Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly

A/RES/77/335View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 124Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, published in 2022.

What other versions does this mandate have?

20 versions · 1992–2025

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

2025A/RES/79/327Revitalization of the work of the General AssemblyLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/77/335Revitalization of the work of the General AssemblyCompare with previous version
2021A/RES/75/325Revitalization of the work of the General AssemblyCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/74/303Revitalization of the work of the General AssemblyCompare with previous version
2019A/RES/73/341Revitalization of the work of the General AssemblyCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Accountability Administrative Procedure Appointment of Officials General Debate Organizational Change Top Echelon Staff

What does this mandate say?

116 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms its resolution 75/325 of 10 September 2021 and all other previous resolutions adopted without a vote relating to the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly;

Welcomes the reports of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly issued during the seventy-sixth and seventy-seventh sessions and the updated inventory of Assembly resolutions on revitalization annexed thereto, which continues to form a basis for Member States’ deliberation under the item on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly;

Requests the Secretariat to continue updating regularly and equally the multilingual web page devoted to the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly in all six official languages and its substantive content within existing resources in a cost-effective manner, including through the use of existing capabilities, including but not limited to automation of translation, while ensuring the accuracy of translation, welcomes efforts already undertaken in this regard, and encourages the Secretariat to strengthen those efforts;

Decides to establish, at its seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth sessions, in accordance with the biennialized format agreed in resolution 75/325, an Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly, open to all Member States:

To identify further ways to enhance the role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency of the Assembly, inter alia, by building on the progress achieved in past sessions as well as on previous resolutions, including evaluating the status of their implementation, with the primary focus on:

During the seventy-eighth session: role and authority of the General Assembly, and working methods;

During the seventy-ninth session: strengthening the accountability, transparency and institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly and selection and appointment of the Secretary-General and other executive heads;

To also place the primary focus on implementation of the present resolution during the seventy-eighth session, and to submit a report thereon to the Assembly at its seventy-ninth session;

To consider the next resolution during the seventy-ninth session and biennially thereafter;

Welcomes the efficiencies of the biennialized format and recent innovations in the working methods of the Ad Hoc Working Group, including informal interactive dialogues with former Presidents of the General Assembly, and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research workshops for Member States, and encourages further efforts to improve the Working Group with a view to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the General Assembly;

Reiterates its decision to hold annually an interactive and comprehensive dialogue between the Permanent Missions and the Secretariat as mandated in resolution 71/323 of 8 September 2017, during the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group, and strongly emphasizes the importance of the follow-up on issues raised during the dialogue aimed at improving the work of the Secretariat in its interaction with Permanent Missions, including the circulation of these follow-up measures to Permanent Missions;

Decides that the Ad Hoc Working Group shall continue its review of the inventory of General Assembly resolutions on revitalization annexed to the report of the Ad Hoc Working Group submitted at the seventy-seventh session and, as a result, continue to update the inventory to be attached to the reports to be submitted at the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth sessions of the Assembly, including the separate indication of relevant provisions that were not implemented, with reasons therefor;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit an update on the provisions of the General Assembly resolutions on revitalization addressed to the Secretariat for implementation that have not been implemented, with an indication of the constraints and reasons behind any lack of implementation, for further consideration by the Ad Hoc Working Group at the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth sessions;

Recognizes the importance of strengthening the institutional memory of the General Assembly revitalization process, including the Ad Hoc Working Group, and of enhancing the basis for discussions at its future sessions, and requests the Secretariat to develop an online searchable repository of the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group, including its previous reports and the inventory charts issued since the sixty-second session;

Requests the Ad Hoc Working Group, during the seventy-eighth session, to examine whether the format, name and mandate of the Ad Hoc Working Group, including discussions on agenda alignment, remain fit for purpose, and explore further options for strengthening its work;

Role and authority of the General Assembly

Reaffirms the role and authority of the General Assembly and the strict respect of the Charter-based prerogatives and division of work among the principal organs of the United Nations;

