Fifty-eighth session
Agenda item 59
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
[without reference to a Main Committee (A/58/L.64)]
58/314. Participation of the Holy See in the work of
the United Nations
The General Assembly,
Recalling that the Holy See became a Permanent Observer
State at the United Nations on 6 April 1964, and since then
has always been invited to participate in the meetings of
all the sessions of the General Assembly,
Recalling also that the Holy See is a party to diverse
international instruments, including the Vienna Convention
on Diplomatic Relations,1 the Vienna Convention on the Law
of Treaties,2 the Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees3 and the Protocol thereto,4 the Convention on the
Rights of the Child5 and the Optional Protocols thereto,6
the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment,7 the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination,8 the Convention for the Protection of
Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict,9 the Paris
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property,10 the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,11 the
main disarmament treaties and the Geneva Conventions12 and
the Additional Protocols thereto,13
Recalling further that the Holy See enjoys membership in
various United Nations subsidiary bodies, specialized
agencies and international intergovernmental organizations,
including the Executive Committee of the Programme of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World
Intellectual Property Organization, the International Atomic
Energy Agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons, the Preparatory Commission for the
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization and the
International Committee of Military Medicine,
Aware that the Holy See actively participates as an observer
in many of the specialized agencies, such as the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the
International Labour Organization, the World Health
Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization, the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization, the International Fund for
Agricultural Development and the World Tourism Organization,
as well as in the World Trade Organization, that it is a
full member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe and a Guest of Honour in its Parliamentary
Assembly, and that it participates as an observer in various
other regional intergovernmental organizations, including
the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States
and the African Union, and is regularly invited to take part
in the main meetings of the Asian-African Legal Consultative
Organization,
Aware also that the Economic and Social Council, by its
decision 244 (LXIII) of 22 July 1977, recommended that the
Holy See attend sessions of the regional commissions on a
basis similar to that provided for in the relevant terms of
reference applicable to States Members of the United Nations
not members of the regional commissions,
Recalling that the Holy See contributes financially to the
general administration of the United Nations in accordance
with the rate of assessment for the Holy See as a non-member
State, as adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution
58/1 B of 23 December 2003,
Considering that it is in the interest of the United Nations
that all States be invited to participate in its work,
Desirous of contributing to the appropriate participation of
the Holy See in the work of the General Assembly in the
context of the revitalization of the work of the Assembly,
1. Acknowledges that the Holy See, in its capacity as an
Observer State, shall be accorded the rights and privileges
of participation in the sessions and work of the General
Assembly and the international conferences convened under
the auspices of the Assembly or other organs of the United
Nations, as well as in United Nations conferences as set out
in the annex to the present resolution;
2. Requests the Secretary-General to inform the General
Assembly during the current session about the implementation
of the modalities annexed to the present resolution.
92nd plenary meeting
1 July 2004
_______________
1 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 500, No. 7310.
2 Ibid., vol. 1155, No. 18232.
3 Ibid., vol. 189, No. 2545.
4 Ibid., vol. 606, No. 8791.
5 Resolution 44/25, annex.
6 Resolution 54/263, annexes I and II.
7 Resolution 39/46, annex.
8 Resolution 2106 A (XX), annex.
9 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 249, No. 3511.
10 Ibid., vol. 828, No. 11851.
11 Ibid., vol. 729, No. 10485.
12 Ibid., vol. 75, Nos. 970–973.
13 Ibid., vol. 1125, Nos. 17512 and 17513.
AnnexThe rights and privileges of participation of the Holy See
shall be effected through the following modalities, without
prejudice to the existing rights and privileges:
1. The right to participate in the general debate of the
General Assembly;
2. Without prejudice to the priority of Member States, the
Holy See shall have the right of inscription on the list of
speakers under agenda items at any plenary meeting of the
General Assembly, after the last Member State inscribed on
the list;
3. The right to make interventions, with a precursory
explanation or the recall of relevant General Assembly
resolutions being made only once by the President of the
General Assembly at the start of each session of the
Assembly;
4. The right of reply;
5. The right to have its communications relating to the
sessions and work of the General Assembly issued and
circulated directly, and without intermediary, as official
documents of the Assembly;
6. The right to have its communications relating to the
sessions and work of all international conferences convened
under the auspices of the General Assembly issued and
circulated directly, and without intermediary, as official
documents of those conferences;
7. The right to raise points of order relating to any
proceedings involving the Holy See, provided that the right
to raise such a point of order shall not include the right
to challenge the decision of the presiding officer;
8. The right to co-sponsor draft resolutions and decisions
that make reference to the Holy See; such draft resolutions
and decisions shall be put to a vote only upon request from
a Member State;
9. Seating for the Holy See shall be arranged immediately
after Member States and before the other observers when it
participates as a non-member State observer, with the
allocation of six seats in the General Assembly Hall;
10. The
Holy See shall not have the right to vote or to put forward
candidates in the General Assembly.
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