Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly

A/RES/79/327View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 121Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, published in 2025.

What other versions does this mandate have?

20 versions · 1992–2025

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

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1 entity

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What subjects does this mandate have?

9 topics

Administrative Procedure Conferences International Days Organizational Change Organizational Reform Resolutions and Decisions Top Echelon Staff Voting Work Organization

What does this mandate say?

72 operative paragraphs

Role and authority of the General Assembly

Recognizes the functions, powers and role of the General Assembly in matters related to the maintenance of international peace and security as articulated in Articles 10, 11, 12 and 35 of the Charter of the United Nations, without prejudice to the functions and powers of the Security Council set out in Article 24, in particular by taking action in accordance with the Charter, and emphasizes the importance of continuing to strengthen the relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly, including as stipulated in resolution 79/1;

Calls for greater coordination, in accordance with their respective mandates, between the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, in order to avoid duplication between and align the agendas of these bodies, and encourages the Presidents of the respective bodies to continue to hold regular meetings to that end;

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

Recognizes the value of continued engagement between the General Assembly and the Peacebuilding Commission, in line with the Commission’s advisory role and its mandate to promote coherence and coordination with the United Nations system, including, where relevant, through the convening of joint debates and the provision by the Commission of advice and remarks to the Assembly, and encourages the President and the Chair of the respective bodies to hold regular meetings to that end;

Commits to the continued implementation of its resolution 377 A (V) of 3 November 1950, entitled “Uniting for peace”, and its resolution 76/262 of 26 April 2022 on the veto initiative, to enhance the work of the General Assembly, taking into account its role on matters related to the maintenance of international peace and security, and recognizing the relevance of these resolutions with respect to the fulfilment of the purposes and principles of the Charter, and calls for strengthened transparency and interaction between the General Assembly and the Security Council;

Requests the President of the General Assembly to continue to prepare detailed summaries following relevant discussions related to the annual report of the Security Council, on the use of the veto or General Assembly resolution 377 A (V) or 76/262, including recommendations for action based on such discussions;

Decides to support credible, timely and decisive action by the Security Council in exercise of its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and in this regard calls upon Member States to refrain from measures impeding action to prevent or end the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes;

Recognizes the continued relevance and potential of special reports mandated by Article 15, paragraph 1, and Article 24, paragraph 3, of the Charter, when necessary, and invites the Security Council to continue this practice and to submit such reports, including in connection with the use of the veto;

Reaffirms the obligation of all Members to fully implement and adhere to all provisions of the Charter as they relate to the decision-making process in the Security Council;

Recalls that, under Article 24, paragraph 1, of the Charter, the Security Council acts on behalf of the entire membership, and emphasizes that the consideration of the annual report of the Security Council contributes to enhanced transparency on matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security, and includes an account of the measures that the Council has decided upon or taken to maintain international peace and security as provided for under Article 15, paragraph 1, of the Charter;

Welcomes the efforts of the Security Council in producing a more comprehensive annual report and the inclusion of a chapter on special reports on the use of the veto in the annual report of the Security Council, as well as the additional information provided in the introduction regarding the use of the veto, reiterates the importance of the Security Council continuing its efforts to improve its annual report to the General Assembly, and in addition welcomes the practice of convening an informal meeting, with due notice, every January to allow Member States and observers to the General Assembly to express their views ahead of the completion of the introduction to the annual report of the Security Council to the General Assembly, and requests the continuation of this practice;

Takes note of the issuance of the digital handbook 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, as mandated in resolution 77/335, and encourages its annual update and its wider dissemination among Member States;

Recalls Article 96 of the Charter and recognizes the contribution of the International Court of Justice, as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, including through its advisory opinions, and reaffirms the obligation of all States to undertake to comply with the decisions of the International Court of Justice in cases to which they are parties;

Recognizes the role played by the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, including in matters related to the maintenance of international peace and security and in further strengthening its role in accordance with paragraph 1 (a) (ii) of General Assembly resolution 3499 (XXX) of 15 December 1975;

Working methods

Decides to establish the Working Group on the Strengthening and Revitalizing of the Work of the General Assembly, with the mandate and composition of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly;

Also decides that the Working Group on the Strengthening and Revitalizing of the Work of the General Assembly will address the following clusters every three years, on a trial basis starting at the eighty-first session, while maintaining an ongoing focus on the implementation of mandates given by the General Assembly and continuing the practice of concurrent discussions of the clusters within each session:

The role, authority and working methods of the General Assembly; the Office of the President of the General Assembly, at the eighty-first session and every three years thereafter;

The process for the selection and appointment of the Secretary-General and other executive heads, at the eighty-second session and every three years thereafter;

Further decides that the Working Group will convene, starting from the eightieth session, to review the implementation of the present and past resolutions;

Decides that the Working Group will consider a resolution every three years, starting at the eighty-third session, except for instances where earlier consideration of a resolution is deemed necessary by the General Assembly, to align with specific timelines related to the work of the Assembly, and issue a report on its deliberations;

Also decides to review and assess during the eighty-third session the feasibility and impact of the triennial frequency of the resolution and the timetable of the Working Group;