Welcomes the decision of the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session to select “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges” as the theme of the general debate, and also welcomes the decision of the President-elect of the General Assembly to select “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all” as the theme of the general debate of the seventy-eighth session of the Assembly;

Stresses the importance of implementing the resolutions of the General Assembly on a non-selective basis, including those related to the revitalization of its work that require a follow-up or further actions, as shown in the updated inventory of Assembly resolutions on revitalization annexed to the report of the Ad Hoc Working Group;

Welcomes the efforts of the President of the General Assembly to reinforce synergy, coherence and complementarity between the agendas of the Assembly and its Main Committees, and the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies, also welcomes regular interaction and enhanced coordination between the Presidents of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council in this regard, and encourages the continuation of this practice;

Also welcomes the initiatives by Member States to support capacity-building and awareness on the relationship between the General Assembly and the Security Council, including through a workshop in the context of the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly;

Stresses the need for United Nations intergovernmental bodies, within their respective mandates, to effectively address the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, and deepen efforts to regain momentum for their attainment within internationally agreed time frames, including, where possible, through provisions to accelerate its implementation in relevant resolutions;

Underlines the urgent need to preserve the primacy, significance and established practice of the general debate of the General Assembly, and:

Stresses the need to limit the number of high-level events held in the margins of the general debate to those of key significance that require immediate attention from Heads of State and Government, to enable the meaningful participation of all countries in the general debate;

Calls upon the President of the General Assembly, Member States, the Secretary-General and heads of other relevant United Nations bodies to be mindful of those aspects when planning and coordinating the events of the high-level week in September and to be guided by the existing mandates agreed upon by Member States;

Calls upon Member States and the United Nations system to singly and collectively limit the number of side events in parallel with or in the margins of the general debate, as well as other high-level sessions, and encourages informal prior consultations to identify side events on similar topics in an effort to minimize overlap and inform the Secretariat of the details of planned side events;

Invites Member States and United Nations system entities to join the voluntary pledge, contained in annex II to the present resolution, to limit the number of side events held in parallel with or in the margins of the general debate, and requests the President of the General Assembly to circulate the pledge to Member States annually ahead of the general debate and to provide information on States that have signed the pledge on the website of the Office of the President;

Requests the Secretariat to continue the practice of uploading information on the side events, when indicated by the organizers, in the Journal of the United Nations, and to do so in all six official languages when provided by the organizers;

Recognizes the value of holding interactive inclusive thematic debates on current issues of critical importance to the international community, calls for the rationalizing of such debates to ensure high-level attendance, calls upon the President of the General Assembly to be mindful of the regular agenda of the Assembly as well as the need to enable the participation of all countries, and urges Member States to refrain from mandating recurring high-level and commemorative meetings where possible, and to consider establishing sunset clauses upon review, including for those already mandated;

Urges Member States, when considering establishing new mandates for meetings of the General Assembly, to be mindful of existing mandated meetings, and in this regard requests the Secretariat to advise the Member States of any existing mandated meetings that overlap in date or theme, with the aim of minimizing the overall number of high-level, thematic and commemorative meetings;

Requests the Secretariat to draw the attention of the General Assembly and its subsidiary organs to overlapping high-level meetings of the Assembly prior to action on proposals that mandate the holding of meetings of the Assembly on specific dates, and to advise co-chairs and co-facilitators appointed by the President of the General Assembly during the scheduling of informal consultations if such meetings or consultations overlap with other meetings of the Assembly already scheduled, to also take this guidance into account;

Strongly encourages the President of the General Assembly, supported by the membership, to achieve gender parity across all the co-chairs and co-facilitators appointed for intergovernmental processes, as well as among the invited speakers and panellists for all meetings of the General Assembly;

Encourages the President of the General Assembly to continue the practice of selecting one representative from a developed country and one representative from a developing country when appointing two co-chairs or co-facilitators, and strongly encourages the President to strive for geographical balance among the invited speakers and panellists for all meetings of the General Assembly;

