President of the United Nations General Assembly
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The President of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted for by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis.
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[edit] Election
The session of the assembly is scheduled every year starting in September - any special, or emergency special, assemblies over the next year will be headed by the president of UNGA.
The presidency rotates annually between five geographic groups: African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European and other States.[1]
Because of their powerful stature globally, some of the largest, most powerful countries have never held the presidency, such as the United States, China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan. In particular, it is customary that a national of a permanent member of the UN Security Council never serves as General Assembly president.
[edit] UNGA's 64th session
On 10 June 2009, Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya was elected by acclamation at a plenary meeting of the 192-member body of the United Nations General Assembly. Treki assumed office as president of the 64th session on 15 September 2009, succeeding General Assembly president, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua.
In his opening address, Treki said: "We must put an end to wars and to their causes and consequences. Dialogue and mutual understanding are the way to resolve our problems. Embargoes and blockades are fruitless: they exacerbate antagonism and rebellion, while undermining respect for the international community."[2]
In a subsequent press conference, Treki was asked about a UN resolution that calls for the universal decriminalization of being gay, and responded: "It is not acceptable in the majority of the world. And there are some countries that allow that, thinking it is a kind of democracy … I think it is not."[3]
The United Nations has published a preliminary list of UNGA resolutions to be considered during the 64th session.[4]
[edit] Reform
Clear and appropriate criteria have been proposed prior to the consideration of candidacies and to establish of an "elections committee" or, alternatively, a search committee.[5] Criteria include:
- Availability to devote full-time attention for many months;
- Political independence;
- Multilateral leadership experience, including negotiation and consensus-building skills and the ability to deal with multiple powerful stakeholders; and
- A thorough understanding of the UN Charter.
Other propositions includes presidential voting by citizens of all over the world to elect the UNGA president.
[edit] Elected presidents
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "UN: About the General Assembly". http://www.un.org/ga/55/bgrdga.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
- ^ "Libyan Takes Helm of UN General Assembly". New York Times. 2009-09-16. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/16/world/AP-UN-UN-General-Assembly.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=lockerbie&st=cse. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
- ^ "New UN President Says Being Gay 'Not Acceptable'". On Top Media. 2009-09-23. http://ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=4582&MediaType=1&Category=26. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
- ^ "UNGA resolutions - 64th session". http://www.un.org/ga/64/resolutions.shtml. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
- ^ "Proposed elections committee". http://www.unelections.org/files/IGP_PGASelectionLetter_18Jan07.pdf. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
[edit] External links
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Wikinews has related news: |
- UN: List of UN General Assembly presidents
- UN General Assembly President Election Reform.
- UNelections.org.
- More news on UN elections and appointments.
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