In the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

system of specialized agencies such as

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, General Conferences are the recurring meetings of Member States. General Conference sessions are usually held yearly or biennially (although other frequencies are possible) at the headquarters of the Agency. Special sessions of General Conferences may also be convened in other circumstances.

Composition

A General Conference comprises an Agency's Member States, all having equal voting rights, although

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

and

intergovernmental organizations An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own leg ...

, regional or international, usually attend General Conference sessions as observers. At General Conference sessions, each Member State is represented by one delegate (usually the Resident Representative to the Agency or, more rarely, a government minister) accompanied by alternates and advisers. In practice, however, General Conferences are not necessarily attended by all Member States; some might lack the financial means to send a delegation, while others purposely refrain from attending as a

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

measure.

Functions

Functions of General Conferences are extensive. General Conferences determine their Agency's broad policy direction. General Conferences also elect the Agency's Director General and members of the Agency's standing executive board, while also approving States for membership or suspending a state therefrom.

References

* {{United-Nations-stub