(Part 1) Briefing for Delegates on the 81st General Assembly and Main Committees Meetings & Events Date: 14 September 2026 Language: Russian Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/ru/asset/k1i/k1idf78jrd Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations. --- UNITAR [0:00]: So, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, so I would like to welcome you all to today's UNITAR briefing for delegates on the 81st session of the General Assembly and its main committees. I would like to recognize the person sitting here to my right side, Dr. Djibril Diallo. He was right now just telling me about his long experience with UNITAR back in the '90s. when UNITAR used to be headquartered here in New York. Thank you for being with us. You are the Chef de Cabinet of the President-elect, and you are representing His Excellency today. Please extend our congratulations to the new PGA, Mr. Khairul Rahman, and wish him good luck for his presidency of the 81st session. He has a long responsibility, and I think it's going to be a challenging and a key year for us all here in New York. I would like to also thank His Excellency, Mr. Burhan Ghafour, the ambassador of Singapore, for not only being here with us, for supporting this initiative. At one moment in time, I was sitting with him, And he also told me that this initiative started as an initiative from Singapore, without UNITAR. And this is the best example of when a member state works hand in hand with the United Nations organization for achieving the purposes of the international organization, which is consensus, positive outcomes to multilateral negotiations, and also upholding the values of the United Nations. So Before coming here, I went through artificial intelligence. And I wanted to unpack the two words, general assembly. What do we mean by general? What do we mean by assembly? And I realized something. So what did the artificial intelligence give me? It gave me the following synonyms for general. Overall, broad, widespread, universal. And assembly, gathering, meeting, assemblage, convention, and conference. So basically, the message is very clear. This is the widest gathering with an aim, with a purpose, aligned with the principles of the United Nations and the values of the United Nations in a principal organ that has the widest mandate of any, the bigger international organization in the world. Don't underestimate it. This is extremely important. This means that we are dealing with the heart of the intergovernmental machinery of the United Nations. And it is not a surprise that the drafters of the Charter of the United Nations mentioned in Article 7 as a principal organ, the first one is the GA. And the message was clear, to give legal personality to the international organization, you must go first through the General Assembly. And this is why this training today is extremely important for us. So we are going to go through the knowledge of the General Assembly, its structure, working methods and rules of procedure that will help us, of course, extract order and meaning for everything that we want to achieve this year together. However, I want to come back to the campaign that the President, Khalil al-Rahman, led this year. One of the topics of his campaign was consensus building, if I remember. and also trust building. And I think whatever we are trying to achieve here, thanks to the support of Singapore and the Forum on Small States, is reinventing trust building together. And this is the value, the core value of this training that we are going to have beyond, of course, all the workshops that we have during today. So with that, it is my great pleasure to welcome you once again and to give the floor to first His Excellency Ambassador Burhan Ghafour. Thank you. Singapore · Постоянный представитель [4:14]: Thank you very much, Rabi, for the introduction. And I'm very honored to be joined at this podium by my good friend, Dr. Djibril Diallo, Chef de Cabinet of the President of the 81st Session of the General Assembly. Both Dr. Diallo and myself, we had the honor of being here in the 1990s. And when I was a young delegate in those days, in 1990, that was my very first session of the General Assembly. As a delegate, I attended a UNITAR training seminar. So that was my introduction and initiation into the world of UN diplomacy. And it is from that idea that we in Singapore have always believed in helping young delegates navigate the world of multilateral diplomacy. So we began this partnership with UNITAR more than 10 years ago to organize an annual event here that will give an overview of the General Assembly session to newly arrived delegates from capital. I'm very happy to see so many of you here present today attending this session. Obviously, you have a program laid out in front of you, and my role really is to give you some very brief opening remarks. And what I intend to do is to provide you the larger context in which the work of the UN will take place. And if you follow the news very carefully, it is no secret that we are in a period of great geopolitical tension with many conflicts and rivalries and challenges before us as an international community. And in such a context, the UN itself is being tested. Multilateralism as an experiment began 80 years ago in San Francisco is being tested. And I would describe the UN as being in a period of transition and transformation. Transformation because the geopolitical context has introduced a lot of dynamics which requires the UN to adapt to this new environment. Transition in some ways because it is a fact that we are in the midst of selecting a new Secretary-General and the process will take some time before a decision is reached. And beginning of next year, you will have a new Secretary-General in place, and that will come with a new vision and a new set of priorities. It is also a period of determined leadership, I think, on the part of the President of the General Assembly. We recently elected Dr. Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh as the President of the 81st session, and he has come in with a clear set of priorities, and you will hear from his Chef de Cabinet on some of the priorities of the President of the General Assembly. So that is the context in which our work is going to take place as the United Nations. In the '90s, I should say quite frankly, the UN was in its heydays, if you like. There was a degree of great power convergence and collaboration, but some of that has been challenged by a lack of trust, a lack of communication, and, of course, differences in terms of how geopolitical issues are approached. And that is causing quite a bit of undercurrent, I would say. So whichever committee you are going to be, you are going to be seeing expressions of some of these differences. But I would also say at this point that we are at a point of great opportunity and pragmatic optimism, in my view. Opportunity in the sense that precisely because we are in a period of transition and transformation, I think there is a lot that can be done and must be done. But at the same time, it is an occasion for pragmatic optimism, not naive optimism, but pragmatic optimism in the sense that there are things that can be done and must be done. And we must be pragmatic about doing it and seizing the opportunities. If we are fixated with a certain way of doing things, if we are ideological about how we want to achieve certain resolutions or solutions, we will not be able to find those solutions. That is, in my view, the essence of multilateral diplomacy, about finding solutions collectively. Let me quickly make three brief points. First, the UN has never been a perfect organization, but it is the only organization that is universal. It is the only one that we have. If we do not have it, we would have to invent it. But because we have it, we have to make it work. And I know that the UN sometimes