Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly

The Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly constitute the internal procedural law of the United Nations' plenary organ, deriving their authority from Article 21 of the UN Charter, which provides that "the General Assembly shall adopt its own rules of procedure." The rules were first adopted provisionally at the First Session in London in January 1946 (document A/71) and have been revised continuously since. The current consolidated text, issued as document A/520/Rev.18 (and successive revisions), comprises 163 numbered rules organized into seventeen chapters covering sessions, agenda, delegations, credentials, the President and Vice-Presidents, the General Committee, the Secretariat, languages, records, public and private meetings, minutes of silence, conduct of business, voting, subsidiary organs, admission of new Members, and amendments. Annexed to the rules are recommendations of the Special Committee on the Rationalization of the Procedures and Organization of the General Assembly (the Sixth Committee's 1971 report) and successive revitalization resolutions.

Procedurally, the rules structure each annual session from its opening on the Tuesday of the third week of September (Rule 1, as amended by resolution 57/301 of 2003). The Secretary-General notifies Members at least sixty days in advance (Rule 3); the provisional agenda is communicated at least sixty days before opening (Rule 12), and supplementary items may be added up to thirty days before (Rule 14). The General Committee, composed of the President, twenty-one Vice-Presidents, and the six Main Committee chairs (Rule 38), examines the agenda and reports to the plenary (Rule 40). Credentials are submitted no later than one week after opening and examined by a nine-member Credentials Committee appointed on the President's proposal (Rules 27–29). Each delegation may include up to five representatives, five alternates, and necessary advisers (Rule 25).

Voting mechanics occupy Chapter XIII (Rules 82–95). Each Member has one vote (Rule 82, mirroring Charter Article 18(1)). Decisions on "important questions" enumerated in Charter Article 18(2)—peace and security recommendations, election of non-permanent Security Council members, admission, suspension, expulsion of Members, budgetary questions, and trusteeship matters—require a two-thirds majority of members present and voting; other decisions require a simple majority (Rule 83). Voting is normally by show of hands or by standing, but any representative may request a recorded vote (Rule 87), which since 1992 has been conducted electronically. Elections are by secret ballot (Rule 92), and Rule 95 governs the procedure when two candidates receive equal votes. Points of order (Rule 71), closure of debate (Rule 75), and adjournment (Rules 74, 76) take precedence in the order specified by Rule 77.

Recent practice illustrates the rules in operation. The election of Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago as President of the 78th Session in June 2023 followed Rule 30 (election three months before opening) and the regional rotation established by resolution 33/138 of 1978. The "Uniting for Peace" mechanism, invoked to convene the Eleventh Emergency Special Session on Ukraine on 28 February 2022 following Russia's veto in the Security Council, operates under Rules 8(b) and 9(b), which implement General Assembly resolution 377A(V) of 3 November 1950. The Czech presidency of ECOSOC and the rotating chairs of the Main Committees—First Committee (Disarmament), Fourth (Special Political and Decolonization), and so forth—are selected according to the equitable geographical distribution set out in decision 34/401 of 1979, which is annexed to the rules.

The Rules of Procedure must be distinguished from the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council (S/96/Rev.7), which remain "provisional" since 1946 and govern a fifteen-member organ with the veto, and from the rules of the Economic and Social Council (E/5715/Rev.2). They also differ from the rules of procedure of subsidiary organs—the Human Rights Council operates under its own rules adopted in resolution 5/1 of 2007—and from the informal "modalities" resolutions that govern high-level meetings, summits, and treaty conferences, which are negotiated ad hoc and do not amend the standing rules. Decision 34/401 on the rationalization of work, though annexed, is technically a decision rather than a rule and may be modified by simple decision of the plenary.

Edge cases generate recurring controversy. The Credentials Committee's handling of competing claims—Afghanistan (Taliban versus the Islamic Republic delegation) and Myanmar (the State Administration Council versus Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun) since 2021—has been resolved by deferral under Rule 29, leaving incumbent representatives seated. The participation of the European Union as an enhanced observer was established by resolution 65/276 of 3 May 2011, modifying Rule 37 to permit EU representatives to speak in the general debate. Palestine's status as a non-member observer State, conferred by resolution 67/19 of 29 November 2012, and the May 2024 resolution (ES-10/23) granting it additional rights short of voting, illustrate how the Assembly stretches its rules to accommodate evolving political realities. Amendments to the rules themselves require a two-thirds majority following committee report (Rule 163).

For the working practitioner, mastery of the Rules of Procedure is operational, not academic. Delegates drafting resolutions must understand which decisions trigger the two-thirds threshold; mission legal advisers preparing for contested votes must know when to call points of order under Rule 71 versus motions under Rule 74; capitals planning to seek an emergency special session must satisfy the procedural thresholds in resolution 377A(V). The DGACM (Department for General Assembly and Conference Management) Secretariat in New York maintains the authoritative interpretation, and the annual repertory of practice provides precedent. In a body where consensus is the preferred mode but recorded votes carry political weight, procedural literacy is diplomatic leverage.