Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- List of abbreviations and conference references
- Introduction
- 1 Historical development of rules of procedure of conferences and attempts to establish model rules
- 2 Adoption of rules of procedure
- 3 Rules of procedure and international law
- 4 Invitations, participation and credentials
- 5 Presiding officer and other officers of the conference
- 6 Meetings
- 7 Statements by delegations
- 8 Submission of proposals
- 9 Adjournment and closure of debate
- 10 Amendments
- 11 Withdrawal and reconsideration of motions
- 12 Procedural motions and points of order
- 13 Priorities between different proposals
- 14 Decision taking and method of voting
- 15 Majority required
- 16 Consensus
- 17 Separate votes
- 18 Conduct of voting – interruption of voting and correction of vote
- 19 Languages, records and documents
- 20 Committees
- 21 Suspension and amendment of rules of procedure
- Bibliography
- Index
20 - Committees
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- List of abbreviations and conference references
- Introduction
- 1 Historical development of rules of procedure of conferences and attempts to establish model rules
- 2 Adoption of rules of procedure
- 3 Rules of procedure and international law
- 4 Invitations, participation and credentials
- 5 Presiding officer and other officers of the conference
- 6 Meetings
- 7 Statements by delegations
- 8 Submission of proposals
- 9 Adjournment and closure of debate
- 10 Amendments
- 11 Withdrawal and reconsideration of motions
- 12 Procedural motions and points of order
- 13 Priorities between different proposals
- 14 Decision taking and method of voting
- 15 Majority required
- 16 Consensus
- 17 Separate votes
- 18 Conduct of voting – interruption of voting and correction of vote
- 19 Languages, records and documents
- 20 Committees
- 21 Suspension and amendment of rules of procedure
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Committees
Each conference determines its own needs for committees, although in treaty-making conferences, a credentials committee, a drafting committee and a general or steering committee are always among the committees appointed. The large size of international conferences requires that the conference set up main committees to carry out the task of preparing texts or resolutions. The practice of conferences appointing a committee of the whole, composed of the plenary, has become less common.
Pastuhov commented in 1945 that, according to custom, ‘all delegations are entitled to be represented on each main committee of an international conference’, and this custom remains valid.
Procedure of committees
Most rules of procedure stipulate that, with some exceptions, the rules applicable to the plenary apply to committees mutatis mutandis. The exceptions are usually that the quorum for opening a meeting is smaller than that required in plenary meetings; all decisions are taken by majority vote and a two-thirds majority is required only for reconsideration of an issue; and the chairmen can participate in the voting.
Relations between committees and plenary
At a 1989 meeting of the General Conference of the IAEA, the Legal Adviser was asked whether a proposal not approved by the Committee of the Whole could nevertheless be subject to a vote in the Plenary. The Legal Adviser gave his opinion that the ‘plenary, as master of its own procedure, could consider any proposal’ subject to the rules of procedure concerning notice of submission of proposals.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Procedure at International ConferencesA Study of the Rules of Procedure at the UN and at Inter-governmental Conferences, pp. 408 - 426Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006