The United Nations Credentials Committee is a committee of the United Nations General Assembly whose main purpose is to report to the Assembly regarding the credentials of the body's representatives.

Background Each year before the regular session begins, the Office of Legal Affairs recommends a group of candidates to the President of the General Assembly for the Credentials Committee. The President of the General Assembly then proposes nine candidates to the General Assembly, which then votes on the candidates.

According to Rule 27 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly, Member States must send the credentials of their representatives to the Secretary-General of the United Nations more than one week before the opening of the regular session. When Members States send these credentials in, they are formally notifying the Secretary-General that these representatives are entitled to speak on their behalf. They must be sent by the head of state, head of government or by the minister for foreign affairs.

Rule 25 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly also defines a "delegation" of a Member State as, "consist[ing] of up to five representatives, five alternate representatives, and as many advisers and experts as required." The General Assembly formally acknowledges the representatives of the Member States by approving their credentials.

In cases of special or emergency sessions of the General Assembly, as well as any conferences convened under its authority, the credentials committee is reconvened with "the same composition as that of the Credentials Committee at its most recent regular session."

The consideration of the credentials by the Credentials Committee is normally a formality. However, if a delegation's legitimacy is contested, its credentials may be challenged by another Member State. In these cases, the office of the President of the General Assembly is often called upon to help resolve the matter before a formal meeting of the Credentials Committee. Nonetheless, delegations whose credentials have been challenged retain all their rights until, and unless, they are revoked by the General Assembly. An example is the Taliban government of Afghanistan. After having come to power in contested circumstances the month before, the new government sought to speak at the UN General Assembly before the close of its session in September 2021: the Credential Committee did not meet to agree to accept new Afghan appointments before the end of the session. This left Ghulam Isaczai of the ousted regime as the official representative to the UN, despite Taliban protestations that he "no longer represents Afghanistan". On 1 December 2021, the Committee decided to reject recognition of UN seats for both Afghanistan's Taliban government and Myanmar's ruling Tatmadaw military junta. On 16 December 2022, the Committee decided again to reject recognition of UN seats for Afghanistan's Taliban government, Myanmar's Tatmadaw military junta and Libya's rival eastern-based government. On 6 December 2023, this was repeated for Afghanistan and Myanmar. On 20 November 2024, this was again repeated for Afghanistan and Myanmar. On 25 November 2025, this was again repeated for Afghanistan and Myanmar. In all five years, the Chair of the committee has proposed these decisions with no objections (unanimous consent).

Members An asterisk (*) denotes the Chair of the committee. (The committee did not submit a report naming a Chair in 1964.General Assembly, 19th session : 1331st plenary meeting (closing meeting), Wednesday, 1 September 1965, New York)

1946General Assembly, 1st session : 41st plenary meeting, held on Tuesday, 29 October 1946 Republic of China*194781st plenary meeting meeting, held in the General Assembly Hall at Flushing Meadow, New York, on Tuesday, 16 September 1947 : [General Assembly, 2nd session]*1948139th plenary meeting, held at held at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris, on Thursday, 23 September 1948 : [General Assembly, 3rd session]*1949General Assembly, 4th session : 226th plenary meeting, held at Flushing Meadow, New York, on Friday, 23 September 1949*1950General Assembly, 5th session : 281st plenary meeting, Saturday, 23 September 1950, Flushing Meadow, New York*1951Report of the Credentials Committee A/1983*19521st report of the Credentials Committee A/2234*1953First Report of the Credentials Committee A/2490*1954First Report by the Credentials Committee A/2752*19551st report of the Credentials Committee A/3027*1956Report of the Credentials Committee A/3536*1957Report of the Credentials Committee A/3773*1958Report of the Credentials Committee A/4074*1959Report of the Credentials Committee A/4346*1960Credentials of representatives to the 15th session of the General Assembly. 2nd report of the Credentials Committee A/4743*1961Credentials of representatives to the 16th session of the General Assembly : report of the Credentials Committee A/5055*1962Report of the Credentials Committee A/5395*1963Credentials of representatives to the 18th session of the General Assembly : report of the Credentials Committee A/5676*1964General Assembly, 19th session : 1286th plenary meeting (opening meeting), Tuesday, 1 December 1964, New York A/PV.12861965Credentials of representatives to the 19th and 20th sessions of the General Assembly : report of the Credentials Committee A/6208*1966Credentials of representatives to the 21st session of the General Assembly : report of the Credentials Committee A/6620*1967Report of the Credentials Committee A/6990*1968Credentials of representatives to the 23rd session of the General Assembly : report of the Credentials Committee A/7228*1969Credentials of representatives to the 24th session of the General Assembly : report of the Credentials Committee A/7634*19701st report of the Credentials Committee A/8142*1971Report of the Credentials Committee A/8625*1972Report of the Credentials Committee A/8921*1973Credentials of representatives to the 28th session of the General Assembly. First report of the Credentials Committee. A/9179*1974First report of the Credentials Committee A/9779*1975First report of the Credentials Committee A/10270*1976First report of the Credentials Committee A/31/308*1977First report Of the Credentials Committee A/32/336*1978Credentials of representatives to the 33rd session of the General Assembly : Report of the Credentials Committee A/33/350*1979First report of the Credentials Committee A/34/500*19801st report of the Credentials Committee A/35/484*1981First report of the Credentials Conmittee A/36/517*1982First report of the Credentials Committee A/37/543*1983*19841st report of the Credentials Committee A/39/574*1985First report of the Credentials Committee A/40/747*1986First report of the Credentials Committee A/41/727*1987First report of the Credentials Committee A/42/630*19881st report of the Credentials Committee A/43/715*1989First report of the Credentials Committee A/44/63*19901st report of the Credentials Committee.A/45/674*19911st report of the Credentials Committee A/46/563*1992First report of the Credential s Committee A/47/517*1993First report of the Credentials Committee A/48/512*1994First report of the Credentials Committee A/49/517*1995First report of the Credentials Committee A/50/559*1996First report of the Credentials Committee A/51/548*1997Report of the Credentials Committee A/52/719*1998First report of the Credentials Committee A/53/556*1999First report of the Credentials Committee A/54/475*2000First Report of the Credentials Committee A/55/537*2001Report of the Credentials Committee A/56/724*2002Report of the Credentials Committee A/57/634*2003Report of the Credentials Committee A/58/625*2004Report of the Credentials Committee A/59/602*2005Report of the Credentials Committee A/60/595*2006Report of the Credentials Committee A/61/648*2007Report of the Credentials Committee A/62/596*2008Report of the Credentials Committee A/63/633*2009Report of the Credentials Committee A/64/571**2010Report of the Credentials Committee A/65/583*2011Report of the Credentials Committee A/66/360*2012Report of the Credentials Committee A/67/611*2013Report of the Credentials Committee A/68/630*2014Report of the Credentials Committee A/69/617*2015Report of the Credentials Committee A/70/573*2016Report of the Credentials Committee A/71/670*2017Report of the Credentials Committee A/72/601*2018Report of the Credentials Committee A/73/600*2019Report of the Credentials Committee A/74/572*2020Report of the Credentials Committee A/75/606*2021 *2022 * 2023 * 2024 * 2025 *

The rules of the General Assembly do not list any regional groups or permanent members for the committee (only stating that the committee has nine members), but the General Assembly has always appointed the above permanent members and regional groups (e.g. two members from the African Group) since 1972.

See also United Nations General Committee

References