The General Assembly today took note of the report of its General Committee on the organization of its eighty-first regular session (document A/81/250), adopting its agenda and taking note of the allocation of the items.
The Russian Federation disassociated itself from the consensus on the inclusion of an item on “the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine”, stating that this wording does not reflect the reality on the ground.
There are no occupied territories in Ukraine, other than territories occupied by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Russian delegation asserted. It maintained that the inclusion of this item is contrary to Article 12 of the Charter of the United Nations, as the matter is under consideration by the Security Council.
That argument is unfounded, Ukraine’s delegate responded. The matter before the Security Council concerns international peace and security and is not the same as the question concerning the situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
A deadlock in one organ should not serve as justification for imposing silence in another, the delegation stressed, supporting the retention of the item on the agenda.
The Russian Federation also disassociated itself from the consensus recommending the inclusion of the item on the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which, according to the delegation, has ceased to exist since 2016 due to the absence of a resolution.
“Let us not waste the United Nations’ limited resources on a body whose status is unclear,” Moscow’s delegate urged.
Arrangements for General Debate
During the procedural meeting, the General Assembly took note of the dates of the general debate, which will be held from Tuesday, 22 September, through Friday, 25 September, and on Monday, 28 September. It also approved the Secretary-General’s recommendation that the debate also be held on Saturday, 26 September, to enable the maximum number of speakers to take the floor.
The Assembly took note that members wishing to exercise their right of reply to a statement delivered by a Head of State will be required to do so in writing.
Finally, it authorized (document A/81/362) the following entities to meet during the main part of its eighty-first session: Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations; Committee on Relations with the Host Country; Executive Board of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women); Committee on Conferences; and the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters.