United Nations General Assembly Third Committee

United Nations General Assembly Third Committee
AbbreviationSOCHUM, C3
Legal statusActive
HeadquartersNew York, United States
Head
Chairperson
James Martin Larsen
Australia
Parent organization
United Nations General Assembly
Websitewww.un.org/en/ga/third
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The United Nations General Assembly Third Committee (also known as the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee or SOCHUM or C3) is one of six main committees at the General Assembly of the United Nations. It deals with human rights, humanitarian affairs and social matters.

The Third Committee meets every year in early October and aims to finish its work by the end of November. All 193 member states of the UN can attend. As in previous sessions, an important part of the work of the committee will focus on the examination of human rights questions, including reports of the special procedures of the Human Rights Council which was established in 2006.

Mandate

The work of the committee focuses on human rights, humanitarian affairs and social issues. In addition, it also considers issues relating to:

Working methods

The work of the Third Committee begins in early October and is usually finished by the end of November.

Unlike most other bodies of the General Assembly, the work of the Third Committee does not begin with a general debate between its members. Instead, its agenda items are debated individually from the beginning of the session.

The Third Committee hosts interactive dialogues with the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the High Commissioner for Refugees each year.

Current state

In its 81th Session, the committee focused on:

A. Promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and recent United Nations conferences.

B. Maintenance of international peace and security

C. Promotion of human rights

D. Drug control, crime prevention and combating international terrorism in all its forms and manifestations

Bureau

The following make up the bureau of the Third Committee for the 81st Session of the General Assembly:

Name Country Position
James Martin Larsen AustraliaChairperson
Flavia Umulisa RwandaVice-chair
Jovana Bubanja MontenegroVice-chair
Abosede Hazlewood GuyanaVice-chair
Safaa Hijab Yaseen IraqRapporteur

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 The GA Handbook: A Practical Guide to the United Nations General Assembly (PDF) (2nd ed.). New York: Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations. 2017. ISBN 978-0-615-49660-3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 November 2018.
  2. ↑ United Nations General Assembly Session 81 Annex 1. Allocation of agenda items to the Third Committee A/C.3/81/1 14 September 2026. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
  3. ↑ "81st session - Bureau - Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Issues (Third Committee) - UN General Assembly". www.un.org. United Nations. Retrieved 2026-09-29.