How does the Fifth Committee reach agreement?
In paragraph 7 of section II of its resolution 41/213 of 19 December 1986, the General Assembly considered it “desirable that the Fifth Committee… should continue to make all possible efforts with a view to establishing the broadest possible agreement” on the outline of the programme budget before submitting its recommendations to the General Assembly. In considering agenda items and questions every effort is made to reach consensus before resorting to a vote. For political considerations this is applied not only to the outline of the programme budget but also to all other draft resolutions and decisions. This process often requires lengthy negotiations. Only on very rare occasions has the Fifth Committee adopted a proposal by vote.
