A special session of the United Nations General Assembly, or UNGASS, occurs when the United Nations General Assembly meets in order to discuss an important wide-ranging topic.

Under Chapter IV, article 20 of the United Nations Charter, "Special sessions shall be convoked by the Secretary-General at the request of the Security Council or of a majority of the Members of the United Nations." The request of the Security Council requires a vote of nine or more of its fifteen members. However, since 1975, all special sessions have been called by the General Assembly.

Each special session deals exclusively with one topic with a short agenda. They are typically high-level events with the participation of heads of state and government and government ministers. A special session usually adopts one or two outcome documents, such as a political declaration, action plan or a strategy. Special sessions last from one to several days. Like a regular annual session, a special session consists of both formal and informal plenary meetings, with a Committee of the Whole negotiating the outcome document.

Procedure The procedure to call a special session are laid out in the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly. The rules pertaining to special sessions are as follow: Rule 7: Allows for the General Assembly to fix a date for a special session (in accordance with Article 20 of the Charter). Rule 8(a): Requires special sessions to be convened within fifteen days of the receipt by the Secretary-General of a request for such a session from the Security Council or from a majority of the Members of the United Nations Rule 9(a): Allows any Member State of the United Nations to request the Secretary-General convene a special session. The Secretary-General must then inform other Members of the request and inquire whether they concur with it. If a majority do within thirty days, a special session of the General Assembly shall be convened. Rule 10: Requires the Secretary-General to notify Member States, at least fourteen days in advance, of the opening of a special session convened at the request of the Security Council. This time period is changed to at least ten days in advance in the case of a session convened at the request of a majority of Members. Rule 16: Requires the provisional agenda of a special session convened at the request of the Security Council to be communicated to the Member States at least fourteen days before the opening of the session, or at least ten days before the opening of the session for sessions convened at the request of a majority of Member States. Rule 17: Requires that the provisional agenda for a special session only consist of those items proposed for consideration in the request for the holding of the session. Rule 18: Allows for supplementary items to be added to the agenda by any Member States, principal organ of the United Nations or the Secretary-General at least four days before the date fixed for the opening of a special session. Such items are placed on a supplementary list. Rule 19: During a special session, items on the supplementary list and additional items may be added to the agenda by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting.

Sessions Special session Topic Convened by Date Resolution First Palestine 28 April – 15 May 1947 A/310 Second Palestine United Nations General Assembly 16 April – 14 May 1948 A/555 Third Tunisia Afghanistan Brazil Burma Cambodia

Ethiopia

Iran Iraq

Laos

Libya

Nepal Nigeria

Philippines

Sudan

21 – 25 August 1961 A/4860 Fourth Financial situation of the United Nations United Nations General Assembly 14 May – 27 June 1963 A/5441 Fifth South West Africa (Namibia) 21 April – 13 June 1967 A/6657 Sixth Raw materials and development 9 April – 2 May 1974 A/9559 Seventh Development and international economic cooperation United Nations General Assembly 1 – 16 Septembre 1975 A/10301 Eighth Financing of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon 20 – 21 April 1978 A/S-8/10 Ninth Namibia 24 April – 3 May 1978 A/S-9/13 Tenth Disarmament 23 May – 30 June 1978 A/S-10/4 Eleventh New International Economic Order 25 August – 15 September 1980 A/S-11/3 Twelfth Disarmament 7 June – 10 July 1982 A/S-12/6 Thirteenth Africa 27 May – 1 June 1986 A/S-13/16 Fourteenth Namibia 17 – 20 September 1986 A/S-14/10 Fifteenth Disarmament 31 May – 25 June 1988 A/S-15/6 Sixteenth Apartheid 12 – 14 December 1989 A/S-16/5 Seventeenth Drug abuse 20 – 23 February 1990 A/S-17/13 Eighteenth International economic cooperation (economic growth and developing nations) 23 – 27 April 1990 A/S-18/15 Nineteenth Earth Summit + 5 23 – 27 June 1997 A/S-19/33 Twentieth World drug problem 8 – 10 June 1998 A/S-20/14 Twenty-first Population and development 30 June – 2 July 1999 A/S-21/7 Twenty-second Small Island Developing States 27 – 28 September 1999 A/S-22/11 Twenty-third Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century 5 – 10 June 2000 A/S-23/13 Twenty-fourth Social Development 26 – 30 June 2000 A/S-24/10 Twenty-fifth Implementation of the outcome of the UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) 6 – 8 June 2001 A/S-25/9 Twenty-sixth Problem of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in all its aspects 25 – 27 June 2001 A/S-26/7 Twenty-seventh World Summit for Children 8 – 10 May 2002 A/S-27/24 Twenty-eighth Commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps 24 January 2005 A/RES/59/26 Twenty-ninth Follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development beyond 2014 22 September 2014 A/RES/67/250 Thirtieth World drug problem 19 – 21 April 2016 A/RES/67/193A/RES/69/200A/RES/70/181

See also Emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly

References

External links UNGA Special Sessions