United Nations General Assembly Second Committee


The United Nations General Assembly Second Committee is one of the six main committees of the United Nations General Assembly. It deals with global finance and economic matters.
The Second Committee meets every year in early October and aims to finish its work by the end of November. All 193 member states of the UN can attend.

Mandate

The work of the Committee falls under eleven thematic clusters:
  1. Macroeconomic policies
  2. Operational activities for development
  3. Financing for development
  4. Groups of countries in special situations
  5. Globalization and interdependence
  6. Eradication of poverty
  7. Sustainable development
  8. Information and communication technologies for development
  9. Agriculture development, food security and nutrition
  10. Human settlements and sustainable urban development

    Current state

In its 73rd Session, the Committee will focus on:
The Committee has five main bodies that report through it to the General Assembly. Two programmes: the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, as well as the governing bodies of the three Rio conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Working methods

The work of the Committee usually begins in early October and ends sometime by the end of November, though extensions are often granted to allow the Committee to continue its work until early to mid-December. Its work is split into two main stages: general debate and action on individual items. The first stage, the general debate, lasts up to one week and begins with a keynote address by an invited speaker. The second stage last around four weeks, and is usually when negotiations on draft proposals are conducted.
The Committee also meets annually in a joint meeting with the Economic and Social Council.

Bureau

The following make up the bureau of the Second Committee for the 74th Session of the General Assembly:
NameCountryPosition
H.E. Cheikh NiangChairperson
Ahmad Saif Al-KuwariVice-Chair
Yuliana AngelovaVice-Chair
Anat Fisher-TsinVice-Chair
David MuletRapporteur