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United Nations Credentials Committee

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The United Nations Credentials Committee is a committee of the United Nations General Assembly whose main purpose is to report to the Assembly regarding the credentials of the body's representatives.

Background

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Each year before the regular session begins, the Office of Legal Affairs recommends a group of candidates to the President of the General Assembly for the Credentials Committee. The President of the General Assembly then proposes nine candidates to the General Assembly, which then votes on the candidates.[1][2][3]

According to Rule 27 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly, Member States must send the credentials of their representatives to the Secretary-General of the United Nations more than one week before the opening of the regular session. When Members States send these credentials in, they are formally notifying the Secretary-General that these representatives are entitled to speak on their behalf. They must be sent by the head of state, head of government or by the minister for foreign affairs.[1][3]

Rule 25 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly also defines a “delegation” of a Member State as, "consist[ing] of up to five representatives, five alternate representatives, and as many advisers and experts as required."[1][3] The General Assembly formally acknowledges the representatives of the Member States by approving their credentials.

In cases of special or emergency sessions of the General Assembly, as well as any conferences convened under its authority, the credentials committee is reconvened with "the same composition as that of the Credentials Committee at its most recent regular session."[2]

The consideration of the credentials by the Credentials Committee is normally a formality. However, if a delegation's legitimacy is contested, its credentials may be challenged by another Member State. In these cases, the office of the President of the General Assembly is often called upon to help resolve the matter before a formal meeting of the Credentials Committee. Nonetheless, delegations whose credentials have been challenged retain all their rights until, and unless, they are revoked by the General Assembly.[1] An example is the Taliban government of Afghanistan. After having come to power in contested circumstances the month before, the new government sought to speak at the UN General Assembly before the close of its session in September 2021: the Credential Committee did not meet to agree to accept new Afghan appointments before the end of the session. This left Ghulam Isaczai of the ousted regime as the official representative to the UN, despite Taliban protestations that he "no longer represents Afghanistan".[4] On 1 December 2021, the Committee decided to reject recognition of UN seats for both Afghanistan's Taliban government and Myanmar's ruling Tatmadaw military junta.[5] On 16 December 2022, the Committee decided again to reject recognition of UN seats for Afghanistan's Taliban government, Myanmar's Tatmadaw military junta and Libya's rival eastern-based government.[6] On 6 December 2023, this was repeated for Afghanistan and Myanmar.[7] In all three years, the Chair of the committee (Sweden in 2021, Guyana in 2022, Solomon Islands in 2023) has proposed these decisions with no objections (unanimous consent).[8][9]

Members

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The members of the Credentials Committee for the 76th Session of the General Assembly are:[10]

The rules of the General Assembly do not list any permanent members for the Credentials Committee (only stating that the Committee consists of nine members), but the General Assembly has always appointed China, Russia (or the Soviet Union), and the United States as three of the members since 1972.[1][11][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e The GA Handbook: A Practical Guide to the United Nations General Assembly (PDF) (2nd ed.). New York: Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations. 2017. ISBN 978-0-615-49660-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Credentials Committee". General Assembly of the United Nations. United Nations. n.d. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  3. ^ a b c United Nations General Assembly Document 520/Rev.18. Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly A/520/Rev.18 September 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Taliban ask to speak at UN General Assembly in New York". BBC News. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2021-09-24.
  5. ^ Gladstone, Rick (2021-12-01). "U.N. Seats Denied, for Now, to Afghanistan's Taliban and Myanmar's Junta". New York Times. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  6. ^ Lederer, Edith M. (December 16, 2022). "UN rejects seats for Myanmar junta, Taliban, Libya's east". Associated Press. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
  7. ^ "Report of the Credentials Committee: General Assembly, 78th session".
  8. ^ "Report of the Credentials Committee : General Assembly, 76th session".
  9. ^ "Report of the Credentials Committee : General Assembly, 77th session".
  10. ^ "Tuesday 14 September 2021". Journal of the United Nations. United Nations. 14 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  11. ^ "A/PV.1934".
  12. ^ "A/PV.2032".
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