Invites the President of the General Assembly to publish the outcome of efforts to implement paragraphs 21 and 22 in a consolidated format on the website of the Office of the President;

Requests the President of the General Assembly to continue scheduling the plenary meetings of the Assembly on the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization and on the report of the Security Council in close coordination with the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council so as to avoid overlap with other important and related events on the same day, including, notably, the election of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, so that discussions of these important reports are no longer conducted in a perfunctory manner;

Recognizes the timely submission of the report of the Security Council to the General Assembly and, when necessary, special reports to the General Assembly, in accordance with Article 24, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, recalls resolution 69/321 of 11 September 2015 and other relevant resolutions of the Assembly, and reiterates the importance of the Security Council continuing its efforts to provide its annual report to the Assembly in accordance with resolutions 51/193 of 17 December 1996 and 58/126 of 19 December 2003, and relevant measures outlined in notes S/2017/507 and S/2019/997 by the President of the Security Council, to enable scheduling its timely consideration by the General Assembly in June of each year;

Requests the President of the General Assembly, with the support of the Secretariat, to resume the practice of preparing a summary of the recommendations expressed by delegations during the General Assembly plenary meeting dedicated to discussing the report of the Security Council to the General Assembly and for onward transmission;

Recognizes the functions, powers and role of the General Assembly in matters related to the maintenance of international peace and security, consistent with the Charter, without any prejudice to the functions and powers of the Security Council as set out in Article 24 of the Charter;

Recalls its resolution 76/262 of 26 April 2022, adopted without a vote, in which it invited the Security Council, in accordance with Article 24, paragraph 3, of the Charter, to continue the practice of submitting special reports, including in connection with the casting of a veto by one or more permanent members of the Security Council, at least 72 hours before the relevant discussions in the Assembly;

Welcomes the practice of providing a live list of speakers for the Security Council open debates, taking into account the need to facilitate greater participation of Member States, and notes the guiding role of open debates and their contribution to enhancing interaction and synergies among principal organs;

Underlines the continued need to foster interaction between the General Assembly and the Security Council, in accordance with their respective mandates, and the necessity for greater access by Member States to practical information and institutional memory, and requests the President of the General Assembly, with the support of the Secretariat and other relevant United Nations entities, to consider providing, within existing resources, a digital handbook or accessible outlines on past practices, data and recommendations for the fulfilment of the functions and powers of the General Assembly as outlined in Chapter IV of the Charter;

Requests the Department of Global Communications of the Secretariat and its network of United Nations information centres to continue to take measures to provide accurate, impartial, comprehensive, balanced, timely and accessible information to the public on the tasks and responsibilities of the General Assembly throughout its session in all six official languages and, within existing resources, in as many non-official languages and platforms as possible, and requests the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly to continue to make efforts to ensure that multilingualism is not undermined, in order to enhance public awareness and understanding of the role, work and decisions of the Assembly;

Notes with appreciation the progress made in automating the publication of information about the work of the General Assembly, including the list of resolutions, and requests the Department of Global Communications, in collaboration with the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management of the Secretariat, to continue to explore new ways to make such information available, within existing resources;

Working methods

Stresses the desirability of the General Assembly streamlining its agenda and dedicating more time for holding substantive and interactive dialogues, as well as the review of the implementation of the resolutions it adopts;

Recognizes that urgent and concerted efforts are required to streamline the agenda of the General Assembly, where appropriate, and in this regard:

Recalls the analysis of the agenda of the General Assembly published as an outcome of resolution 58/126, and requests the Secretariat to prepare a conference room paper during the seventy-eighth session outlining the evolution of the agenda of the General Assembly to facilitate deliberations on the further biennalization, triennalization, clustering and elimination of items or on their labelling as items that remain on the agenda for consideration upon notification in accordance with paragraph 4 (b) of the annex to resolution 58/316 of 1 July 2004, for the consideration of Member States;