does get a bad press. But the bad press is not the result of any structural deficiency in the way the UN is organized. It is because member states are not always up to the task of reaching consensus or finding solutions. But ultimately, the UN was designed as a platform for member states to come together to find the solutions that they need to find. And this is where your role as diplomats come in, and that's my second point. Each one of you are delegates representing your country, and in a multilateral context, I believe that individuals can make a difference, and I believe that diplomats can make a difference. In an age of AI, where everything can be put into a program to look for answers and solutions, what exactly is the role of a diplomat? What exactly is the role of a delegate that you are today? In my view, it is about that human touch. The solutions you want or need at a theoretical or conceptual level can be found in your ChatGPT or Claude programs. You type it in, it spews out an answer. But that human touch is irreplaceable, and that is your role as individuals and as diplomats to make that human touch, to walk that last mile, to reach out your hand and offer it to someone else, especially on the other side of the aisle. And by that I mean reaching out to people who have a different view. So resist the temptation to be enclosed in your own bubble of like-minded friends and delegations. My advice to you, humble advice, is that you reach out and talk to people who express a different point of view. It is only by listening and understanding people who express a different point of view that you are able to begin to sketch the contours of a convergence, potentially. And that, I think, is really important. Very often, especially as diplomats and newly arrived delegates, You might be intimidated by the number of people that you see, but everyone behind a nameplate is also a diplomat like you, a delegate like you. Introduce yourself, say hello to them, and express an interest in understanding their point of view. I really feel that in the multilateral context, we talk a lot, we speak a lot, but we don't always listen a lot. So this is also an opportunity, in my view, to practice your listening skills. So do not underestimate the power that you have as a delegate of your country to make a difference. And of course, you have instructions from your capital. Your permanent representative or your supervisor in your mission here will give you specific instructions. Do not agree to this. Do not concede that point. This comma is crucial for our national security, and we are going to die over a ditch if we do not have a comma. Yes, There are many battles that have been fought over commas and asterisks and punctuations. But look at the big picture. Look at what is at stake for your country, of course. I'm not asking you to betray your instructions, but I'm asking you to look at the bigger picture. What is in the best interest of your country? Can you achieve that alone or collectively? If your conclusion is that your best interests are served by a collective solution, then it goes without saying that you need to work with as many people as possible to craft a collective compromise or a solution to whatever the challenge or problem that is before you. And that is, in fact, my last point. Ultimately, at the UN, there are no zero-sum solutions. We are always looking for mutually beneficial outcomes, outcomes that serve everyone roughly, not equally, but roughly in a way that brings everyone together. So that too is my humble advice to you. Look for solutions, look for convergence, look for compromises without compromising your principles, all that is possible. In fact, the 80 years of the history of the UN has shown that When we strive for collective outcomes, when we strive for bridging solutions, the net outcome is always superior because everyone comes along and you have a certain value in that in terms of stability and collective prosperity. The final thing I would say, if this is your very first time that you are at the UN attending as a representative of your country, enjoy every moment of it. This is going to be an incredible learning journey for you, and it can be very transformative, both professionally, personally. Learn as much as you can, talk to other people. and enjoy it and go out and have a good time in the city as well. But do not lose the big picture. I think at the end of the day, we here at the UN are engaged in a very meaningful enterprise, which is to bring people together, bring countries together for a better outcome for all our nations in the world. And I wish you a very productive 81st session as delegates to this meeting. Thank you very much, Rabi, once again for doing this. And Dr. Diallo, sorry to have kept you waiting. UNITAR [15:29]: Thank you very much, Ambassador, for all of this advice. I think I can summarize it by saying, you know, your mouth spoke of what your heart is full of. And I think, you know, this is coming from a place of generosity and also a lot of positive energy. Thank you. Dr. Diallo, the floor is yours. Thank you very much for being with us. GA · Руководитель аппарата Председателя 81-й сессии Генеральной Ассамблеи [15:54]: Thank you very much. And I'm very happy to be here with Ambassador Burhan Kfoury, with Rafi Al-Haddad. And before I begin, let me say how pleased I am to be here with Ambassador Ghafoor, Permanent Representative of Singapore to the United Nations, a dear brother. But Ambassador Ghafoor is a great friend of the United Nations, a great friend of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Because one of the things that we need to learn and we share with each other is how do we take advantage of the time we're spending here in order to move very quickly. And I, for one, have found in Ambassador Ghafoor the idea of a personality who's always very generous in sharing ideas, in sharing ways in which we can make the most of our presence here at the United Nations. He has consistently brought wisdom, He has consistently brought warmth and also a strong spirit, as we just heard, of multilateralism to the work of the United Nations. And I was honored to accompany the President of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly to a very successful gathering that Ambassador Ghafour organized, which was the Forum of Small States, with the participation of the President himself. So that this is, Ambassador Ghafoor, this is again another possibility, another illustration of the remarkable ability that you have as ambassador to bring people together And I want to thank you again for that. And some of us grew up in the United Nations. I was recruited at age 27 by the late Kofi Annan. We were PhD in linguistics and communication from the University of London. So that this is our world. And what we can do is to see individuals like Ambassador Gafot, see individuals like Rabi El Haddad and point them so that we can make sure that they have the space in order to help those of us who are learning every day about the United Nations system. So I'm going to deliver now the message of the President of the General Assembly. Before then, I wanted again to come back to what Dr. Rabi El-Haddad has said, which is My relationship with UNITAR goes to the 1990s. UNITAR is a very, very important institution in terms of learning, in terms of training and research, and always have had very great respect for it in my capacity, for instance, as Director of Communications of the United Nations Development Programme. So the message is as follows. One, that the President of the 81st session of the General Assembly would like to thank UNITAR for this briefing on the 81st session of the General Assembly, not only the General Assembly itself, but also its main committees, which is a very, very important dimension. And I'm also pleased to welcome you as delegates who will be participating