Assembly for Peace: A Digital Handbook on the UN General Assembly’s Past Practice on Peace and Security

The Charter of the United Nations grants broad rights to the General Assembly to consider any issues within the scope of the Charter, and to make recommendations to both Member States and the Security Council. Over the past 78 years, under Chapter IV of the Charter, the General Assembly has engaged in a wide range of peace and security-related activities: the deployment of mediators, the establishment of peace operations, the mandating of special envoys, recommendations for the use of force or sanctions and the creation of accountability mechanisms such as fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry.

With increasing geopolitical tensions and divisions within the Security Council, the General Assembly’s role in helping respond to critical peace and security issues has come into greater focus. In its 77th session, the Assembly passed a resolution on the revitalization of its work, in which it recognized the need to foster interaction between the General Assembly and the Security Council, and for Member States to have greater access to information about the Assembly’s functions and powers with regard to peace and security.  

To that end, resolution 77/335 on the revitalization of the work of the GA called on the President of the General Assembly (PGA) to provide a digital handbook on “past practices, data and recommendations for the fulfilment of the functions and powers of the General Assembly as outlined in Chapter IV of the Charter” (A/RES/77/335).

This Handbook, produced by the UNU-CPR for the President of the General Assembly at its 78th session, responds to the General Assembly’s request and is designed as a resource for Member States and other stakeholders. It offers a review of the past practice of the General Assembly addressing issues of international peace and security, case studies of some of the most important examples of General Assembly action, and recommendations on how Member States could foster deeper interaction with the SC in the future.  

The Handbook provides an impartial, user-friendly guide for Member States looking to energize the work of the General Assembly. It contains three main parts: 

(I) a brief overview of the Charter-based roles and responsibilities of the General Assembly, including the divisions of responsibilities between the Assembly and the Security Council and developments in practice; 

(II) five chapters summarizing past General Assembly practice with regard to key issue areas (peace operations, use of force, sanctions, accountability mechanisms and good offices); and 

(III) key lessons to help foster interaction and synergies between the GA and the SC on issues of international peace and security. A series of annexes provide abbreviated case studies to supplement the discussion of key practice areas.

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