The Uniting for Peace Resolution (General Assembly Resolution 377(V)) was adopted on 3 November 1950, largely at the initiative of U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson during the Korean War. It was designed to circumvent paralysis in the UN Security Council caused by the Soviet veto, after the USSR had returned to the Council and could block further action on Korea.
The resolution provides that if the Security Council, because of a lack of unanimity among its permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in a case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately. The Assembly may then recommend collective measures to members, including the use of armed force if necessary, to restore international peace and security.
The mechanism allows for the convening of an Emergency Special Session within 24 hours, called either by a vote of any nine Security Council members (a procedural vote not subject to the veto) or by a majority of UN members. Because Assembly resolutions are formally recommendations rather than binding decisions under Chapter VII, the legal force of any measures adopted is weaker than a Council resolution.
Since 1950, ten Emergency Special Sessions have been convened, addressing crises including the Suez Crisis (1956), Hungary (1956), Lebanon and Jordan (1958), the Congo (1960), Afghanistan (1980), and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (the Tenth ESS, first convened in 1997 and repeatedly resumed). Most recently, the procedure was invoked in February 2022 when the Council, blocked by Russia's veto, referred the situation in Ukraine to the Eleventh Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly.
The International Court of Justice implicitly endorsed the procedure in its 1962 Certain Expenses advisory opinion, holding that Assembly-authorized peacekeeping expenditures (ONUC, UNEF) were legitimate UN expenses.
Example
In February 2022, after Russia vetoed a Security Council draft on Ukraine, the Council invoked Uniting for Peace to convene the Eleventh Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly.
Frequently asked questions
No. General Assembly resolutions are recommendations, not binding decisions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, though they carry significant political and moral weight.
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