in this General Assembly. I think that many of you who were there on Tuesday, 8th of September, heard and saw the statement, opening statement by the President of the General Assembly. And we have received a lot of positive responses on that statement so far. So the next few weeks will be a whirlwind. And at times, for those of you who may not be familiar with it, they may sound a bit chaotic. But I promise you, it's not always like that. As Ambassador Gaffaud mentioned, you are arriving at a particularly consequential time for the United Nations General Assembly. He has mentioned the UN reform process, which continues through the UN80 initiative, the selection process for the next Secretary-General of the United Nations being underway, and also there is a lengthy agenda of pressing issues that will be critical to our collective work across the main committees. In short, you and ourselves, we therefore say we have our hands full for the next several months. That makes today's briefing all the more important, because through this briefing and other interaction that you will have, you will have an understanding of how this place the United Nations works, how the main bodies and the organs of the UN, the committees, the plenaries, all of them, how they work. It's a complex organism built partly on protocol and partly on eight decades of practice. Even seasoned diplomats who have been here for years will tell you that we still occasionally discover something we did not know before. But then again, what else would you expect from an organization? This is the only organization where you have 193 countries getting together in one place, no other place in the world. where it happens. So what else would you expect for 193 countries to get together for eight decades? So I hope that you will find all of this as interesting, as fascinating, or at least as closely linked to the priorities that your own individual countries have set for yourselves. Colleagues, as many of you will know, the President of the General Assembly is responsible for stewarding this process through the coming year, and President Rahman has outlined six priorities for the period ahead. And I'm going to go through them again as a reminder of his statement at the General Assembly. Peace and security, number one. Number two, sustainable development. Number three, climate action. Number four, human rights. Number five, technological transformation. And number six, restoring trust in multilateralism. Each of these priorities reflects the range of pressures facing the Organization and are themselves issues that Member States have called for us to act upon. They are also priorities that you yourselves will address head-on in the main committees. Each committee, of course, has its own area of work, but together they reflect the full scope of the Assembly's responsibilities, touching upon each one of the priorities that the President has outlined. A close working relationship between the Committees and the Office of the President of the General Assembly is therefore essential. You will be hearing quite often from our colleagues, including from the President himself, who, as is tradition, will address the opening of each committee once High-Level Week is over. Colleagues, there are two messages that I would like to leave with you today. Number one, please do not underestimate the role that each and every one of you will play in shaping the future of this institution, that is the future of the United Nations. The President has repeatedly said that our goal must be to make the United Nations fit for the future. That means continuing the reform process, but more importantly, digging deeper into what reform actually means. Why are we in the financial situation that we are in today? What needs to be done to change it? And what kind of United Nations do we need for the decades to come? Even if you are not working directly on UN80 reform process, that does not mean that you are removed from the discussion. individually and collectively. Quite the contrary, the work of the committees helps set the work stream, mandates, and ultimately the resources required for the United Nations. The decision you take here are therefore deeply consequential to the future of the United Nations. Second point, embrace the spirit of diplomacy upon which this house is built. Looking at the faces around this room, I saw so many young faces, which is really hope for the United Nations, because the youth are the leaders of today, not the leaders of tomorrow. So when I look around, there are so many younger faces that I feel very happy with the future of the United Nations. You will disagree. As Ambassador Ghafoor has said, you may see people who disagree with you, but come to them and discuss with them. You will also disagree profoundly, but inaction serves no one, and stalemate gets us nowhere. As you know, in your training and your experience, Diplomacy requires us, first and foremost, to have listening capacity, to engage, and number three, sometimes to compromise. That is not a weakness of this institution called the United Nations. It is how 193 countries as member states find a way forward together. So as we embrace this working session, I would like again to thank you for really being here and looking forward to connecting with you. Thank you very much again. UNITAR [29:15]: Thank you very much, Dr. Diallo, for blessing us with your presence, first of all, and with the generosity of your advice and your kind words. Please convey our sincere thanks to the President of the General Assembly and tell him he has all our support and I think every human being here is going to work in this direction. So, thank you very much and thank you, Ambassador Ghafour. Yes, of course. Before I give you the floor, I just want to say also thank you for the Forum of Small States that is also supporting this. So, the floor is yours. Thank you. Singapore · Постоянный представитель [29:46]: Thank you very much, Ravi, for those remarks, and thank you for acknowledging the role of the Forum of Small States as well in organizing this together in partnership with UNITAR. And my thanks also to the message, very strong, resounding message from the President of the General Assembly. I just wanted to say that as part of our work process here, the Secretariat staff will be your important partners and allies in navigating the process during the General Assembly. And I just wanted to say, if you're contemplating the rest of the program for the day, you are going to be hearing from Kenji Nakano, and I'm sure Rabi Haddad will introduce you, but I want to say that Kenji is one of the most knowledgeable person in the UN system about the rules of procedure. about the functioning and proceedings of UN meetings. So it is a real treat to have him here. And Kenji is just seated by the corner. You will hear from him shortly together with his colleague Rommel Maranan. And then after that, Beatrix is the chief of protocol. She will be coming to brief you as well. That too is a real masterclass in how protocol works at the UN and how protocol sometimes is very political. will give you an overview. And then the session on the overview of the main committees is not an overview of all the committees, but I think you have two important secretaries of committees coming here. It is also a treat to listen to them because ultimately each committee is different, but there are also a lot of similarities in how the committees function. And then in the afternoon, do not miss the session on rules of procedure because like in any intergovernmental process or any structured institution, there are clear rules. So in terms of how you make your statements, rights of reply, putting forward motions, amendments, proposals, how resolutions are adopted, et cetera, this is really fundamental to understanding how the parliamentary process here works. And the last session