The sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 13 September 2011 at 15:00[1] and was presided over by former Qatari permanent representative to the UN Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser.

He also added that world faces "enormous political, social, economic and environmental challenges...people still were living under occupation, while other crucial questions of human rights, sustainable development and poverty eradication, among many others, persisted."

[5] The schedule for the opening of the annual session included:[1] Most states will have a representative speaking about issues concerning their country and the hopes for the coming year as to what the UNGA will do.

[16] The move also follows an aggressive and at least partially successful campaign by the Palestinians to court recognition in the build-up to the vote, including numerous Latin American countries.

Several leaders said they would support Palestine's bid for statehood during the general debates, though US President Barack Obama called for direct dialogue, amidst earlier threats to veto the move in the Security Council.

[18] The bid was expected to be submitted on 23 September in the Security Council, even though the 129 member states that recognise Palestine constitute the necessary 2/3 majority; however approval needs nine of 15 of the SC votes, though the U.S. promised to veto the measure.

Abbas's diplomatic advisor Majdi al-Khaldi said that though the Palestinians believed they could win the votes needed, "Three of the members of the Security Council (Bosnia, Gabon and Nigeria) are under pressure from the Americans."

In turn, French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested an alternative proposal temporarily non-member observer state status should be granted with a timetable for new negotiations to conclude in a year.

[22] Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan Lesotho, Libya, Nigeria, Spain and Turkey replaced Côte d'Ivoire, Estonia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Guinea‑Bissau, India, Japan, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela.

Hungary also relinquished the remainder of its term in favour of an "internal agreement" with Bulgaria, as did the Belgium and Norway in accordance with the Western Europe and Others group's rotation policy to be replaced by Netherlands and Switzerland.

In the first round of voting, the General Assembly and the Security Council concurrently and independently elected Giorgio Gaja (Italy), Hisashi Owada (Japan), Peter Tomka (Slovakia), and Xue Hanqin (China), but the two organs were deadlocked between two African candidates for the fifth available seat.

[26] A by-election to the ICJ was held on 27 April 2012; the Security Council and the General Assembly concurrently elected Dalveer Bhandari (India) over Florentino Feliciano (Philippines) by a vote of 122 and 13, respectively[27] to replace Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh who resigned from the Court in 2011.