A United Nations General Assembly resolution is a decision or declaration voted on by all member states of the United Nations in the General Assembly.
General Assembly resolutions usually require a simple majority (more yes votes than no votes) to pass.[1] However, if the General Assembly determines that the issue is an "important question" by a simple majority vote, then a two-thirds majority (twice as many yes votes as no votes) is required; "important questions" are those that deal significantly with the maintenance of international peace and security, admission of new members to the United Nations, suspension of the rights and privileges of membership, the expulsion of members, operation of the trusteeship system, or budgetary questions.
Although General Assembly resolutions are generally non-binding towards member states, internal resolutions may be binding on the operation of the General Assembly itself, for example with regard to budgetary and procedural matters.
Select list of General Assembly resolutions
1946
Resolution 1: Established the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC) "to deal with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy" and tasked to "make specific proposals... for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction", among other issues regarding nuclear technology.
Resolution 177: International Law Commission was directed to "formulate the principles of international law recognized in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and in the judgment of the Tribunal". This resulted in the creation of the Nuremberg Principles.
Resolution 289: On the Question of the disposal of the former Italian colonies: recommending that Libya should be independent not later than 1 January 1952[2]
Resolution 303: On the Question of an international regime for the Jerusalem area and the protection of the Holy Places: restated the United Nation's stance on corpus separatum for Jerusalem.
Resolution 1514: Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples.
Resolution 1541: United Nations definition of what a colony is, and what self-determination is. Principles which should guide Members in determining whether or not an obligation exists to transmit the information called for under Article 73 e of the Charter.
Resolution 33/75: Urges the Security Council, especially its permanent members, to take all necessary measures for ensuring UN decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security. United States and Israel were the only no vote.
Resolution 47/121: condemned ethnic cleansing of the Bosnian Muslims by the Bosnian Serbs as genocide, (fourteen years later the International Court of Justice ruled in the Bosnian Genocide Case of 2007, that ethnic cleansing was not enough in itself to be genocide, but that there must also be intent to kill a substantial part of the targeted group by the perpetrators).
Resolution 48/114: Emergency international assistance to refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan.
1998
Resolution 53/176 on action against corruption and bribery in international commercial transactions, 15 December 1998 [9]
2000
Resolution 54/205, Prevention of corrupt practices and illegal transfer of funds, 27 January 2000 [10]
Resolution 58/76 on the Model Legislative Provisions on Privately Financed Infrastructure Projects of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, recommended adoption of work undertaken in this specialist field by UNCITRAL.[11]
Resolution 62/149: Called for a universal moratorium on capital punishment with a view to total abolition, and in the meantime, respect for the rights of those on death row. Calls on states which have abolished the death penalty not to reintroduce it.
Resolution 62/63: Criminal Accountability of UN Officials and Experts on Mission.
Resolution 62/128, Cooperatives in social development, adopted having recalled the following earlier resolutions on the same subject: resolutions 47/90 of 16 December 1992, 49/155 of 23 December 1994, 51/58 of 12 December 1996, 54/123 of 17 December 1999, 56/114 of 19 December 2001, 58/131 of 22 December 2003 and 60/132 of 16 December 2005.[16]
Resolution 69/292: Development of an international legally-binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.[17]
Resolution ES-10/20: "Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory" and "Protection of the Palestinian civilian population"
