The General Assembly

• Author: Alexandre Tavadian
• Pages: 161-226

161

Chapter 3

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The United Nations consists of six principal organs: the General

Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council,

the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the

Secretariat.1 This chapter is focused on the General Assembly. The

remaining principal organs (except the Trusteeship Council, to which

no separate chapter is dedicated) will be examined in the subsequent

four chapters. Since the Trusteeship Council ceased its activities in

November 1994, it is mentioned only in passing.

The General Assembly is arguably the most important organ of

the organization. It is the only body that comprises all member states

of the UN and discusses any question or matter within the scope

of the UN Charter. In the General Assembly, member states delib-

erate and make policy decisions in political, economic, humanitar-

ian, social, and legal areas. US President Harry Truman called it the

world’s supreme deliberative body.2 Others have described it as the

open conscience of the world. Decisions made in the General Assem-

bly have had a direct impact on the lives of billions of people. These

decisions often culminate in signicant declarations or lead to inter-

national conventions on matters relevant to our day-to-day life.

1 Charter of the United Nations, 26 June 1945, Can TS 1945 No 7, art 7 [Charter of

the United Nations].

2 Alger Hiss, “General Assembly of the United Nations” (1946−1947) 41:5 NW

UL Rev 591.

162 | UNITED NATIONS LAW, POLITICS, AND PRACTICE

In the rst section of this chapter, we examine the member-

ship of the General Assembly. We survey dierent types of mem-

bership and explore how states acquire and lose the status of a UN

member. In the second section, we canvass the functioning of the

General Assembly, including its voting procedures. The third section

of this chapter focuses on the Assembly’s main powers. The fourth

section explores the dynamics between various regional alliances,

political or economic coalitions, and other interest groups.

A. MEMBERSHIP AND OTHER STATUSES

All members of the United Nations are necessarily members of the

General Assembly and vice versa. The General Assembly is a univer-

sal organ where each member state, irrespective of its might, size, or

prosperity, has a voice. The UN Charter draws a distinction between

founding members (original members) and adhering members of

the United Nations. The founding members are those states that took

part in the San Francisco conference or had previously signed the

Declaration by United Nations3 of 1 January 1942, and subsequently

ratied the UN Charter.4 Any member of the UN that is not a found-

ing member is by default an adhering member. The adhering mem-

bers are “all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations

contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organ-

ization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations.”5 There is

3 For the Declaration by United Nations, see Chapter 1.

4 Charter of the United Nations, above note 1, art 3. This second alternative was

a compromise reached for Poland. Poland was unable to participate in the

San Francisco conference because at the time of convening the San Francisco

conference, sponsoring powers (China, USSR, United Kingdom, and United

States) were still debating who should be recognized as the legitimate rep-

resentative of Poland. No consensus was reached before the conference and

Poland did not receive an invitation. However, it would have been unfair to

penalize Poland. That is why Article 3 of the UN Charter provides that even if a

state was unable to take part in the San Francisco conference, it can neverthe-

less be a founding member if it had signed the Declaration by United Nations

on 1 January 1942. As Poland met this requirement, and ratied the UN Char-

ter, it was allowed to become the 51st original member of the organization.

5 Charter of the United Nations, above note 1, art 4.1.

Chapter 3: The General Assembly | 163

no practical dierence between the status of a founding member and

that of an adhering member.6 Both categories of members have the

same rights, privileges, and obligations.

1) Admission of New Members

At its inception, the United Nations had only fty-one members. Since

1945, its membership has grown fourfold. With the admission of

South Sudan in June 2011, the organization currently has 193 mem-

bers. The founding fathers of the United Nations designed the criteria

of admission of new members to ensure inclusiveness. The organiz-

ation was set up to be universal and open to all peace-loving states. A

few international organizations have such an open admission policy.

Paradoxically, no international organization has faced nearly as many

diculties as the UN in respect of admission of states to membership.

To increase its membership from 51 states in 1945 to 193 states in

2020, the United Nations had to overcome a signicant number of

obstacles. The issue of membership happened to be a highly political

and sensitive matter.

a) Criteria of Admission

Two provisions of the UN Charter (Articles 4.1 and 4.2) govern the

admission of new members. They read as follows:

4.1 Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-

loving states which accept the obligations contained in the

present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are

able and willing to carry out these obligations.

4.2 The admission of any such state to memb ership in the United

Nations will be eected by a decision of the General Assembly

upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Whereas Article 4.1 provides the conditions that a potential member

must meet to accede to membership, Article 4.2 sets out the procedure

6 Jan Klabbers, An Introduction to International Institutional Law, 2d ed (New

York: Cambridge University Press, 2009) at 93.