The General Assembly Third Committee (GA3rd) began its sixty-fifth session on September 14, 2011

1 GA Third Committee. Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural, 2011
2 GA Third Committee. Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural, 2011.
3 International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, 2011.
4 International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, 2011.
5 General Assembly. Third Committee Approves Text to Ensure Human Rights Protected in Anti-Terrorism
Efforts, Another Stating ‘No Religion Should be Equated with Terrorism’, 2011.
6 General Assembly. Third Committee Approves Text to Ensure Human Rights Protected in Anti-Terrorism
Efforts, Another Stating ‘No Religion Should be Equated with Terrorism’, 2011.

General Assembly Third Committee

General Committee Items

The General Assembly Third Committee (GA3rd) began its sixty-fifth session on September 14, 2011, discussing an agenda that seeks to achieve better international recognition of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Topics being discussed include the promotion and protection of the rights of children; indigenous issues; the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance; the right of peoples to selfdetermination;
Chinese agricultural land degradation and its negative impact on rural settlers’ right to food; and implementation of human rights instruments.1 The committee has worked diligently and has made a number of proposals to the General Assembly Plenary, including strengthening the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations; emergency and reconstruction efforts in Haiti; and assistance to the Palestinian people.2 Each of these contributes to the committee’s vision of promoting basic rights, necessities, and fundamental freedoms for all people.

The General Assembly Third Committee has recently discussed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, a landmark United Nations declaration outlining the rights of the world’s estimated 370 million indigenous peoples.3 The Declaration is a non-binding text that defines the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as the rights held by indigenous populations to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education, and other issues.4 The General Assembly Third Committee is also discussing and is making advancements in the condemnation of widespread attacks on religious minorities.

Finally, in November 2010 the committee held discussions about the questionable correlation between religion and terrorism, and issued a draft resolution urging the international committee to not equate terrorism with religion.5 The draft resolution would emphasize that “no religion should be equated with terrorism, as this may have adverse consequences on the enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion or belief of all members of the religious communities concerned.”6 During the 2010 session, other major topics on the GA Third Committee’s agenda were social development, achieving greater political rights for women, the protection and promotion of children’s rights, and fighting for greater entitlement of human rights to indigenous populations.

Each of these topics, particularly the recent developments in winning greater recognition of all human rights for indigenous populations and women, are especially relevant to the issues being discussed by the Third Committee during NMUN 2011.



Annotated Bibliography

General Committee Items

General Assembly. (2011). United Nations News Stories. Retrieved January 10, 2011 from http://www.un.org/en/ga/news/

This site outlines recent news developments in all committees of the UN General Assembly, including the Third Committee. Therefore, delegates can use the site to gain a general understanding of UN events and topics being discussed by the General Assembly generally, browse the updates to find those that pertain specifically to issues discussed by the Third Committee. New developments in committee news are updated periodically, so delegates should check back often.

General Assembly Third Committee. (2011). Documents of the 65th Session. Retrieved January 8, 2011 from
http://www.un.org/en/ga/third/65/documentation.shtml


This page includes a full listing of Third Committee agenda items, a calendar of meetings for the Third Committee, a listing of documents per agenda item, and several links pertaining to draft proposals, their status, and Member State statements on those draft proposals. This site may serve as a central hub for the delegate interested in learning about what specifically is being discussed at the Third Committee in its 65th session. Links listed on the page can take delegates to text displays of actual draft resolutions currently under consideration.