Transcript The Sixth Committee Bradford Smith 11/6/2015 The General Assembly  Main Committees  Procedural Committees - (General Committee, Credentials Committee)  Standing Committees - (ACABQ, Committee on Contributions)  Subsidiary and Ad Hoc Bodies (Committee on.

The Sixth
Committee
Bradford Smith
11/6/2015
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The General Assembly
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Main Committees
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Procedural Committees -
(General
Committee, Credentials Committee)
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Standing Committees -
(ACABQ,
Committee on Contributions)
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Subsidiary and Ad Hoc Bodies
(Committee on Relations with the Host Country,
Conference on Disarmament, Special Committee
on Peacekeeping Operations, Advisory Bodies,
Expert Bodies (International Law
Commission))
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The Main Committees
An Overview
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Main Committees correspond to the
major fields of responsibility of the GA.
Main Committees consider agenda items
(referred by the GA), prepare
recommendations and draft resolutions
for submission to GA plenary.
All UN members have the right to be
represented on these committees.
Each Committee elects its own officers.
Decisions are made by a majority of the
members present and voting, a majority
of the committee constituting a quorum.
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Six Main Committees
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First Committee (Disarmament and
International Security)
Special Political and Decolonization
Committee (Fourth Committee)
Second Committee (Economic and
Financial)
Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian
and Cultural)
Fifth Committee (Administrative and
Budgetary)
Sixth Committee (Legal)
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Rules of Procedure
Rule 99(b) of the rules of procedure
of the GA:
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Each Main Committee, taking into
account the closing date of the GA,
adopts its own priorities;
Meets as necessary;
Must adopt a programme of work with a
target date for the conclusion of the work,
approximate dates of consideration of
items and the number of meetings to be
allocated to each item;
GA provides suggested timetable.
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The Sixth Committee
57th Session
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GA allocated 17 items to the Sixth
Committee;
Secretariat identifies documentation
relating to such items to assist the Sixth
Committee in its work;
Establishment of Working Groups;
Draft resolutions with financial
implications must be approved by the
ACABQ and the Fifth Committee.
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Agenda Items
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Sixth Committee Agenda Items for the
57th Session included, for example:
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Consideration of effective measures to
enhance the protection, security and safety of
diplomatic and consular missions and
representatives;
Scope of legal protection under the
Convention on the Safety of UN and
Associated Personnel;
Measures to eliminate international terrorism;
Establishment of the ICC;
International convention against the
reproductive cloning of human beings;
Report of the ILC.
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Establishment of the
International Criminal Court
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GA established an Ad Hoc Committee in 1994 to
review draft statute for an international criminal court;
GA, at its fiftieth session, established the Preparatory
Committee on the Establishment of an International
Criminal Court;
Statute was adopted by the Conference of
Plenipotentiaries in 1998;
The GA continued its consideration of this item from its
52nd to 55th sessions;
At its 56th session, the GA decided that the
Preparatory Committee should be reconvened and the
Assembly of States Parties should be convened during
the 57th session;
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Establishment of the
International Criminal Court
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During the 57th session, the Assembly of States
Parties adopted various instruments by
consensus, including:
 Rules of Procedure and Evidence,
 Elements of Crime,
 Rules of procedure of the Assembly,
 Financial regulations and rules,
 Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of
ICC,
 Resolution on the procedure for the
nomination and election of judges, the
Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutors, etc.);
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Establishment of the
International Criminal Court
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Item was considered by the Sixth Committee;
Sixth Committee made recommendations to the
GA, which were adopted:
 Committee recognized the important work of
the Preparatory Commission and the
Assembly,
 Requested that the Secretariat provide
resources and services for the Assembly to
discharge its functions,
 To make the necessary preparations for the
meeting on the Committee on Budget and
Finance, and
 Recommended that the item be included in
the provisional agenda of the GA’s 58th
session.
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Measures to eliminate
international terrorism
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GA established an Ad Hoc Committee at its 51st
session, which has been renewed annually;
The Ad Hoc Committee negotiated several texts
resulting in the adoption of two treaties (Committee
continued its work within the framework of a Working
Group of the Sixth Committee):
 International Convention for the Suppression of
Terrorist Bombings and
 International Convention for the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism.
The Ad Hoc Committee also negotiated a draft
International Convention for the Suppression of
Nuclear Terrorism and a draft Comprehensive
Convention on International Terrorism.
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Measures to eliminate
international terrorism
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During the 57th session, the Sixth Committee
considered the item;
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The Sixth Committee established a Working Group,
which continued its work on the elaboration of both
draft texts;
The Working Group reported to the Committee the
results of informal consultations;
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Views were divided over the scope of the draft
Nuclear Terrorism Convention, and the definition of
“terrorism” with regard to the draft Comprehensive
Convention.
Views were likewise divided concerning the same
issues in the Working Group.
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Measures to eliminate
international terrorism
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The Sixth Committee adopted a resolution, which
in turn was adopted by the GA;
The GA resolution called for the Ad Hoc
Committee:
 to continue to elaborate a comprehensive
convention on international terrorism; and
 continue its efforts to resolve outstanding
issues relating to the elaboration of a draft
international convention for the suppression
of acts of nuclear terrorism.
The resolution also included the item in the
provisional agenda of its 58th session.
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International Convention against
the reproductive cloning of human beings
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GA, at its 56th session, established an Ad Hoc
Committee for the purpose of considering the
elaboration of an international convention;
At the 57th session, the Sixth Committee
established a Working Group to continue the
work of the Ad Hoc Committee;
The Working Group held a general exchange of
views at its first three meetings. The Working
Group then referred its report to the Sixth
Committee (and recommended that the
Committee continue the consideration of the
elaboration of a negotiation mandate during the
57th session);
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International Convention against
the reproductive cloning of human beings
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The item was discussed in the Plenary of the
Sixth Committee. Views continued to be divided
over the scope of the proposed convention.
The Committee adopted a decision and
recommended to the GA to adopt the draft
decision, which called for a working group of the
Sixth Committee to be convened during the 58th
session of the GA (to continue the elaboration of
an international convention), and to include in the
provisional agenda of the 58th session the said
item.
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SixththCommittee
58 Session
Tentative Schedule of Meetings
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22/9: Informal consultations
29/9: Elections, organization of work
29-3/10: WG on International Convention against the
reproductive cloning of human beings
6/10: Report of UNCITRAL
6-10/10: WG on Measures to eliminate international
terrorism
9-10/10: Report of the Committee on the Charter of the
UN
9/10: Requests for observer status
9/10: Principles of international law concerning new
economic order
13-17/10: Scope of legal protection under the
Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated
Personnel (Working Group)
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SixththCommittee
58 Session
Tentative Schedule of Meetings
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15-16/10: Measures to eliminate international terrorism
20/10: Establishment of the ICC
20-21/10: International Convention against the
reproductive cloning of human beings (report of the
WG)
21-22/10: Convention on jurisdictional immunities of
States and their property
23/10: Scope of legal protection under the Convention
on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel (report
of the WG)
27/10-4/11: Report of the ILC
5/11: Report of the Committee on Relations with the
Host Country
5/11: Programme of assistance in teaching
international law
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General Information
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Secretariat of the Sixth Committee
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Telephone: 212 963-5345
United Nations International Law
Website:
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Mr. Vaclav MIKULKA, Secretary
Ms. Mahnoush ARSANJANI, Deputy Secretary
Ms. Anne FOSTY, Deputy Secretary
English: http://www.un.org/law/
French: http://www.un.org/french/law/index.html
Sixth Committee - Summaries of work and related
documents.
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