today, do not skip that. It is one of the most important issues that is right now you know, in the minds of many diplomats, the relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly. And Blanca, who is going to be giving you that remark, she's in fact right now writing a book on multilateralism. She's a very accomplished secretariat staff. I just wanted to, Ravi, perhaps I jumped the gun a little bit by introducing, but I wanted to make a pitch for the fact that the secretariat is a very important player in our multilateral process. They are international civil servants. They are neutral. They do not take positions, but they are a treasure trove of information. Approach them. They are very friendly and very nice, and they can be very helpful to you in terms of advising you, whatever your questions that might be. Finally, Embrace the chaos. The UN, no matter how much rules there are, you know, it is a vibrant place. So it is not what it seems. It's not as chaotic as it as you think it is. It is part of that very dynamic multilateral process where 193 countries come together. So enjoy the process. You are going to really have a lot of fun and also a lot of learning in the days and weeks ahead. Thank you very much, Rabi, once again. You know, with diplomats, you should not give them a microphone more than once, but you made that mistake, so I made another statement. Thank you very much. UNITAR [33:48]: Thank you very much. This is your forum. This is your conference. Thank you. So we will liberate you right now, and then we go straight into substance. Thank you. Okay, so let's move forward and let's please allow me to give you an overview of the program of today very quickly. So today's briefing, as Ambassador Ghafur mentioned, is structured in two parts. Session one will focus on the General Assembly and the main committees, focusing on the program of work of the 81st session. elections, draft resolutions, rules of procedure and the work of the main committees. Session two will focus on working within the General Assembly, looking at some of the practical dimensions of engaging with the GA, including the role and the protocol of the Protocol and Liaison Service and the relationship between the General Assembly, like Ambassador Kapur mentioned, and the Security Council. So, we will conclude session one at 1 o'clock. We will break for lunch from 1 to 3, and we will reconvene at 3 o'clock in the afternoon for session two to start, with the program concluding at 5 o'clock maximum, I promise. Today's briefing will also be live streamed via the United Nations webcast, allowing colleagues who are unable to join us in person to follow these discussions here today. Beyond the structure and the schedule, I would encourage you to think of today as an opportunity to learn from one another as well. We are very pleased to be joined by colleagues and experts from all over the Secretariat. And by the way, one thing that Ambassador Gafur forgot to mention, that international civil servants are the service of member states. This is our role. And he is 100% right. So seize this opportunity to gather as much information for the persons who are there to service the common good, which is the positive outcome to any negotiation and a conference. So now we are going to start with session one, and we are going to start with you, Kenji. Thank you very much for being with us. You are chief of the General Assembly Affairs Branch, and we have with us also Rommel Maranan, who is associate intergovernmental affairs officer. I strongly recommend at one moment in time, but not all of you at the same time, to pay a visit to Kenji in his office. Because like Ambassador Ghafur mentioned, he represents the institutional memory of the United Nations. There is a story to be told, and that story is part of it is on the walls of your office. So I give you the floor. Thank you for being with us. UN Secretariat · Начальник Отделения по делам Генеральной Ассамблеи [36:44]: Thank you. Good morning, colleagues. Romeo and I are pleased to join you in this briefing. program. And this is nuts and bolts. As the ambassador of Singapore said, you will have the whole day of program from different aspects. And so I will first talk about the program work of the General Assembly for the current 81st session very briefly. And then Romeo will talk about the elections and submission of draft resolutions. There will be, as you know, a separate segment this afternoon on the rules of procedure by a colleague from the Office of Legal Affairs. So let us try to focus on this morning on the aspects not related to rules of procedure. Of course, everything is related, but I will try to focus on the program of work and elections and the draft resolutions. So the program of work, which is sort of calendar, how the whole day calendar will go. Just before starting that, may I ask you to raise hand if you were not here last September for the high level week? You are so new that you, okay, so you are about to see the high level week for the first time, most of you. Great, great. So I hope that's gonna be an exciting thing. This slide will be circulated by UNITAR, so you don't have to take note of every single line. In the daily journal of the United Nations, the important documents for the 81st section are already listed like this. This is a copy from the daily journal every day under the general information section. There is this list. And I just put in the red boxes some important documents. So on the far right, there is agenda A/81/251. So this is agenda for the new session. Agenda is a document of 170 plus items approved by the General Assembly for the new session this past Friday. So until then, the Assembly had provisional agenda. But 251, the agenda is so new, so it will start to be listed instead of the provisional agenda, perhaps tomorrow. The second box, annotated agenda number 100 and 100 addendum one. These are very useful. These are thick documents and will have detailed history, what resolutions were adopted under a given agenda item in the past and what is expected for the new session. So it's a low profile document, but enormously helpful to you. So 100 and 100 addendum one. And then there's a document, the draft program of work. This is a calendar basically, which is 900. That is the next box. And it was issued in July, which was under the 80th session. So hence a slash 80 instead of 81, 900. And I will show you from the next next page or a few pages, a few pages later. what are in 900, the draft calendar. And finally at the bottom, INF, A/INF, that's for information, 81/4, this is about the high level week that passes the protocol, security information, you know, what kind of high level meeting there are besides the general debate. That's all in this document. So it's also very useful for the next two weeks. The announcement in the journal continues like this. I will not go over everything, but, you know, the seating protocol is mentioned, starting with Morocco in the first row as a result of the drawing of lots. three months ago by the Secretary General, and then following English alphabetical order. And the general debate, the list of speakers, and then the fact that the time limit should be 15 minutes, although there is no microphone cutoff for your heads of state and government, and the theme that the President of the General Assembly has chosen for the general debate. And then the high level week, that's next week. So general debate, as mentioned, is on 22 to 28 September. So that's from Tuesday next week until the Monday the week afterwards. And we will meet on Saturday as well, but not on Sunday the 27th. 00 a.m. until the list of speakers is exhausted, 00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. So it's a long, long day each day. And besides the general debate, which will be held without exception in the General Assembly Hall, the General Assembly, you