General Assembly (PDF). New York: United Nations. 2018.
  4. ^ a b "63rd Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Geneva, 1 - 5 October 2012" (PDF). Unhcr.org. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  5. ^ "6 things to know about the General Assembly as UN heads into high level week". UN News. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  6. ^ "Letter of the President-elect of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly to Heads of States" (PDF). 26 July 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  7. ^ "At UN General Assembly, FM presents Kazakh initiatives, meets foreign officials, US business representatives". astanatimes.com. 4 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Resolutions of the 73rd session". United Nations General Assembly. n.d. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  9. ^ "Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its 73rd session". Dag Hammarskjöld Library. United Nations. n.d. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  10. ^ "Resolutions".

External links[edit]