Emphasizes that the General Assembly and its Main Committees, at each session, in consultation with Member States, need to make concrete proposals for the further biennialization, triennialization, clustering and elimination of items on the agenda of the Assembly or for their labelling as items that remain on the agenda for consideration upon notification in accordance with paragraph 4 (b) of the annex to resolution 58/316, including through the introduction of a sunset clause, with the clear consent of the sponsoring State or States, taking into account all the relevant recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group;

Encourages the President of the General Assembly to steer a more active General Committee in this regard, in line with the rules of procedure of the Assembly, and further requests the President to continue the practice of convening informal meetings of the General Committee throughout the session to elaborate concrete proposals for the further biennialization, triennialization, clustering and elimination of items or for their labelling as items that remain on the agenda for consideration upon notification in accordance with paragraph 4 (b) of the annex to resolution 58/316, where appropriate, for the consideration of the General Assembly each year, taking into account the consent of the sponsoring States;

Requests the Secretariat to brief the Ad Hoc Working Group at the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly on the implementation of past decisions regarding the streamlining of the agenda of the Assembly, including those related to the role of the General Committee, to further address the issue of the increasingly overloaded agenda of the Assembly;

Reaffirms the need to continue to improve the working methods of the Main Committees, and in this regard:

Invites each Main Committee to further discuss its working methods, as appropriate, under the agenda item on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly earlier at the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth sessions, including the possibility of holding substantive and interactive dialogues, and in this regard also invites each Main Committee to submit to the Ad Hoc Working Group during the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth sessions a written update, as appropriate, on progress achieved since the previous update in the efforts aimed at improving the working methods of the Committees, including which recommendations from the Ad Hoc Working Group were adopted;

Invites the Chairs of the Main Committees to continue briefing the Ad Hoc Working Group, on an annual basis, on best practices and lessons learned with a view to improving working methods and to brief their Committees on practices from other committees that could be incorporated into their own working methods;

Notes the important role of information and communication technologies in carrying out the work of the United Nations, including the General Assembly, stresses the importance of being mindful of the proper use of such technologies to ensure full and equal participation of Member States, and requests the Secretariat to provide for the consideration of the Ad Hoc Working Group at the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly a briefing on the use of information and communications technologies in the work of the General Assembly, with a view to ensuring better preparedness in exceptional circumstances;

Stresses the necessity of aligning the agendas of the General Assembly and its Main Committees and the Economic and Social Council to avoid current overlaps and duplication, consistent with paragraphs 15 and 32 to 44 of resolution 75/325, and encourages the General Assembly and its Main Committees and the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies to examine, on a case-by-case basis, all the resolutions and agenda items that focus on the same area, based on their purpose, relevance and content;

Requests the General Committee, while exercising its functions under rule 40 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, and within its mandate, to discuss gaps, overlaps and duplication and make recommendations annually to the General Assembly for its consideration;

Expresses its appreciation to the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session for strengthening the role of the General Committee with the holding of informal meetings aimed at promoting close coordination and collaboration between the appointed co-chairs and co-facilitators of different intergovernmental processes, and encourages the President of the General Assembly at future sessions to continue this practice;

Acknowledges the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session for convening scientific briefings, and strongly encourages Member States to consider the application of a science-based approach to inform the negotiations and decision-making processes of the Assembly;

Acknowledges the Presidents of the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth and seventy-seventh sessions for convening the Advisory Board on Gender Equality and the General Assembly Platform of Women Leaders, and encourages the continuation of these initiatives at future sessions of the Assembly;

Welcomes the increasing number of women candidates nominated for the subsidiary organs of the General Assembly in seeking to promote gender parity, and encourages Member States to continue to do so;

Reiterates the need to produce the Journal of the United Nations in all six official languages in strict compliance with rule 55 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, and in that regard emphasizes the importance of the extension of the information in the Journal published in the six official languages, reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to brief the Ad Hoc Working Group, on a yearly basis, on the progress achieved in this regard, and requests the Secretariat to continue to explore cost-neutral options to that effect;

