UNGA

Question 1

Donald McHenry quote about UNGA

Answer 1

“The General Assembly is not an action body. It is just that - an assembly” says Ambassador Donald McHenry, a former U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations

Question 2

UNGA Resolutions: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Answer 2

• UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS - in 1948, two years after the assembly convened its inaugural session, it promulgated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which contained 30 articles outlining global standards for human rights
a historic act, it proclaimed the “inherent dignity” and “equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family”
as the chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped to draft and pass the declaration, saying that it “may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere”
Human rights issues remain contentious, however, and the HRC continues to face criticism for, among other things, including countries with poor human rights standards and focusing disproportionately on Israel

Question 3

UNGA Resolutions: Uniting For Peace
Resolution

Answer 3

in 1950, the United States initiated the landmark “Uniting for Peace” resolution. It states that if the UN Security Council “fails to exercise its primary responsibility” for maintaining international peace and security, the General Assembly should take up the matter itself and urge collective action
the assembly has acted on this resolution in a handful of instances, including the Suez Crisis of 1956. Intervention by the United Nations in the crisis ultimately resulted in a cease-fire, troop withdrawal, and the establishment of the first UN Emergency Force, a peacekeeping force
the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq provoked calls from many organizations for the General Assembly to take up the issue and override the impasse of the Security Council, but the assembly did not do so

Question 4

UNGA Resolutions: Millenium Declaration

Answer 4

for its 55th session, in 2000, the General Assembly was designated the Millennium Assembly
at a summit that year, Annan unveiled the Millennium Declaration.
It set forth the Millennium Development Goals, a collection of “time-bound and measurable” targets for, among other things, reducing poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, and improving access to primary education
the development goals continue to be invoked by many governments and nongovernmental organizations to spur aid to developing countries
significant advances have been made on education, infant mortality, and poverty. In 2015, the General Assembly set new goals for sustainable development

Question 5

UNGA Resolutions: Zionism is Racism
Declaration

Answer 5

the assembly’s most controversial resolution, passed in 1975, determined that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination;” yet, the UN Partition Plan for Palestine had approved of and helped to create the state of Israel in 1947
in his address to the UN General Assembly on the day the resolution was passed, Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog said, “For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value”
he then tore a copy of the resolution in half. The resolution was repealed in 1991
in 2001, during the United Nations’ world conference on combatting racism, in Durban, South Africa, similar language on Zionism was introduced but later dropped