Further decides to continue the practice of the convening of an annual interactive dialogue between Member States and the Secretariat by the President of the General Assembly;

Strongly encourages Member States, without prejudice to the sovereign right of Member States to submit resolutions and propose agenda items to the General Assembly and with a view to ensuring more focused work of its deliberations, to reduce the frequency, length and number of resolutions submitted to the Assembly;

Acknowledges the recurring nature of multiple resolutions adopted by the General Assembly that are substantially similar to their previous versions, and strongly encourages Member States, starting from the eighty-first session, to reintroduce any resolution of such nature only when operational adjustments are being made, without prejudice to the sovereign right of Member States to submit resolutions and with the exception of certain resolutions, including those resolutions relating to the peace and security agenda of the United Nations, which shall maintain their established frequency due to political or procedural character or requirements;

Strongly urges Member States to limit explanations of vote by delegations, both before and after the vote, to five minutes; written explanations of vote are not limited in length and will be reflected in their entirety in the official records;

Decides, starting from the eighty-first session, to limit the number of high-level meetings mandated by the General Assembly to be convened during high-level week to a maximum of three, with a view to allowing adequate space and time for delegations to focus on the general debate of the Assembly;

Requests each of the Main Committees to review their working methods during the eightieth session and submit concrete proposals to the General Committee on how to make their work more efficient and effective;

Requests the General Committee, based on the proposals received by each of the Main Committees and respecting the specificities and mandates of each Committee, to present, during the eighty-first session, concrete proposals for the consideration of the General Assembly on how to seek synergies and avoid duplication in the work of the Main Committees, with a view to streamlining the agenda of the General Assembly and making it more efficient;

Looks forward to receiving for the consideration of Member States, during the eightieth session and within the framework of the UN80 Initiative, concrete proposals from the Secretariat, taking into account the necessity to have clearly defined objectives and an evidence-based approach, and aiming at strengthening the impact of the United Nations and enhancing its agility, responsiveness and resilience while addressing the issue of duplicative efforts and ensuring effective and efficient mandate delivery across all three pillars of the work of the United Nations;

Decides to simplify the adoption of draft resolutions and decisions recommended by a Main Committee in the General Assembly plenary, subject to the following provisions:

The General Assembly plenary shall first take all votes, one by one, on draft resolutions and decisions recommended by the Main Committee and/or parts thereof where such votes were taken in the Committee; the plenary shall subsequently adopt without a vote in one gavel all other draft resolutions and decisions adopted by the Committee without a vote;

The resolutions and decisions shall be numbered in the order listed in the report of the Main Committee, regardless of whether they were adopted with or without a vote, excluding proposals with programme budget implications;

The procedure for action on proposals with programme budget implications shall remain unchanged, with action taken when the report of the Fifth Committee is available, pursuant to rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, with all separate and recorded votes taken as applicable;

Requests the General Committee, in consultation with all Member States, to submit to the General Assembly a proposal to repurpose the agenda to focus on shared priorities and to streamline it to allow for adequate time to consider items and achieve outcomes on items;

Decides to amend its rules of procedure, effective from the opening of the eightieth session, to read as reflected in annex I to the report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly, with a view to reflecting feminine pronouns and gender-specific nouns for women, in all six official languages, in accordance with that annex;

Notes with concern the significant increase in the number of proposals to proclaim international days, weeks, months, years or decades, and decides, on a trial basis, to put on hold consideration of new proposals for international days, weeks, months, years and decades during the eighty-first and eighty-second sessions, and requests the President of the General Assembly, effective from the eighty-first session, to group all proclamation requests for international commemoration into a single resolution per agenda item, where each proposed commemoration contains its own operative paragraph focused on its establishment;

Decides to review and assess during the eighty-third session the feasibility and impact of these measures on the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of the General Assembly;

Notes an increase in the submission of resolutions with a regional scope to the General Assembly, and in this regard calls upon Member States to refrain from submitting such resolutions, with a view to streamlining the work of the Assembly and to make it more focused and impactful;

Reaffirms that all decisions and resolutions of the General Assembly shall be consistent with the Charter of the United Nations as well as with the financial regulations and rules of the Organization;

Decides to continue the established pattern of geographical rotation of the Chairs of the Main Committees, as contained in the annex to General Assembly resolution 72/313 of 17 September 2018, starting with the eighty-fourth session;

Acknowledges the need for continued work on accessibility of both digital and physical platforms, and in this regard welcomes the roll-out of the iGov platform, recognizing the contribution to transparency and efficiency of the work of the General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies, and requests its extension to publicly available information related to the work of the subsidiary bodies including the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council, to consolidate already available information from different sources;

Takes note of the organization of Action Days in the lead-up to the high-level week of the general debate, emphasizes that this format contributes to freeing up attention and space for the general debate itself, and encourages its continuation in future sessions of the General Assembly;

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 development;

Recalls its resolutions 69/321 of 11 September 2015, 70/305 of 13 September 2016, 71/323 of 8 September 2017, 72/313 and 77/335, which introduced significant improvements to the selection and appointment process of the Secretary-General, and reaffirms that the process should be guided by the principles set out in the present resolution and previous resolutions;