or your predecessors, mandated five thematic high level meetings for this period. One on the right to development on Wednesday, secondly, sea level rise on Thursday, and on Friday, pandemics, and the Monday on the second week, Durban Declaration and Program of Action, and fifthly, on Tuesday, 29 September, nuclear weapons. So this is All these were mandated by the General Assembly in spite of the of its own provision at the bottom saying that, well, you know, we are so busy during the general debate, let's not have too many high level meetings and maximum three. General Assembly said that the same General Assembly mandated five. Well, is this exception not not really for for your information for 2027 in spite of that same resolution maximum three the assembly your predecessors have mandated five for information so what will happen after the high level week and your your leaders will come and go and very busy week you will be exhausted and after that you will have main committees from first committee to six committees. Those will be discussed at the later segment by our colleagues. So we'll focus on the General Assembly plenary and what will happen. So there will be meetings, as mentioned in the calendar, the draft calendar, 8/80/900. And most of the plenary meetings will be scheduled from October through December, although many other meetings will be held after January. So this is the beginning of October. So the high level meeting, high level week is over and 5th of October, that's the beginning of the fifth week of the current session. The session began last week on Tuesday, the 81st session. And I will not go over everything, but highlighted in yellow here, October 13th, Tuesday, election of members of the Human Rights Council. So there will be an election with casting ballot papers, which Romeo will talk about. Then the next page has this blue line, report of the International Court of Justice, Thursday 29 October. So why I highlighted this, because General Assembly is one of the six principal organs according to the Charter. Charter lists six principal organs of the United Nations, along with the Security Council, Economic and Social Council, International Court of Justice, the Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. So each of those will send an annual report to the General Assembly, and the General Assembly would consider each of those. Trusteeship Council is currently not in action. So there is no report for trusteeship council, but the rest are sending. So here is one of them, annual report of the International Court of Justice. And then here is another election in yellow. This is the election for members of International Court of Justice. So judges will be elected on Tuesday, the 3rd of November, again, with casting of ballot papers. Here is another principal organ report, report of the Economic and Social Council, the 10th of November. So the president of the ECOSOC will come to the General Assembly and introduce the report. And we will continue like this. And the in the calendar lists up until the 9th of December. Besides these, the same draft calendar, 8/80/900, that lists other items that are not scheduled yet, but the date is to be decided. And a very prominent one is the appointment of the Secretary General. So this will come sometime, is supposed to come sometime this autumn, October, November, December, at some point when the Security Council sends its recommendation to the General Assembly. But the date is not known yet. So this is a calendar from September, including the high level week until December. So what exactly are those meetings? So at each meeting, the General Assembly considers the agenda item and there is a debate. Debate is basically statements, statements President of the General Assembly, PGA, President of the General Assembly is PGA. That's a very often used acronym, not Professional Golf Association or anything. President of the General Assembly, PGA and SG, Secretary General, they may or may not make a statement. And then statement by member states and General Assembly has observers. There are 119 of them, and they can also make a statement in any debate on the item. And if there is any draft resolution associated with the agenda item, then there is an introduction of that draft resolution. After the debate, if there is any draft resolution, the General Assembly will take action on that. with or without a vote. When there is an adoption without a vote, that basically happens when the President PGA asks, "Is there any objection? May I take it that the Assembly wishes to adopt this draft resolution? I see no objection. It's so decided." So, so-called consensus adoption, consensus, that is the adoption without a vote. And At the same time, main committees, first through six committees are meeting, and then they will eventually send their recommendations to the plenary. So these recommendations will be considered in December. So there is one General Assembly plenary meeting, one day in December to consider all first committee recommendations, the same another plenary meeting to consider all second committee resolutions. and so on and so forth. And normally the last main committee that comes to the plenary is the Fifth Committee, which could be around Christmas Eve or even after that. I have seen Fifth Committee recommendations coming to the GA plenary on the 31st of December. So let's hope that it will be better this year. And then after January, so the first part is called the main part of the 81st session, and the second part is resumed part. So main part from September through December, and resumed part from January to September. That's two parts of the 81st session. So what will happen in the resumed part. Resumed part will continue to have formal plenary meetings, as I mentioned, on different subjects. For example, the report of the Security Council, that comes normally around June to the General Assembly because of their reporting cycle. So there is a debate on that report. Also, the PGA, again, the President of the General Assembly, tends to hold many thematic debates or high-level meetings on some topics as an informal meeting of a plenary. So now informal, so there is more flexibility as to who can speak. For example, scholars, experts, non-governmental organizations, journalists, they can be brought to these thematic debates by the at the discretion of the President of the General Assembly as an informal meeting of the plenary. And of course, no member states can make their own contribution to Secretary General may make some briefings in a informal meeting of the plenary, like in the last couple of months, the Secretary General has been giving a briefing pretty much on a monthly basis on the UN 80, the reform initiative to have exchange, to provide updates and then to have the ambassadors an opportunity to give their inputs. And also there will be informal consultations or negotiations led by co-facilitators appointed by the President of the General Assembly. So the PGA would appoint normally two ambassadors to lead negotiation on the outcome document of the future high-level meeting, for example. So next week, these five high-level meetings, some of them will have an outcome document that are the products of such co-facilitator-led informal consultation that went on since this past January until recently. So with that, and there are a few other details, but in the interest of time, you will see, you will receive this slide, and I will hand over to Rommel for his part, and at the end, we can certainly entertain your questions. And of course, you know, you will come up with questions as the session proceeds. So we are available. If you send me an email, then, you know, either I or my colleague, somebody will respond to you. So, you know, you're always welcome. We are here to serve you. And with that, Romeo. UN Secretariat · сотрудник по межправительственным