Invites the main sponsors of draft resolutions that are submitted for the consideration of delegations to consider the procedural practices applied during previous sessions with the aim of enhancing the efficiency of the work of the General Assembly and its Main Committees and the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies, and requests the Secretariat to advise main sponsors of draft resolutions on its guidelines for the preparation, co-sponsorship and submission of proposals for consideration in the plenary of the General Assembly;

Recalls the provisions related to its resolutions, contained in resolutions 60/286 of 8 September 2006 and 66/294 of 17 September 2012, and recommends that, in order to ensure that they are effectively implemented and have greater political impact, General Assembly resolutions should be short, in particular as regards the preambular parts, and should focus more on action-oriented operative paragraphs;

Reaffirms its request in paragraph 47 of resolution 75/325 regarding e-deleGATE modules, and:

Requests the Secretariat to consolidate e-services provided to delegates under the e-deleGATE platform to provide a single point of entry for such services;

Calls upon its subsidiary organs to use, as much as possible, existing e-deleGATE modules;

Requests the Secretariat to regularly brief and organize demonstrations for delegates on the use of the e-deleGATE platform and other online tools used by delegates;

Also requests the Secretariat to brief the Ad Hoc Working Group on the current and future functionality of the e-deleGATE platform;

Recalls all relevant accessibility-related resolutions of the General Assembly, including resolutions 76/154 of 16 December 2021, 76/273 of 29 June 2022, 77/189 of 15 December 2022 and 77/240 of 16 December 2022, and encourages the Secretariat to make the United Nations more accessible for persons and representatives with disabilities, in line with paragraphs 33 to 37 of resolution 73/341 of 12 September 2019;

Requests the Secretariat to establish a centralized point of contact to manage reasonable accommodation requests, and in this regard to create a webform hosted on e-deleGATE to allow the registration of reasonable accommodation requests;

Also requests the Secretariat to conduct a full assessment of the digital accessibility of United Nations documents and to report back at the seventy-eighth session, including providing an update on the progress with executable options;

Further requests the Secretariat to conduct an accessibility assessment, including on all entrances and exits, and to provide for the consideration of the Ad Hoc Working Group at the seventy-eighth session a briefing on any specific considerations impeding accessibility for persons with disabilities and providing executable options to enhance accessibility;

Recognizes the progress made in the archiving of past statements, and requests the Secretariat to continue to ensure open access to all documents uploaded to PaperSmart and its replacement, the eStatements module of the Journal of the United Nations, and the United Nations Digital Library, and to provide materials in accessible format;

Notes the use of digital repositories to strengthen the institutional memory of the subsidiary organs of the General Assembly, including the implementation status of their outcomes, reaffirms that working methods of its subsidiary organs are within their competence and encourages those organs to consider the further development of such digital repositories and to ensure that they are accessible, and requests the Secretariat to provide assistance in this regard;

Requests the Secretary-General, during the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly, to assess and report on executable options for consideration by the General Assembly on making available to all Member States the bulk registration of participants in official conferences and meetings of the United Nations, without prejudice to the current available option in this regard;

Recalls resolution 76/269 of 20 June 2022, and recognizes the important contribution that women make to diplomacy, including to the work of the United Nations, and the importance of accurately reflecting their work in the rules of procedure of the General Assembly;

Requests a briefing by the Secretariat at the seventy-eighth session assessing the impact of the entry into effect of the earlier start date of the General Assembly at the seventy-eighth session, and on the expected impact of possibly moving the start date to late August, and decides to discuss during the seventy-ninth session options regarding an earlier start date of the regular session;

Selection and appointment of the Secretary-General and other executive heads

Reaffirms the important role played by the Secretary-General in the context of current global challenges and in the implementation of the three pillars of the United Nations, namely, peace and security, human rights and sustainable development;

