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United Nations Organs – International Law Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter deal with the organs of the United Nations.
International Court of Justice
According to Article 7 of the Charter, organs can be of two types – principal organs and auxiliary organs.
The principal organs are those which have already been established by the Charter, and whose name is mentioned under paragraph 1 of Article 7. These organs are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice and the Secretariat.
Such organs as may be considered necessary shall be called subsidiary organs of the United Nations, which shall in future be established in accordance with this Charter.
Articles which expressly specify subsidiary organs are Articles 20 and 29.
Article 22 empowers the General Assembly and Article 29 the Security Council to establish subsidiary organs for carrying out their functions as they deem necessary.
General assembly
The General Assembly is one of the six main organs of the United Nations. The provisions relating to the General Assembly are contained in Articles 9 to 22 of the Charter, which are included under Chapter IV.
The General Assembly is the most representative of the organs of the United Nations, in which all the member states of the United Nations are represented.
Article 9 of the United Nations Charter provides for the constitution of the General Assembly, according to which the General Assembly shall consist of all the members of the United Nations. Each member shall have a maximum of 5 representatives in the General Assembly.
The annual meeting of the General Assembly takes place once a year at its headquarters in New York. Which starts from the third Tuesday of September and runs till December. This session is called the ‘regular session’ of the General Assembly.
The annual meeting of the General Assembly takes place once a year at its headquarters in New York. Which starts from the third Tuesday of September and runs till December. This session is called the ‘regular session’ of the General Assembly.
The President of the General Assembly for each session is elected by the General Assembly. Until the President is elected for the current session, the General Assembly is presided over by the President of the previous session. A special session of the General Assembly may be convened within fifteen days either by the Secretary-General at the request of the Security Council or by a majority of the Member States, or by a Member State with the consent of the majority.
“Emergency special session” may be called by a vote of any nine members of the Security Council on his request within 24 hours of receipt of such request, or by a majority of the members of the United Nations or at the request of a member State with the consent of majority of the members.
Each member of the General Assembly has only one vote. The principle of equality of members is followed in the General Assembly.
The decisions of the General Assembly on important questions are made by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting, in respect of which provision has been made in Article 18.
Decisions on other questions are made by a majority of the members present and voting.
Important questions include recommendations regarding the maiIntenance of international peace and security, the election of members of other organs, the admission, suspension and expulsion of members, questions of justice, and budgetary matters.
In addition, the General Assembly itself may, by majority vote, add new categories of questions which have been decided by a two-thirds majority. The functions and powers of the General Assembly are mentioned under Articles 10 to 17 of the Charter. The functions of the General Assembly can be divided into the following categories.
- General Functions – Article 10 gives wide powers to the General Assembly. The Article provides that the General Assembly may discuss any question or matter falling within the scope of the Charter of the United Nations or relating to the powers and functions of the organs provided for in this Charter. After deliberation, the General Assembly may make recommendations on these questions and matters to the Member States or to the Security Council, or to both.
But with respect to recommendations, and not deliberations, it is expected that the General Assembly will not make recommendations on any dispute or circumstances which are under the consideration of the Security Council, unless the Security Council is requested to do so. The purpose of this control is to prevent conflict between the General Assembly and the Security Council.
- “Increasing International Cooperation”
Article 13 of the Charter confers special power on the General Assembly to conduct and recommend studies for the purpose of promoting international cooperation in two different areas:
1. To promote international cooperation in the political field and to encourage the progressive development and codification of international law, and
2. To promote international cooperation in the fields of economic, social, cultural, education and health and to help achieve human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of race, sex, language or religion .
– Maintaining international peace and security
Although the primary function of maintaining international peace and security is that of the Security Council, the General Assembly, being a part of the United Nations, performs three types of functions in this regard-
- By Initiating discussion,
- By making recommendation,
- And by taking collective measres
- By Initiating discussion – According to paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the Charter, the General Assembly may discuss any matter relating to international peace and security.
- By making recommendation – According to paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the Charter, the General Assembly may, after consultation, make recommendations to the State concerned, or to the States, or to the Security Council, or to both, on any question relating to the maintenance of international peace and security.
- By taking collective measres –There is no provision in the Charter regarding the measures to be taken by the General Assembly.
The resolution to “Organize for Peace” was presented by the United States with the support of France and Great Britain before the fifth regular session of the General Assembly on 3 November 1950. Which was adopted by 52 votes.
The General Assembly adopted 3 resolutions on 3 November 1950 under the head ‘Organizing for Peace’.
Out of these three resolutions, Sankalp (A) is the resolution, which is here called ‘the resolve to unite for peace’.
By resolution (B), a fourteen-member Peace Supervision Commission was set up, which would also include five permanent members of the Security Council. The task of this commission was to observe and report on the situation in those areas where peace is threatened.
Resolution (C) to the members of the United Nations to determine the nature and scope of the assistance which they are in a position to render in support of any recommendation of the Security Council General Assembly for the restoration of peace and security. Resources are invited to survey.
Resolution (D) establishes a 14-member Collective Measures Committee to report on methods that are collectively used to maintain the peace.
Resolution (E) is of general nature.
- Electoral Functions – The General Assembly elects some or all of the members of all organs of the United States. The following are the functions performed by the General Assembly in relation to the election:
The General Assembly elects all ten non-permanent members of the Security Council.
The General Assembly elects 54 members of the Economic and Social Council.
The General Assembly elects some of the members of the Trusteeship Council.
The General Assembly elects 15 judges of the International Court of Justice. Judges are elected by the Security Council and the General Assembly independently of each other by a complex system of parallel voting.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
The General Assembly elects the members to the subsidiary organs which are established by it under Article 22.
The General Assembly admits a member to the United Nations on the recommendation of the Security Council.
The General Assembly also assists the Security Council in the suspension of UN members against whom enforcement action is taken.
The General Assembly cooperates with the Security Council in the expulsion of UN member states that consistently violate the Charter.
The General Assembly performs important functions related to the financial work of the United Nations. It considers and approves the income and expenditure accounts of the organization.
The General Assembly determines that part of the expenditure, which is to be borne by each member.
The General Assembly performs the “supervisory work” of the activities of other organs and of the specialized agencies of the organization. It considers the annual and special reports of the Security Council.
The General Assembly establishes such subsidiary organs as it may consider necessary for carrying out its functions.
Article 96(2) provides that the General Assembly may confer on other organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations the right to request the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on questions of law.
The General Assembly can amend the Charter. The Charter is amended only after the amendment has been adopted by two-thirds of the members of the General Assembly including all members of the Security Council.
It is said of the effect of resolutions of the General Assembly that if a resolution is adopted unanimously or by a two-thirds majority of the members on a particular matter and that resolution is included in the suit among several other resolutions, then its importance becomes too much. Through such resolution, any rule adopted tends to be a ‘custom rule’ of international law.
General Assembly resolutions must satisfy two essential conditions, namely the comprehensiveness and consistency, which are generally required by law to be a customary rule of international law.
