Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly

A/RES/58/126View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 55 Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, published in 2004.

What other versions does this mandate have?

20 versions · 1992–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/79/327

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/79/327	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly	4,131	19%Compare
2023	A/RES/77/335	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly	7,262	38%Compare
2021	A/RES/75/325	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly	5,917	9%Compare
2020	A/RES/74/303	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly	656	12%Compare
2019	A/RES/73/341	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly	3,957	25%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

6 reports · 2011–2019

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2019	A/73/723	Opening of the regular sessions of the General Assembly report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/72/313
2018	A/72/736	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/71/323
2017	A/71/780	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/305
2016	A/70/681	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/69/321
2013	A/67/710	Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/66/294

What subjects does this mandate have?

11 subjects

Administrative Reform Consultations Coordination Within UN System Decision-Making Guidelines Information Dissemination Policy Making Report Preparation Reporting Procedures Resources Allocation Subsidiary Bodies

What’s in this document?

1 operative paragraph

Decides to adopt the text contained in the annex to the present resolution.

Annex I

Enhancing the authority and role of the General Assembly

In order to enhance the authority and role of the General Assembly, it is decided that:

Member States reaffirm the relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the United Nations Millennium Declaration³ on the central position of the General Assembly.

³See resolution 55/2.

The Security Council is invited to submit periodically, in accordance with Article 24 of the Charter, special subject-oriented reports to the General Assembly for its consideration on issues of current international concern.

The Security Council is invited to continue with initiatives to improve the quality of its annual report to the General Assembly, mandated by Article 24, paragraph 3, of the Charter, in order to provide the Assembly with a substantive, analytical and material account of its work, in accordance with resolution 51/193.

In carrying out the assessment of the debate on the annual report of the Security Council called for in resolution 51/241, annex, paragraph 12, the President shall inform the General Assembly of his decision regarding the need for further consideration of the Security Council report, including in respect of the convening of informal consultations, on the need for, and content of, any action by the Assembly based on the debate, as well as on any matters to be brought to the attention of the Security Council.

The President of the General Assembly should continue to be briefed regularly by the President of the Security Council on the work of the Council. The President of the Assembly may wish to inform Member States about the substantive issues raised during these meetings.

The Presidents of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council should meet together periodically with a view to ensuring increased cooperation, coordination and complementarity of the work programmes of the three organs in accordance with their respective responsibilities under the Charter. In this connection, the President of the Security Council may wish to discuss the plans of the Security Council for thematic debates with the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Economic and Social Council. The President of the Assembly will inform Member States about the outcome of these meetings.

In June of each year, the President-elect of the General Assembly, after taking into account the views provided by Member States and following consultations with the incumbent President and the Secretary-General, will suggest an issue, or issues, of global concern upon which Member States will be invited to comment during the general debate at the forthcoming session of the Assembly. The views provided by Member States should also be summarized and circulated to Member States. Such suggestions regarding the issue(s) for comment will be without prejudice to the sovereign right of Member States to solely and entirely determine the content of their general debate statements.

The work and decisions of the General Assembly should be better publicized. Accordingly, the support provided by the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat for these purposes should be intensified and strengthened. The Secretary-General is requested to present a plan to this end, within existing resources, to the next session of the Committee on Information, so that recommendations can be made to the Assembly.

Member States and the Secretariat should consider initiatives that might be taken for better monitoring of the follow-up of resolutions of the General Assembly, such as the provision of timely inputs for reports of the Secretary-General and giving effect to proposals that would advance the follow-up of major United Nations conferences and summits.

The resources available to the Office of the President of the General Assembly in personnel and other support shall be augmented from within existing resources, bearing in mind the provisions of paragraph 22 of the annex to resolution 55/285. Five additional posts shall be made available to supplement current support, of which three shall be filled on an annual basis, following consultations with the incoming President, beginning at the fifty-ninth session of the Assembly.

Transitional office accommodation and other support shall be provided to the President-elect of the General Assembly. The Secretary-General is requested to make the necessary arrangements for the provision of such support, within existing resources, beginning with the President-elect of the fifty-ninth session of the Assembly.