Reaffirms its commitment to continue, in the Ad Hoc Working Group, in accordance with the provisions of Article 97 of the Charter, its thorough consideration of the issues under the third thematic cluster of the Working Group, on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, including the examination of innovative ways to improve the process of selecting and appointing the Secretary-General and other executive heads in all its aspects, and recalls all relevant resolutions, reaffirming the applicable procedures set out in the rules of procedure of the Assembly, in particular rule 141, and acknowledging existing relevant practices of the Assembly;

Encourages future Presidents of the General Assembly to actively contribute to the implementation of provisions guiding the selection and appointment of the next Secretary-General, as contained in all relevant resolutions, in particular resolutions 69/321 of 11 September 2015 and 70/305 of 13 September 2016, and stresses the need for the selection and appointment process of the Secretary-General and other executive heads to be guided by the principles of transparency and inclusiveness;

Welcomes the progress achieved in the selection and appointment process of the Secretary-General in resolutions 69/321, 70/305, 71/323 of 8 September 2017 and 72/313 of 17 September 2018, adopted without a vote, in full compliance with the General Assembly mandate under Article 97 of the Charter, and reaffirms previous resolutions referring to gender balance and regional rotation in the course of the identification and appointment of the best candidate for the post of Secretary-General;

Recalls the letters dated 15 December 2015 and 5 February 2021, and recommends that the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council continue the practice of circulating joint letters on the selection and appointment process of the Secretary-General, including outlining notional events, and consider concluding in sufficient time to allow the Secretary-General-designate to prepare for their term in office;

Encourages Member States to publicize the call for nominations, including with civil society and other stakeholders with the aim of identifying potential candidates;

Decides that, in order to be circulated in a joint letter by the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council pursuant to the process established in resolution 69/321, nominations of candidates must be submitted by at least one Member State, in accordance with paragraph 56 of resolution 75/325;

Requests the presentation of a vision statement by all candidates for the position of Secretary-General, including when seeking a second term, and the holding of an open informal dialogue with Member States and observers of the General Assembly on its content, notes with appreciation the engagement of civil society, and encourages the continuation of such practices;

Invites candidates during future processes to voluntarily disclose any funding sources they have relating to their candidature;

Decides to further assess during the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly the selection and appointment process of the Secretary-General, to consolidate the advances gained in the relevant Assembly resolutions and to explore possible steps to improve future processes, including the collaboration between the Assembly and the Security Council, consistent with Article 97 of the Charter;

Requests the Secretariat to establish, within existing resources, a dedicated webpage in all six official languages to serve as a repository of the relevant information, including vision statements, joint letters and General Assembly resolutions related to the selection and appointment process of the Secretary-General;

Notes that the Secretary-General-designate shall take an oath of office before the General Assembly during a swearing-in ceremony, as detailed in annex I to the present resolution;

Welcomes again the ongoing efforts and progress already made by the Secretary-General towards achieving equal and fair distribution in terms of the gender and geographical balance of the executive heads of the United Nations system and the Senior Management Group of the Organization, while securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, in accordance with Article 101 of the Charter and its resolutions 46/232 of 2 March 1992, 51/241 of 31 July 1997 and 71/263 of 23 December 2016, commends in particular the fact that gender parity was achieved in the Senior Management Group, and requests that further measures be taken in this regard;

Supports the request of the Secretary-General for Member States to submit the names and résumés of nationals who may be considered for positions of executive heads and senior management of the Secretariat, and notes the creation of the Senior Leadership Talent Pool in that endeavour;

Reiterates the need to follow best practices in all senior appointments, including a public call for candidates, notably women, notes the development of the Senior Leadership Vacancies portal, and encourages its further development, including by identifying innovative ways to publicize such calls;

Requests the Secretariat to provide a briefing to the Ad Hoc Working Group at the seventy-ninth session on the Senior Leadership Talent Pool, the Senior Leadership Vacancies portal and other measures taken to bring greater transparency and accessibility to the selection and appointment of executive heads;

