United Nations General Committee
The United Nations General Committee is a committee of the United Nations General Assembly whose main purpose is to organize the body's agenda, among other things.
Mandate
The Mandate of the General Committee consists of the following:- Creating a provisional agenda for the General Assembly, as well as any supplementary lists.
- Assisting the President of the General Assembly and the General Assembly in drawing up the agenda for each plenary meeting.
- Making recommendations to the General Assembly concerning the recess and closing dates of the session.
- Coordinating the proceedings of the main committees by allocating agenda items, as well as determining the priority of said items.
- Entertaining requests for the inclusion of additional items in the agenda.
- Assisting in the general conduct of the work of the General Assembly.
- Making recommendations to the General Assembly.
An individual Vice-President of the General Assembly does not have the power to unilaterally add an item to the General Assembly's agenda, not even if they are a permanent members of [the United Nations Security Council|permanent member of the UN Security Council] such as the United States. For example, the General Committee has regularly rejected agenda items about the participation of the Republic of China (Taiwan), even when raised by a sitting Vice-President who formally recognizes the Republic of China.
Regional Groups
The rules of the General Assembly state that the President and 21 Vice-Presidents must be elected from the following Regional Groups:- 5 from the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council
- 5 from the African Group
- 3 from the Group of [Asia and the Pacific Small Island Developing States|Asia–Pacific Group]
- 3 from the Eastern European Group
- 3 from the Latin American and Caribbean Group
- 2 from the Western European and Others Group
The rules also state that every member of the General Committee must be from a different country. As the permanent members of the Security Council are always vice-presidents, this rule officially bans the permanent members from being President of the General Assembly or chairs of any Main Committee.