United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة (Arabic) 联合国大会 (Chinese) Assemblée générale des Nations unies  (French) Генера́льная Ассамбле́я ООН  (Russian) Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas  (Spanish)
United Nations (UN) General Assembly hall at the UN Headquarters, New York City
Abbreviation	GA UNGA AG
Formation	1945
Type	Principal organ
Legal status	Active
Head	President: Peter Thomson
Parent organization	United Nations (UN)
Website	www.un.org/ga

For two articles dealing with membership of and participation in the General Assembly, see:

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA, GA, or French: Assemblée Générale "AG") is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. The General Assembly (GA) is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. Its powers are to oversee the budget of the United Nations, appoint the non-permanent members to the Security Council, receive reports from other parts of the United Nations and make recommendations in the form of General Assembly Resolutions. It has also established a wide number of subsidiary organs.

The General Assembly meets under its president or Secretary-General in regular yearly sessions the main part of which lasts from September to December and resumed part from January until all issues are addressed (which often is just before the next session's start). It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions. Its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter.

The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations.

Voting in the General Assembly on important questions, namely, recommendations on peace and security, budgetary concerns and the election, admission, suspension or expulsion of members – is by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. Other questions are decided by a straightforward majority. Each member country has one vote. Apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security under Security Council consideration. The one state, one vote power structure potentially allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote.