G.L.Peiris And His Sermon In The UN General Assembly

By S. V. Kirubaharan –October 12, 2012

S. V. Kirubaharan

Last month, the 67th session of the UN General Assembly – UNGA commenced under the Presidency of Mr. Vuk Jeremic, (ex- Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia), the youngest ever UNGA president – 37 years old.

Any Presidency of UN bodies rotates annually among the five regional groups – Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin American & Caribbean and Western Europe & other States. On that basis, the 67^th session was Eastern Europe’s turn. Serbia and Lithuania posed their candidates and Serbia was elected.

Before the birth of Serbia, Mr. Vuk Jeremic was in the public service of Yugoslavia as an Advisor to the Minister of Telecommunications.

Sri Lanka has been a member State since 14 December 1955. In 1976, Sri Lanka’s representative Mr Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe held the Presidency of the GA, on behalf of the Asian group.

Voting in the UNGA

Each UN member state has one vote in the UNGA. Whenever votes are counted, member states can vote ‘Yes’, ‘No’or ‘Abstain’. A two-third majority is required in the election of members to the Security Council. All other voting can be decided by a simple majority. Nowadays, UN bodies take special efforts to achieve consensus rather than deciding by formal voting.

It is to be noted, a Member State with arrears in payment of its dues to the UN for two preceding years can lose its voting right. However, an exception is allowed, if the Member State can show that conditions beyond its control contributed to this inability to pay – article 19 of the UN Charter.

Presently five member states are in arrears of payment as of September 2012. They are: Central African Republic, Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome & Principe and Somalia.

6 main Committees in the UNGA Read More