The confrontation with the Russian Federation in the conditions of a new stage of its aggression against Ukraine actualizes the need for lawyers to turn to all available means and levers of international law and international politics to promote victory in the national liberation struggle. At the same time, a significant part of the acts of the bodies of international organizations, in which Russian aggression is condemned, are more political than legal in nature. The author believes that this problem is of quite significant importance, especially in the absence of relevant decisions of international judicial institutions at this time. Its correct understanding will make it possible to more effectively initiate and use the decisions of international organizations. Therefore, this study is devoted to the nature of the powers and acts of the UN General Assembly as the most authoritative universal international organization.

The article examines the issue of the correlation of the competences of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the competence of the UN General Assembly in the field of maintaining international peace and security, the application of coercive measures within the limits of this competence, the right of the UN General Assembly in its decisions to interpret the UN Charter and propose legal conclusions in its resolutions, problem of defining a place of the UN General Assembly resolutions among the sources of international law. The author justifies that the provisions of the UN Charter regarding the competencesof the main bodies of this organization are quite imprecise, and this was realized when writing this fundamental act, as well as the fact that these norms and their interpretation will continue to develop, and complex issues can become the subject of agreement between UN bodies. The General Assembly is the only body representing the will of all UN member states. The author claims that the democratic political legitimacy of the UN General Assembly has grown immeasurably over the past almost eighty years, at least in proportion to the radical increase in the number of member states and taking into account the impact of developments in the form of conventions and declarations; instead, the political legitimacy of the Security Council has significantly decreased, because all the factors of this legitimacy have gradually disappeared, as well as the political and economic realities of the world have changed. Under these conditions, the interpretation of the provisions of the UN Charter cannot but evolve, which is reflected and recognized in the acts of the UN General Assembly, decisions and advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice, and the practice of the UN member states.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Shaw M N, International Law (8th ed, Cambridge University Press 2017) (in English).

2. Babin B, Hrinenko O, Prykhodko A, Pytannia rozvytku ta realizatsii mizhnarodnykh standartiv prav korinnykh narodiv (Feniks 2018) (in Ukrainian).

3. Kresin O, Korinni narody: mizhnarodne pravo ta zakonodavstvo Ukrainy (Instytut derzhavy i prava imeni V M Koretskoho, NAN Ukrainy, Norma prava 2021) (in Ukrainian).

Edited and translated books

4. Kuok D N, Daje P, Pelle A, Mezhdunarodnoe publichnoe pravo, t 2 (per s fr, Sfera 2000) (in Russian).

Journal articles

5. Falk R A, ‘On the quasi-legislative competence of the General Assembly’ (1966) 60 The American Journal of International Law 782 (in English).

6. Öberg M D, ‘The Legal Effects of Resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly in the Jurisprudence of the ICJ’ [2006] 16 (5) The European Journal of International Law 896–7 (in English).

7. Skubiszewski Kr, ‘The Elaboration of General Multilateral Conventions and of Noncontractual Instruments Having a Normative Function or Objective. Resolutions of the General Assembly of the United States’ [1985] Session d’Helsinki 61 (I) Annuaire. Institut de Droit International 34 (in English).

Theses

8. Prykhodko A, ‘Standarty OON stosovno prav korinnykh narodiv’ (avtoref kand yuryd nauk, 2017) (in Ukrainian).

Websites

9. Tomuschat C, ‘Uniting for Peace. Introductory Note’ (United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law) <https://legal.un.org/avl/ha/ufp/ufp.html> (accessed: 08.07.2022) (in English).