Reaffirms that no post should be considered the exclusive preserve of any Member State or group of States and that the Secretary-General should ensure that this principle is applied faithfully in accordance with the principle of equitable geographical distribution;

Welcomes the fact that gender parity has been maintained in the Senior Management Group, commends the Secretary-General’s commitment to reach gender parity and to recruit staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible across the United Nations Organization, recalls the efforts made in the Secretary-General’s system-wide strategy on gender parity, and encourages the Secretary-General to increase efforts in this regard;

Notes with concern that gender parity and geographical balance have not yet been reached in the appointment and election of the executive heads of the United Nations system, and encourages the Secretary-General to take further steps to address these issues;

Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to continue the ongoing efforts to ensure equitable geographical distribution in the Secretariat and to ensure as wide a geographical distribution of staff as possible in all departments and offices and at all levels, of geographic posts, including at the Director and higher levels of the Secretariat;

Reiterates the need to ensure equal and fair distribution based on gender parity and as wide a geographical basis as possible, while also being diverse from a multilingual perspective, and in this regard recalls its resolutions 46/232, 51/241, 71/263, 72/254 of 24 December 2017 and 77/278 of 18 April 2023, adopted without a vote, which contain the principles that the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity are the paramount considerations in the recruitment and performance of international civil servants, and that candidates’ independence should be considered;

Notes that there is yet to be a woman Secretary-General, and strongly encourages Member States to bear this in mind during the next and in subsequent selection processes, when nominating candidates for the position of Secretary-General;

Requests the Office of Human Resources of the Secretariat to continue the practice of providing a briefing to the Ad Hoc Working Group during the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly on the gender and geographical balance of the executive heads of the United Nations system and the Senior Management Group of the Organization, as well as a breakdown showing those originating from the States that are permanent members of the Security Council, and to provide a written update prior to the briefing with details on the process for appointing and electing each of the executive heads, to facilitate greater understanding of the opportunities for Member States and respective governing bodies to nominate candidates for those executive heads that are elected;

Strengthening of the accountability, transparency and institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly

Emphasizes the important role of the President of the General Assembly within the United Nations Organization, as well as in the strategic guidance and the overall success of the work of the Assembly;

Decides to discuss, at its seventy-ninth session, questions related to the term assigned to the President of the General Assembly and the financial and logistical implications thereof;

Notes that only four women have been elected as President of the General Assembly since the foundation of the United Nations, and strongly encourages Member States to nominate women as candidates for the position of President of the General Assembly, and encourages Presidents-elect to continue to strive for both gender and geographical balance within the Office of the President of the General Assembly;

Recalls with appreciation the decision of Member States to fund the transition period, the trust fund in support of the Office of the President of the General Assembly, seconding national staff as well as the convening of annual retreats and transition workshops;

Welcomes the induction programme delivered to the Office of the President of the General Assembly, and calls upon the Secretariat to strengthen the programme through enhanced content and increased delivery time;

Also welcomes the initiatives by Member States to support the strengthening of the Office of the President of the General Assembly, including through a transition workshop that includes revitalization of the work of the General Assembly among its central components;

Further welcomes the disclosure of staffing information provided on the website of the Office of the President of the General Assembly in recent years, including with regard to the status, level and funding of personnel, and encourages the continuation of this practice;

Acknowledges the heavy reliance of the Office of the President of the General Assembly on voluntary contributions to deliver on a growing number of mandates entrusted to it by the Assembly;

Recalls that the activities and mandates assigned to the President of the General Assembly have increased in recent years, also recalls the provisions regarding the support for the Office of the President of the General Assembly in previous resolutions, and expresses continued interest in seeking ways to further support and strengthen the Office in accordance with existing procedures, in particular rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly;

Recognizes the need to consider strengthening the institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly in order to ensure the effective implementation of the mandates entrusted to the President of the General Assembly, and requests the Secretary-General to submit a proposal in this regard, including on additional positions, funded through the regular budget, and on extending the current overlap period by an additional month for all general temporary assistance positions in the Office of the President of the General Assembly beginning in the context of the revised budget estimate for 2024 and the proposed programme budget for 2025 and thereafter, in accordance with existing procedures, in particular rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly;

Invites the President of the General Assembly to consider maintaining existing staff members from the preceding Office of the President of the General Assembly, and encourages Member States and United Nations system entities to offer secondments, including for periods that go beyond a single General Assembly session, with a view to strengthening the institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly;

Encourages the President of the General Assembly to issue communications in all six official languages, whenever feasible, and to emphasize the multilingual nature of the United Nations, including the Office of the President of the General Assembly;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide to the President of the General Assembly adequate administrative, technical, technological, logistical and protocol-related support necessary to effectively execute the mandates entrusted to the President of a principal organ of the United Nations;

Requests that the support provided to the President of the General Assembly include the full provision of services to ensure coverage of all calendar meetings and up to 45 non-calendar meetings by session without prejudice to the ability of the President of the General Assembly to convene further meetings as appropriate, with an intention to review the number of meetings during the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly, and further stresses the need to promote multilingualism, including through coverage and archiving official meetings webcasts on the United Nations website in all six official languages;

Requests the Secretary-General to take the measures necessary to preserve and further strengthen the institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly and the General Assembly revitalization process, through utilizing existing United Nations record-keeping and archiving facilities, including websites, in particular in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management and the Department of Global Communications of the Secretariat;

Requests the Secretariat to issue, during the seventy-ninth session, within existing resources, in coordination with the Office of the President of the General Assembly, a compendium of best practices of past Presidents that could serve to contribute to strengthening the institutional memory of the Office;

Requests outgoing Presidents to continue the practice of circulating a handover report for the institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly in accordance with resolution 69/321 and other relevant mandates contained in resolutions on the revitalization of the work of the Assembly, and encourages the President to do so in all six official languages;

Welcomes the good practice of the organization by the President of the General Assembly of informal interactive dialogues of the Member States, with the engagement of civil society, with the candidate(s) for the position of President of the General Assembly based on his or her vision statement.

Oath of office of the Secretary-General

I, [name], solemnly swear to exercise in all loyalty, discretion and conscience the functions entrusted to me as Secretary-General of the United Nations, to discharge these functions and regulate my conduct with the interests of the United Nations only in view and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, without seeking or accepting any instructions in regard to the performance of my duties from any Government or other authority external to the Organization.

Voluntary pledge on limiting side events

Recognizing the high number of side events held in the margins of the general debate of the General Assembly which, prior to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, exceeded 400 events in a single session,

Welcoming the acknowledgement by the General Assembly in its resolution 75/325 of 10 September 2021, and in previous resolutions on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, of the urgent need to preserve the primacy, significance and established practice of the general debate of the General Assembly,

Stressing the need to limit the number of high-level events held in the margins of the general debate,

We, the signatories, pledge:

To voluntarily limit the number of side events hosted, sponsored or co-sponsored by our delegations in the margins of the general debate;

To consult, as much as possible, other delegations when planning side events to identify events on similar topics or issues in an effort to minimize overlap and avoid duplication;

To provide details, as appropriate, of any side events organized by our delegations in a timely fashion to the Secretariat for inclusion in the Journal of the United Nations;

To apply the above commitments to all side events, regardless of format, which may include virtual events and those organized outside of United Nations Headquarters.

All Member States and observers of the General Assembly and United Nations system entities are invited to express their commitment to this voluntary pledge.

Furthermore, the President of the General Assembly is requested to make available a copy of this voluntary pledge on the website of the Office of the President, including maintaining an updated list of signatories.

Paragraph content is machine-extracted from UN documents. For authoritative content, please refer to the official UN document.