GENERAL ASSEMBLY

one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, and the only body in which every member of the organization is represented. The General Assembly convenes annually or in special sessions and exercises deliberative, supervisory, financial, and elective functions relating to any matter within the scope of the UN charter. These functions include the admission of new nations to membership, control of the budget, choice of members of the Economic and Social Council and of the elective members of the Security Council and the Trusteeship Council, and participation in the election of judges of the International Court of Justice and in the appointment of the secretary-general. The Assembly elects a new president annually, with the office rotating each year among five groups of states: African, Asian, eastern European, Latin American, and western European and other states. At the beginning of each regular session, the Assembly also holds a general debate, in which all members participate and may raise any issue of international concern. Most work, however, is delegated to seven main committees on: disarmament and related international security matters; political issues; economic and financial matters; social, humanitarian, and cultural matters; issues of decolonization; administrative and budgetary matters; and legal matters. See also United Nations.