What power does the UNGA have to enforce resolutions?
The current president of UN General Assembly discusses the authority the body has to compel member countries to act.
As the second world war was ending in June 1945, representatives of 50 countries signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco in the US state of California.
The UN officially came into existence in October of the same year, when the Charter was ratified by China, France, the then-Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and by a majority of other signatories.
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Almost 75 years later, the UN comprises 193 member states, all represented in one of its six main organs – the UN General Assembly.
The UNGA’s first session with representatives from 51 nations was in London on January 10, 1946. The next few annual sessions were held in different cities, then moved to the UN’s permanent headquarters in New York in 1952.
The annual UNGA in September is chaired by a president voted for by member states. But what power does the Assembly have to enforce its resolutions or to compel countries to act?
We find out as the President of 2019’s 74th session of the UNGA, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the UN Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, talks to Al Jazeera in an interview recorded during December 2019 Doha Forum.
Published On 25 Apr 2020