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21 July 2023, New York, USA – The United Nations Institute for Training and Research New York Office (UNITAR NYO) held an annual workshop on The Structure, Drafting, and Adoption of United Nations Resolutions at the UN headquarters beginning in conference room 7. This training attended by 125 participants, was supported with funding allocated from the Swedish International Development Agency’s (SIDA) contribution to the UNITAR Strategic Framework Fund, under the programme ‘Leveling The Playing Field’ which focuses on the development of skills and knowledge of Least Developing Countries.
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UNITAR’s head of Office, Mr. Marco A. Suazo opened the workshop with welcoming remarks and an introduction. Shortly After, Ms Sharon Bernardeth Juarez Argueta, from the Permanent Mission to Guatemala, introduced herself and thoroughly described and defined Resolutions in the UN. Ms Argueta began by differentiating resolutions from drafts. Then she asked the delegates, “What motivates a state to present a resolution?” She went on to describe a resolution as the motivation of a country, and why and how the country is fulfilling this motivation. Ms Argueta also noted that the proper timeframe for drafting a resolution was within 1 to 3 months, and then she ended her lecture by discussing how to present negotiations and how to request sponsorships from member states.
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After Ms. Argueta ended her lecture, Mr. Suazo, reminded the audience to access the 6 portals available to people for drafting resolutions. He then went on to introduce the next speaker, Mr Wannes Lint, Intergovernmental Affairs Officer of the General Assembly Affairs Branch. Mr Wannes opened the floor by discussing formal drafting. He also discussed how to submit proposals through e-delegates. He notably mentioned how almost anything can be a proposal or resolution. He then presented a draft decision on the smartboard and asked the delegates if it was a resolution or not. He ended his lecture by discussing the rules and procedures for making proposals. He also mentioned mandates, and how the General Assembly decides to legitimize resolutions.
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The next two speakers were Mr Rukshan Perera, Intergovernmental Affairs officer, General Assembly Affairs Branch, and Ms Anne-Laure Michallet, English Translation and Editorial Service, Department for General Assembly and Conference Management. Mr Perera began his lecture by discussing the agenda of an assembly by using the 77th United Nations General Assembly Session as an example. He also explained how the General Committee can recommend an item. Ms Michallet further explained resolutions in detail and the importance of editing resolutions. Ms Michallet is quoted as saying, “A resolution is essentially one very long sentence.” She went on to describe the structure and format of resolutions.
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Ms Tomoko Iwata, Senior Legal Affairs Officer, opened the last portion of the workshop by thanking the delegates for their participation. She then went on to describe forums and decision-making. She noted how half of a room needs to agree for a decision to be finalized. She then went on to discuss revisions and amendments. She described the difference between revisions and amendments and the challenges they can each possess. She gave the audience a recent example of a revised document from January and February. She ended her lecture by discussing paragraph voting. She noted how it’s possible to reject a paragraph vote but noted how rare it is. Ms Iwata said the last time a paragraph vote was rejected was during the 75th session. Ms. Iwata ended her presentation and Mr. Pelayo Alvarez; Office Coordinator finalized the training with closing remarks.
Documents
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Resolutions.pdf948.79 KB