UNGA On Thursday Elected Former Cameroonian PM Philemon Yang As President Of The 79th UNGA Session . UN General Assembly (UNGA) on elected former Cameroonian Prime Minister Philemon Yang as president of the 79th UNGA session. Yemen has been chosen as the winner to take the first front row seat of the next UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Philemon Yang Elected As President Of 79th Session Of UNGA
Why In News
- UNGA On Thursday Elected Former Cameroonian PM Philemon Yang As President Of The 79th UNGA Session . UN General Assembly (UNGA) on elected former Cameroonian Prime Minister Philemon Yang as president of the 79th UNGA session. Yemen has been chosen as the winner to take the first front row seat of the next UN General Assembly (UNGA).
- “Every year on the day the new President of the General Assembly is elected, the Secretary-General picks out of a box the name of the country that will sit in the first seat in the front row during the next General Assembly,” the UN said in a post on X, adding that this year’s winner is Yemen.
UNGA
- The General Assembly is the UN’s most representative body, comprising all 193 Member States.
- Established in 1945 under the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly is the main policy-making organ of the Organisation.
- It provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter.
- It also plays a central role in the process of standard-setting and the codification of international law.
- The Assembly meets from September to December each year (main part), and thereafter, from January to September (resumed part), as required.
- In addition to its regular sessions, the Assembly may meet in special and emergency special sessions.
- Each of the 193 Member States in the Assembly has one vote. Votes taken on designated important issues – such as recommendations on peace and security, the election of Security Council and Economic and Social Council members, and budgetary questions – require a two-thirds majority of Member States, but other questions are decided by a simple majority.
- The General Assembly elects a president and 21 vice-presidents at least three months before the opening of the session over which they are to preside.
- The president and vice-presidents will assume their functions only at the beginning of the session for which they are elected and shall hold office until the close of that session.
- The vice-presidents are elected according to a pattern that ensures equitable geographical representation.
- The president shall declare the opening and closing of each plenary meeting of the session, direct the discussions in plenary meeting, ensure observance of rules of procedure, accord the right to speak, put questions and announce decisions. He shall rule on points of order and, subject to these rules, shall have complete control of the proceedings at any meeting and over the maintenance of order.
- The president may, in the course of the discussion of an item, propose to the General Assembly the limitation of the time to be allowed to speakers, the limitation of the number of times each representative may speak, the closure of the list of speakers or the closure of the debate.
- He/she may also propose the suspension or the adjournment of the meeting or the adjournment of the debate on the item under discussion.
- If the president finds it necessary to be absent during a meeting or any part thereof, he/she shall designate one of the vice-presidents to take his place. A vice-president acting as president shall have the same powers and duties as the president.
79th Session
- 79th session of the General Assembly will convene on 10 September, with the body’s high level general debate starting on 24 September.
- The theme of the 79th session is “unity in diversity, for the advancement of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for everyone everywhere”.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres congratulated Yang, highlighting several challenges confronting the global community, urging everyone to not lose sight of the collective objective of a more peaceful and sustainable world.
- “Conflicts continue to rage. Climate catastrophe is deepening. Poverty and inequality is rife. Mistrust and division are pulling people apart,” he said.
Philemon Yang
- Yang will succeed Denis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago, president of the 78th UNGA session, when the 79th UNGA session opens on Sept. 10 at the UN headquarters in New York.
- Yang, born in June 1947, served as Cameroonian prime minister from 2009 to 2019, and since 2020, he has been serving as the Grand Chancellor of National Orders at the Presidency of the Republic.
- He served as Cameroon’s high commissioner to Canada between 1984 and 2004, and has held the position of Chairperson of the Panel of Eminent Africans of the African Union since February 2020.
- Following Uganda (2014) and Nigeria (2019), Cameroon becomes the 13th African country to have a representative appointed as president of the UN General Assembly.
