United Nations

 NEW YORK, 15 March (UN Headquarters) -- The Millennium Summit of the General Assembly would be held from 6 to 8 Seeptember in New York under the overall theme, "The role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century", according to a resolution adopted by the Assembly without a vote this afternoon.  It also adopted two draft decisions concerning the forthcoming special session on women in the twenty-first century.

 Owing to the unique symbolic moment of the Summit, the Assembly further decided that the country of the President of its fifty-fourth session and that of the President of its fifty-fifth session would jointly preside over the event.  The Summit would be composed of plenary meetings and of four interactive round-table sessions.  Each interactive session will be held in concurrence with a plenary meeting.

 Also acting without a vote, the Assembly decided to broaden the participation of non-governmental organizations in the special session on women in June, and urge relevant United Nations bodies to assist the participation of those which lacked resources, in particular, from developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

 Under another draft decision adopted without a vote, the Assembly decided that representatives from non-governmental organizations accredited to the special session could make statements in its Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole.  Also, a limited number of those in good standing in their consultative status with the Economic and Social Council could make statements in the plenary debate.

 The General Assembly will meet again at a date and time to be announced in the Journal.

 Assembly Work Programme

 The General Assembly met this afternoon to consider two draft decisions on the implementation of the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995.  It also had before it a draft resolution concerning the Millennium Summit.

 Draft Decisions

 According to the draft decision on arrangements for the participation of non-governmental organizations (document A/54/77), the Assembly would decide that representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) accredited to the special session may make statements in its Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole.

 The Assembly would also decide that, given the availability of time, a limited number of NGOs in good standing in their consultative status with the Economic and Social Council may also make statements in the debate in the plenary of the special session.  The NGOs would be requested to select spokespersons among themselves and provide the list to the Assembly President through the Secretariat.

 The Assembly would further decide to request its President to present the list of selected NGOs to Member States in a timely manner for approval and to ensure that such selections were made on an equal and transparent basis, taking into account the geographical representation and diversity of NGOs.  It would decide that such arrangements would in no way create a precedent for other special sessions of the Assembly.

 The draft decision on the accreditation of NGOs (document A/54/78) would have the Assembly decide to reconsider the question of accreditation of NGOs to the special session, and decide that those interested NGOs that are neither in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council nor accredited to the Fourth World Conference on Women and its preparatory process may participate in the special session.

 The Assembly would urge, in recognition of the importance of equitable geographical participation of NGOs in the special session, relevant United Nations bodies to assist those NGOs which do not have resources, in particular NGOs from developing countries and countries with economies in transition, in participating in the special session.

 It would further decide that these NGOs should submit their application for accreditation to a committee composed of the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee and the Secretariat by 5 April, and the application should contain such information as the purpose of the organization, confirmation of its activities at the national, regional or international levels, and a list of members of the governing body of the organization and their countries of nationality.

 In a related provision, the Assembly would decide that the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee should submit to its members, by 10 April, a list of the applicant NGOs for their approval.  Members of the Preparatory Committee would have until 10 May to decide on a no-objection basis regarding accreditation of those NGOs.

 It would also decide that those NGOs whose applications for consultative status with the Economic and Social Council had been rejected or whose consultative status with the Council had been withdrawn or suspended would not be accredited to the special session.

 The Secretary-General would be requested to widely disseminate to the community of NGOs all available information on accreditation procedures, as well as information on supportive measures for participation in the special session.  Such arrangements would in no way create a precedent for other special sessions of the Assembly.

 Draft Resolution on Millennium Summit

 According to the draft (document A/54/L.81/Rev.1), the General Assembly would decide that the Millennium Summit shall be held from 6 to 8 September in New York and that the theme would be, "The role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century".  The Assembly would also decide that the Summit would be composed of plenary meetings and of four interactive round-table sessions.  Each interactive session will be held in concurrence with a plenary meeting.

 The Assembly would further decide that, owing to the unique symbolic moment of the Summit, the country of the President of its fifty-fourth session and that of the President of its fifty-fifth session would jointly preside over that event.  It would also request that the President consult with all Member States in an open-ended process with a view to taking decisions on all outstanding issues of the Summit, including its outcome.

 Action on Drafts

 Acting without a vote, the Assembly adopted the draft decision on participation of non-governmental organizations in the special session on women in the twenty-first century (document A/54/77).

 The representative of Senegal made a minor correction to the French text.

 The Assembly next adopted the draft decision on accreditation of non-governmental organizations in the special session on women (document A/54/78), also without a vote.

 The acting Assembly President, Thorsteinn Ingolfsson (Iceland), drew attention to the revisions to the text, as follows:  in operative paragraph 1, the overall theme of the Summit would be "The Role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century"; operative paragraph 3 of the original text had not properly reflected one of the provisions of the United Nations Charter. Consequently, the reference to the “country” holding the presidency had been replaced twice in that paragraph to “holding the Presidency”.

 Turning to the draft resolution on the Millennium Summit (document A/54/L.81/Rev.1), a Secretariat representative presented the programme budget implications of the security and protocol requirements, which would be reflected in the first performance report on the 2000 to 2001 programme budget to be presented at the Assembly’s fifty-fifth session.

 The Assembly then adopted the draft resolution on the Millennium Summit without a vote.