Improving the working methods of the General Assembly

The working methods of the General Assembly need to be further rationalized in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness and to make its outcomes more productive. Towards this end:

The General Committee shall meet throughout the session and further improve its working methods to increase its efficiency and effectiveness. It will play the leading role in advising the General Assembly on the efficient organization, coordination and management of its work. In this connection, the Assembly will also consider proposals to reform the General Committee.

The work of the Main Committees of the General Assembly might benefit if it is scheduled over two substantive periods during the session. The rescheduling of the work of the Main Committees should not lead to additional costs, additional or longer meetings, or staggered work schedules of the Main Committees. With a view to enabling the Assembly to consider changes in this regard, with effect from the sixtieth session of the Assembly, the Secretary-General is requested to present, by 1 February 2004, various options for consideration by the General Committee, taking into account the requirements of the relevant intergovernmental bodies and the different locations of their meetings and the budget cycle. The General Committee shall hold open-ended discussions on the options presented by the Secretary-General before making recommendations to the Assembly for its decision by 1 July 2004.

The General Assembly will consider convening more interactive debates. At the beginning of each session, the General Committee, following recommendations from the President of the General Assembly, shall recommend to the Assembly a programme of, and format for, interactive debates during that session on items on its agenda.

With a view to better conceptualization of the content of the agenda of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General is requested to submit to the Assembly, for its consideration by 1 March 2004, an illustrative agenda of the Assembly, based on all the agenda items of the fifty-eighth session, organized around the priorities of the Organization for the period 2002–2005.⁴ The General Committee shall hold open-ended discussions on the illustrative agenda before making recommendations on the matter to the Assembly for its decision by 1 July 2004.

⁴For the priorities of the Organization for the period 2002–2005: (a) Maintenance of international peace and security; (b) Promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and recent United Nations conferences; (c) Development of Africa; (d) Promotion of human rights; (e) Effective coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts; (f) Promotion of justice and international law; (g) Disarmament; (h) Drug control, crime prevention and combating international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, see paragraph 26 of the introduction to the medium-term plan for the period 2002–2005 (Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 6 (A/55/6/Rev.1)) adopted in resolution 55/234.

It would be advantageous for the General Assembly to have a shorter agenda to ensure the fullest discussion of all issues, so that its decisions may have greater impact. Accordingly, the President of the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session, in consultation with the Secretary-General, and following consultations with concerned Member States, is requested to make proposals for the further biennialization, triennialization, clustering and elimination of items of the customary agenda of the Assembly for the consideration of the General Committee by 1 April 2004. The General Committee shall hold open-ended discussions on the proposals before making recommendations on the matter to the Assembly for its decision by 1 July 2004.

General Assembly resolutions should be more concise, focused and action-oriented. Where practical, more actions taken by the Assembly should be in the form of decisions. Preambular paragraphs in resolutions of the Assembly should normally be kept to the minimum.

The heavy volume of documentation that is submitted to the General Assembly for its consideration should be reduced. In this regard, the Secretary-General is requested to continue his efforts to make proposals to Member States for the consolidation of reports on related subjects in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 20 of resolution 57/300. The proposals on a shorter agenda should be accompanied by related proposals for a reduction in the volume of documentation.

The Main Committees of the General Assembly are bound by the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, although they have different practices and working methods. With a view to identifying best practices and working methods, and recognizing the ongoing efforts of the Main Committees to streamline their work, the Secretary-General, drawing on the experience of previous Chairmen of the Main Committees, is requested to submit a historical and analytical note on the practices and working methods of the Main Committees for the consideration of the General Committee by 1 April 2004. The General Committee shall hold open-ended discussions on the note before making recommendations on the matter to the Assembly for its decision by 1 July 2004.

In accordance with paragraph 2 (a) and (c) of resolution 56/509, the General Assembly elects the President of the Assembly, the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly, and the Chairmen of the Main Committees at least three months before the opening of the session in which they will serve. In order to foster better advance planning and preparation of the work of the Main Committees, the full Bureaux of the Main Committees shall similarly be elected three months in advance of the next session.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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