An emergency special session is an unscheduled meeting of the United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

 to make urgent recommendations on a particular issue. They are typically rare — a fact reflected in there being only 10 in the history of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

. Most emergency special sessions run for a single "meeting", which itself can run over a number of days — the Tenth, however, is the only emergency special session to be resumed more than once (the Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly

Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly

The Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centred around the Palestine issue. It was held by the UN in 1980, convened by Senegal and was the only special session to have been resumed besides the Tenth, which considered the same issue.-External links:*...

 was resumed once), meaning that that Session has spanned across a number of "meetings".

The UN General Assembly's 'Uniting for Peace' resolution (A/RES/377 A) demands a majority—procedural—vote of the Security Council

United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...

, or a request by a majority of UN Member states being received by the Secretary-General

United Nations Secretary-General

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....

, for the convocation of an emergency special session, within 24 hours.

Emergency special session	Topic	Convened by	Date	Resolution
First First emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The first emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was convened on 1 November and ended on 10 November 1956 resolving the Suez Crisis by creating the United Nations Emergency Force to provide an international presence between the belligerents in the canal zone...	Suez Crisis Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...	Security Council	1 November-10 November, 1956	A/3354
Second	Soviet Soviet Union The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....  invasion of Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...  (Hungarian Revolution)	Security Council	4 November-10 November, 1956	A/3355
Third	Lebanon crisis	Security Council	8 August-21 August 1958	A/3905
Fourth	Congo Crisis Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis was a period of turmoil in the First Republic of the Congo that began with national independence from Belgium and ended with the seizing of power by Joseph Mobutu...	Security Council	17 September-19 September 1960	A/4510
Fifth	Six-Day War Six-Day War The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...	Soviet Union	17 June-18 September 1967	A/6798
Sixth Sixth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The sixth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was held between 10 January – 14 January 1980 to consider the situation in Afghanistan. As the Soviet war in Afghanistan began members of the United Nations General Assembly requested the Security Council consider the...	Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Soviet war in Afghanistan The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...	Security Council	10 January-14 January 1980	ES-6/1, 2
Seventh Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The Seventh emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centred around the Palestine issue. It was held by the UN in 1980, convened by Senegal and was the only special session to have been resumed besides the Tenth, which considered the same issue.-External links:*...	Israeli-Palestinian conflict Israeli-Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...	Senegal	22 July-29 July 1980 20 April-28 April 1982 25 June-26 June 1982 16 August-19 August 1982 24 September 1982	ES-7/1, 2, 3 ES-7/4 ES-7/5 ES-7/6 ES-7/9
Eighth	South Africa South Africa The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... n occupation of Namibia Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...  (South West Africa South West Africa South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa.... )	Zimbabwe	3 September-14 September 1981	ES-8/1, 2
Ninth	Israel Israel The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... i occupation of the Golan Heights (Golan Heights Law Golan Heights Law The Golan Heights Law is the Israeli law which applies Israel's government and laws to the Golan Heights. It was ratified by the Knesset on December 14, 1981. The law was condemned internationally and determined null and void by United Nations Security Council Resolution 497.The law was passed... )	Security Council	29 January-5 February 1982	ES-9/1
Tenth Tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly The tenth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly centers on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the ongoing dispute and conflict over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The session was first convened in 1997 under the president of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail of Malaysia...	Israeli-Palestinian conflict (East Jerusalem East Jerusalem East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...  and Israeli-occupied territories Israeli-occupied territories The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria... )	Qatar	24 April-25 April 1997 15 July 1997 13 November 1997 17 March 1998 5, 8 and 9 February 1999 18 and 20 October 2000 20 December 2001 7 May 2002 5 August 2002 19 September 2003 20 October-21 October 2003 3 December 2003 2 August 2004 24 January 2007 4 April 2007 23 January 2009	ES-10/1, 2 ES-10/3 ES-10/4 ES-10/5 ES-10/6 ES-10/7 ES-10/8, 9 ES-10/10 ES-10/11 ES-10/12 ES-10/13 ES-10/14 ES-10/15 ES-10/16 ES-10/17 ES-10/18