вопросам [55:24]: Thank you very much, Kenji. Thank you, Rabi. Good morning, distinguished delegates, colleagues. So before we start, while our colleague from UNITAR is setting up my PowerPoint presentation, I just wanted to note that we will have a lot to go through and given the limited time that we have, we will have to skim through some of the slides. But do not worry, as Kenji mentioned, we will be sharing with you the briefing material. UNITAR will be sending them to you at the end of this workshop. All right. So if I could just have the slides, please, on the screen. Okay. Thank you. So if you just allow me, I would like to start with the resolutions as we have more to cover on that in terms of the scope. And then we'll proceed on elections after my presentation on our resolutions. So General Assembly resolutions, what are they exactly? So resolutions are formal expressions of the opinion or the will of a UN organ. As the General Assembly is the chief deliberative policy making and representative organ of the United Nations, its resolutions provide policy recommendations, they assign mandates to the UN Secretariat and the subsidiary bodies of the General Assembly, and also they decide on questions regarding the UN budget. With the exception of decisions on payment to regular and peacekeeping budgets of the UN, GA resolutions, as you may know, are not binding for member states. The implementation of the recommendations contained in GA resolutions is the responsibility of each member state. look at the process of how resolutions are submitted and adopted in the GA. So draft resolutions or decisions are referred to as proposals, also according to the GA rules of procedure. So there are three different types of proposals. So they may be first submitted by a state or a group of states. They could also be submitted by the president of the General Assembly, or they could come from a GA subsidiary organ, such as one of the six main committees. So for those submitted by states or group of states, informal consultations on the text are led by the delegation or the delegations who are the main sponsors of that draft resolution or decision. The General Assembly Secretariat is not involved in the process of the negotiation, so that is a delegation led process and we will only be involved before the submission of once the delegations have finished their consultations and they have the text for submission. for issuance as an L document. So that means that room bookings, communication to delegations are done by those delegations leading, by those main sponsors leading the consultations. Of course, substantive offices may be involved prior to the submission of the proposal. Delegations may also announce these informal consultations and negotiations in the Journal of the UN. And later I'll discuss more on this. Proposals can be opened for co-sponsorship by other states through e-delegate. So proposals submitted by the General Assembly, the President of the General Assembly, for those proposals, usually there are informal consultations led by co-facilitators that are appointed by the President. Same as the other proposals, the GA Secretariat may be involved in informal consultations for these co-facilitator-led negotiations. So for those cases, we will be doing the room bookings and handling the preparations for the informal consultations. And usually, again, the operative word is usually, these are consensus-based texts. And like proposals by states or group of states, proposals submitted by the President of the General Assembly, these are closed for co-sponsorship by states. So for proposals submitted by a subsidiary organs such as main committees, negotiations take place in those respective organs or committees. And proposals are closed for co-sponsorship once they reach to the plenary. And basically these main committees will submit these proposals for recommendation for adoption by the plenary. And whatever action is done in the main committees, the plenary repeats the pattern of their consideration in the committee. So any recorded votes that were taken in the committee are also done in plenary. So now I would like to walk you through the cycle of a proposal from the time of submission to the time of its adoption in plenary. So proposals submitted by a state or a group of states are submitted first via e-delegate. And we'll be going more into that later. But before we go into this cycle, again, I want to remind that the negotiations and informal consultations on these proposals would already have been done prior to the submission of the text. So there is an understanding that the text that is being submitted for issuance in L document has already been negotiated and that it has either reached consensus or at least get as close as possible to consensus. So the first step would be the submission of the proposal by via e-delegate. Proposals must be submitted at least five business days before its consideration in plenary, taking into account rule 78 of the rules of procedure. As highlighted here, no proposal shall be discussed or put to a vote at any meeting of the GA unless this proposal has been circulated to delegations not later than the day preceding the meeting. That's why we have the five business days, because we would need at least four business days to process the text for editing, for translation, and for issuance, and it has to be issued at least one day before its consideration in plenary. I will not go into the details of how to submit through e-delegate, but we have a very useful reference here. We have a submissions guideline which could be found online, which provides step-by-step instructions on how to prepare a proposal, how to initiate it on e-delegate, how to open it for co-sponsorship, and how to submit it for issuance as an official document. So submission of proposals from states and by the PGA are issued as L documents. You will hear this a lot, L doc. So they are issued a symbol A/ the session number, in this case 81, /L.number. So that is how your draft resolution and draft decision will be labeled with a GA symbol once it is for consideration in the General Assembly. And these L documents, once issued, are made available publicly on the UN official document system, or as we call them, ODS. Sorry to be flooding you with a lot of acronyms, but you will be hearing this a lot throughout your work here with the United Nations. Just also as a note, proposals recommended by main committees for adoption in general plenary are not issued as separate documents once it's submitted to the plenary. Rather, they will be contained in the reports of the main committees when submitted to plenary for recommendation for adoption. on co-sponsorship of a proposal. So proposals may be open for co-sponsorship, but this is not required. And as I said, proposals by the, um, submitted by the president of the General Assembly are not open for co-sponsorship. So, um, there are two ways to express sponsorship for delegations who wish to co-sponsor a, a proposal. So they could do that either through e-delegates at, um, once that proposal has been initiated on e-delegate and it has been marked as open for co-sponsorship, delegations will receive a notification on e-delegate that this is ready for co-sponsorship. You may go into the system and co-sponsor a particular proposal. If you are unable to do that, you may also do it up until the time of consideration in plenary. So right before the action on that draft resolution or draft decision. member states in the GA Hall will have the opportunity to co-sponsor this proposal. They will be asked to press the microphone button to signify their wish to be a co-sponsor. So guidelines on co-sponsorships can also be found on the same online guidelines that we have on submission of draft resolutions and decisions. Okay, so more on the nitty gritty part, but I will just came through them. So once