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What is the UN General Assembly and what does it do?

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Summary
Nutrition label

84% Informative

The UN General Assembly is the most representative organ of the 193 -member United Nations .

The 79th General Assembly session, in 2024 , will focus on the theme of “advancing peace, sustainable development, and human dignity.

The session will also discuss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a sweeping initiative.

No representatives from either country have spoken at the last three years ’ sessions, but Myanmar is scheduled to speak on the last day of the 2024 convening.

Efforts to revitalize the assembly’s work focus on increasing its power vis-à-vis the Security Council .

But the assembly has continued to resist deep-seated reforms.

General Assembly resolutions are still significant as indicators of member states' positions on a given issue, says McHenry .

UNHRC continues to face criticism for, among other things, including countries with poor human rights standards and focusing disproportionately on Israel .

UN last invoked the resolution in February 2022 to address Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine .

VR Score

85

Informative language

83

Neutral language

51

Article tone

formal

Language

English

Language complexity

69

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

29

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/role-un-secretary-generalhttps://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-futurehttps://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflicthttps://reliefweb.int/report/world/our-common-agenda-talks-secretary-general-says-summits-future-sustainable-development-goals-last-best-chance-manage-solve-global-challengeshttps://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rightshttps://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-09-10/uncertainty-and-hostility-in-store-as-u-n-general-assembly-beginshttp://www.internationalwallofprayer.org/A-177-Zionism-is-Not-Racism.htmlhttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/10/un-backs-palestines-bid-for-membership-how-did-your-country-votehttps://www.un.org/en/content/common-agenda-report/https://www.cfr.org/article/syrias-civil-warhttps://apnews.com/article/myanmar-united-nations-general-assembly-united-nations-418af01841e7e151d039bf0031ba0886https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/articles/2005-04-25/larger-freedom-decision-time-unhttps://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistanhttps://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230629-un-general-assembly-creates-body-to-probe-fate-of-syria-s-missinghttps://www.thenationalnews.com/news/us/2024/09/10/unga-2024-schedule-a-guide-to-which-nations-are-speaking-and-when/https://www.un.org/en/ga/revitalization/revital_current.shtmlhttps://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/un-general-assembly-unga-rolehttps://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukrainehttps://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1154496https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-are-un-sustainable-development-goalshttps://www.refworld.org/legal/resolution/unga/1950/en/7730https://news.un.org/en/story/2012/11/427052-general-assembly-grants-palestine-non-member-observer-state-status-un#.VBwxTfldXzghttps://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/Millennium.aspxhttps://www.un.org/press/en/2012/ga11206.doc.htmhttps://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charterhttps://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/17/world/un-repeals-its-75-resolution-equating-zionism-with-racism.html?mcubz=0https://www.un.org/en/ga/revitalization/index.shtmlhttps://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/global_20170111_change_of_pace.pdfhttps://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations-tension-us-policy-biden

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