Underlines the importance for candidates to embody the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, and a firm commitment to the purposes and principles of the Charter;

Recalls paragraph 59 of resolution 77/335, and reaffirms previous resolutions on continued efforts towards achieving equal and fair distribution in terms of the gender and geographical balance with regard to appointments of executive heads of the Organization, including the Secretary-General, while meeting the highest possible standards;

Decides, without prejudice to the prerogatives of the Security Council, and in strict compliance with Article 97 of the Charter, that, starting with the eightieth session, the process for the selection and appointment of the Secretary-General should include the following steps:

The selection process should be formally initiated in the last quarter of the year preceding the end of the incumbent’s term through a joint letter of the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council addressed to Member States, announcing the start of the selection process and inviting candidates to be presented, after which nominations of candidates are expected;

The joint letter should invite nominations from Member States and outline the principles of the selection process and notional events, inviting the nomination of candidates;

Noting with regret that no woman has ever held the position of Secretary-General, encourages Member States to strongly consider nominating women as candidates;

The candidates should be nominated by one Member State or by a group of Member States; each Member State may nominate only one candidate, individually or jointly with other Member States;

The President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council will jointly inform Member States as candidatures are being submitted;

A nominating Member State may withdraw a candidate at any time during the process; the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council should be notified of the withdrawal of the candidate submitted anytime during the process and the candidate should be considered automatically withdrawn; if a candidate withdraws, the nominating Member State may subsequently nominate another candidate;

Each candidate should provide a vision statement at the time of the nomination, which will be publicized on the dedicated United Nations web page; each candidate should be given the opportunity to present her or his vision statement; the President of the General Assembly will convene webcast interactive dialogues with all candidates, in accordance with paragraph 42 of resolution 69/321; the President of the General Assembly will engage closely, in a transparent and inclusive manner, with Member States;

Each candidate should disclose her or his sources of funding at the time of the nomination;

Candidates holding positions in the United Nations system should consider suspending their work in the United Nations system during the campaign, with a view to avoiding any conflict of interest that may arise from their functions and adjacent advantages;

The President of the General Assembly and the President of the Security Council should jointly maintain and regularly update a public list of candidates, including the name, nominating State(s), vision statement, curriculum vitae and campaign financing disclosures, published on a dedicated United Nations web page;

The Secretary General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council, in accordance with Article 97 of the Charter;

The selection process should end with the swearing into office of the Secretary-General-designate, as detailed in annex I to resolution 77/335, during the last quarter of the year prior to assuming office, bearing in mind the need to allow the Secretary-General-designate sufficient time to prepare for her or his term in office;

In the event of an unforeseen interruption in the term of office of the Secretary-General, the General Assembly and the Security Council should, upon notification from the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, convene without delay to initiate an expedited selection and appointment process in accordance with Article 97 of the Charter and the procedures set out in the present and previous resolutions;

The Secretariat is requested to continue to regularly update the repository of information on past Secretary-General selection processes;

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, as set out in resolution 77/335;

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 of 2 March 1992, 51/241 of 31 July 1997, 71/263 of 23 December 2016, 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;

Commends the creation and further development of the Senior Leadership Talent Pool and the Senior Leadership Vacancies portal, requests the Secretariat to continue the practice of regularly updating these online platforms, calls upon 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 requests the Secretariat to ensure that there is a preliminary public call for candidates in all senior appointments and to share on a regular basis with Member States a list of upcoming vacancies of senior-level posts;

Urges the Secretary-General and all United Nations entities to firmly uphold a zero-tolerance policy against all types of misconduct;

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 in the strategic guidance and the overall success of the work of the General Assembly, and thus the United Nations, recognizes that the activities and mandates assigned to the President have increased in recent years, recalls the provisions regarding the support for the Office of the President of the General Assembly in previous resolutions and the annexes to resolution 70/305, and expresses continued support to the Office;

Recalls paragraph 81 of resolution 77/335 and notes with concern that only five women have been elected as President of the General Assembly up until the seventy-ninth session and welcomes with appreciation the appointment of the fifth woman, presiding over the General Assembly for its eightieth session, calls upon Member States to continue to nominate women as candidates for this position and further calls upon Member States to explore measures to address the disparity and to also explore concrete steps at the eighty-first session;

Requests the President of the General Assembly to present to the General Assembly recommendations to strengthen the efficiency, accountability, transparency and institutional memory of the Office of the President of the General Assembly;

Stresses the utmost importance of ensuring a smooth transition between the outgoing and incoming Presidents of the General Assembly, and in this connection emphasizes the critical role of close interaction and coordination between the Offices of the incoming and outgoing Presidents, including the transmission of a handover report, as well as expeditious provision of personnel and financial support through voluntary contributions by Member States to the Office of the incoming President of the General Assembly;

Acknowledges the efforts of Member States aimed at strengthening and providing the Office of the President of the General Assembly and the President with the adequate means to perform their increasing functions, including thorough voluntary contributions to the trust fund, and strongly encourages more countries to contribute;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue 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;

Invites Member States to consider funding for the President of the General Assembly Fellowship Programme.

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