a proposal has been submitted to us, to DGACM, the editing of the proposal is done by our department, the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, DGACM. So after submission, an assigned UN editor would review the proposal and make editorial suggestions as needed. And then us, the GA Secretariat, will then share these editorial queries and suggestions to the main sponsor who submitted the proposal. And then this is usually done by email, and we would request you, if you're a main sponsor, that, you know, to please pay attention to these editorial queries, because of course, the document will only be issued once you give your approval on these editorial comments and suggestions. And given the usual tight deadline that we have, usually we have the five business days turnaround between the submission until the adoption, we would really count on the quick response from main sponsors to respond to these editorial queries. So after that, we would also, number four, look into the scheduling of a meeting to consider your proposal. So after a proposal has been submitted to the secretariat, the secretariat will then in coordination with the Office of the President of the General Assembly, look into a date of consideration in plenary. The consideration of a proposal is usually done if there is a debate on the agenda item of that meeting. It can be done, the consideration can also be scheduled on the same date that a debate would be held on the agenda item where that proposal is submitted. However, we would like to note that in order to utilize plenary meetings effectively, the consideration of agenda items and proposals submitted under them are usually scheduled together in one meeting. So that means that the GA would usually not be in a position to schedule a dedicated plenary meeting just to consider one proposal. So once the schedule is confirmed with PGA, we, the secretariat, will get back to the main sponsor, the submitting delegation for the proposal. and to see if you agree on the date. And once there is an agreement, this will be reflected on the schedule of meetings of the GA website and in the UN journal. Okay, so this is one of the favorite topics of colleagues, program budget implications or PBIs. So proposals are submitted for review for any program budget implications. So that is done by the program planning and budget division of the MSPC. So it is handled by that division, but it is the process is initiated by us, the GA secretariat, through whatever is submitted to us through eDelegate. So just to zoom in on this briefly, rule 153 of the rules of procedure specifies that no resolution involving expenditure shall be recommended by a committee for approval by the General Assembly. unless it is accompanied by an estimate of expenditures prepared by the GA. So draft resolutions that have program budget implications must first be considered by the Fifth Committee before they are taken up to the plenary for adoption. So more on more practical tips, advice on program budget implications. The Secretariat would not be in a position to offer advice on PBIs. until the proposal is formally submitted for issuance in L document. So that starts the process of reviewing a proposal for any program budget implications. And a minimum of 48 hours is required for the PBI review. Also very important on the use of the language within existing resources. I'm sure you've seen this a lot in draft resolutions and draft decisions. so that the use of this language on proposals does not rule out any program budget implications, as there are limits to what can be absorbed in the existing budget of the UN. So especially in the context of the ongoing liquidity crisis, we would ask delegations to refrain from using within existing resources and expecting that there will be no PBIs on a draft resolution or draft decision. So what exactly would trigger one of the possible triggers of program budget implications. So here are just some example of languages that may trigger PBIs. If the draft resolution says, requests the SG to submit a new report, you know, to establish a dedicated new capacity, so to decide to convene an open-ended working group or a conference or a meeting. So these are usually languages that would trigger program budget implications. But on the other hand, if there is a request to continue the issuance of a report that has already been mandated or invites or encourages, so these languages usually do not trigger PBIs. Okay. So once the review for program budget implications is completed, An oral statement might be issued by the Secretariat, which details any administrative or financial implications of the adoption of the draft resolution. So right here on this, shown on the screen, would be an example of an oral statement that the Secretariat would issue. This will be read out by the Secretary before the consideration of the proposal in plenary and will also be circulated to delegations to e-delegate in advance of the consideration of that proposal. Okay, so final stage of a proposal is the consideration in GA plenary, which means that the assembly will then take action on the proposal. So the usual procedure on this would be the proposal, again, once that proposal is scheduled for consideration in plenary. the proposal may be introduced by a main sponsor, although this is not a requirement. Just to note that only one delegation may introduce a draft resolution. So even though there are, there could be multiple main sponsors for a proposal, there could only be one introducing delegation. If the proposal is then open for co-sponsorship, the Secretary will, as I mentioned, will invite states that have not co-sponsored the proposal on e-delegate to do so by pressing their microphone button at the plenary meeting. So the Secretary will then read out the states that press the button for co-sponsorship, and those additional co-sponsors would then be reflected in the official verbatim record of that plenary meeting. And then after that, explanation of votes. Just to note that when we say explanation of vote, the term vote does not imply that there is a recorded vote. It just means that this is an explanation of their position before the assembly takes action on a proposal. And then after explanation of votes before the vote are heard, the adoption of the proposal then would take place. So this could either happen by consensus, meaning there is no recorded vote, or through a recorded vote. After that, the Assembly will then hear explanation of votes after the vote. Also to note, delegations may only deliver an explanation of vote once, so it can only be done either before the action or after the action. And also, in accordance to rule 88 of the Rules of Procedure, co-sponsors of proposal may not deliver explanation of votes. All right, more on the voting. So here's just here, just a slide showing on the rules that govern recorded votes in the GA. So first of all, who can vote in GA plenary? So each member state shall have one vote, except for those who are in arrears according to the article 19 of the charter. So these are member states who are in arrears of payment. So unless the G8 has decided that they may vote, there will be countries who are in the use who will not be able to cast their vote in plenary or in main committees. There is also a question on which majority would apply. So sometimes there are two-thirds majority or a simple majority. So important questions shall be made by two-thirds majority of members present in voting. So rule 83 spells out what these important questions are, so they may include recommendations with respect to the maintenance of international peace and security, admissions of new members to the UN, suspensions of rights and privileges of membership, the expulsion of members, or questions relating to the operation of trusteeship systems and budgetary questions. While rule 85 specifies that any other decisions will be made by simple majority or a majority of those members present and voting. Okay, moving on. Amendments. So before we get to this slide, this is a common term that is used or that is incorrectly replaced by the term revision. So what is an amendment and what is a revision? So an amendment is a change that is proposed by a delegation to a proposal. So if delegation A has a draft resolution in front of them and delegation B wishes to amend it, they would submit an amendment. Meanwhile, a revision is a change that is proposed by the initiating delegation. So If I am Delegation A and I have a proposal and I wish to change something to my proposal, then I will revise. I will make a revision to my proposal. So an amendment, therefore, is hostile in nature, while revisions are changes made by the submitting sponsor themselves. So amendments may be presented as an official written document, which will also be issued as an L document, or they could also be introduced in the Assembly as an oral amendment. So like proposals, amendments may be adopted by a recorded vote or by consensus. So just to zoom in, rule 90 of the rules of procedure states that it defines what an amendment is. And if an amendment is moved to a proposal, the GA first takes action on the amendment before it takes action on the proposal itself. And if the amendment is adopted, the proposal will then be considered as amended. either with a recorded vote or by consensus. So moving on, once the GA adopts a proposal, the proposal then becomes a resolution or a decision, and this will be issued as an official document with the symbol A/RES/ symbol, I mean the session number, slash a sequential number. So resolutions are assigned this symbol while and are issued as standalone official documents. Meanwhile, adopted decisions are assigned are also assigned a symbol. It'll be the session number slash a sequential number. However, these decisions are not issued as separate documents. but they are included in the compilation of decisions adopted by the GA, which is issued at the end of the main session and a main part of the session and the resume part of the session. So to see, to find the resolutions and decisions adopted during the session, we also have these important links. They are posted on iGov once these resolutions and decisions are adopted in the GA. One important note. As you know, we have a proliferation of proposals submitted to declare international days, weeks, months, years, decades. So in the GA resolution 79327, the Assembly actually noted the significant increase in the number of these proclamations, and the GA decided through that resolution on a trial basis to put on hold consideration of new proposals for international days weeks, months, years and decades during the 81st and 82nd sessions. So meaning effective 81st session, the GA requests the President of the General Assembly to group all proclamation requests for these commemorations into a single resolution per agenda item, where these proposed commemorations will be an operative paragraph contained in that singular draft resolution. Accordingly, the Secretariat will not be issuing any draft resolution or decision that contains individual proclamations, requests, either in the plenary or in main committees. Okay, now I believe we have very little time left, so let me just go through quickly through my slides on elections, and also just to remind delegations that usually UNITAR would hold workshop specifically on elections sometime in April or May. that would be an opportunity for us to discuss elections in further detail. But just a very quick macro perspective on elections in the UN. So as you know, the GA, as being one of the six principal organs, conducts its own elections. And GA is the only body composed of all members of the organization. And it also elects some of the members of the Security Council, the non-permanent members of the Security Council, members of the Economic and Social Council, And it is also one of the two bodies that elect judges for the International Court of Justice. It also appoints the Secretary General of the United Nations upon the recommendation of the Security Council. So here is just a list, not an exhaustive list, but a list of many elections and appointments that are held in GA plenary. And these are held either during the main part or the resumed part of the session. And to look at the when these elections would take place, we encourage you to check the program of work of the General Assembly. But just as Kenji already mentioned, elections for the Human Rights Council members will happen in October. International Court of Justice will be the 3rd of November. We also have some elections happening the second week of November and the election of the President, Vice President of the GA, Security Council, non-permanent members and ECOSOC members. happen sometime in June next year, which is part of the resumed session. Quickly, elections are held by secret ballots. However, the practice of dispensing with secret ballots has been applied whenever there is a clean slate, meaning there is an equal number of candidates that correspond to the number of seats. However, this does not apply to elections where two-thirds majority or an absolute majority is required. In those cases, for example, election of members of the Security Council and ECOSOC, those are held through secret ballot because of the required majority. Nevertheless, even though there is a clean slate, the right remains for a state to request a secret ballot should they wish to do so. And finally, just a few more things to look at. we would like to, when elections are being held, we look into the membership, you know, who can present candidatures, can candidatures be endorsed, how many seats are available and who are eligible to run for these seats, and what is the decision-making process. So on the question of who can vote, There are the 193 members of the GA, except for those countries who are in arrears subject to Article 19, who can be elected or appointment. So depending on the organ or the subsidiary body, members are elected within either in their national capacity, meaning it's the country that is elected or appointment, or in their personal capacity, meaning it's a specific individual that is elected. For example, the president of the General Assembly is elected in their personal capacity, However, the vice presidents of the General Assembly are elected in their national capacity, meaning anyone can then fulfill the role of a vice president from that member state that is elected. So two important reminders on elections held in the General Assembly. Candidates, well, candidatures must be submitted through eDelegate at least 48 hours before the election. And on the election day, campaign materials must be limited to a single page. So when distributing campaign materials in the GA Hall, they should be limited to one single sheet of printed material in view of preserving the decorum of the Assembly. And as I said, there will be a more detailed discussion on elections held by UNITAR in a workshop to be held sometime in end of April or beginning of May. And with that, I think if you have a few minutes to take. UNITAR [1:22:24]: No, we don't have time. So thank you very much. What we are going to do is, with your permission, of course, share your contact details with all the colleagues. So whoever has questions, you can interact directly with Kenji and Romo. Thank you very much. Thank you. Beatrice, thank you very much for being with us. You are the Director and Chief of Protocol. Thank you. I was searching also for an easy definition online because we all know protocol, but I was searching for that definition. I found something. It says that protocol is the art of creating an enabling environment that enables delegates, diplomats, and member states to interact through mutual respect