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2 United Nations News: Report on the United Nations and Its Related Agencies 1 (1947)

handle is hein.unl/unnews0002 and id is 1 raw text is: United Nations News
Report on the United Nations and Its Related Agencies
Published monthly by the WOODROW WILSON FOUNDATION
45 East 65th Street, New York 21, N. Y.
Vol. II, No. 1               January, 1947                $3.00 per year
CONCLUDING ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

TATE in the night of December 15, or early in
the morning of December 16, after seven
and a half long weeks of hard work, the Gen-
eral Assembly of the United Nations ended its
first session. It had dealt with over 70 agenda
items, held 34 plenary sessions, 232 committee
meetings, 139 subcommittee meetings, and
given consideration to over 1200 documents.
Though quantitative measures are never ac-
curate indications of achievement, they per-
haps give a sense of the scale of this town
meeting of the world.
The questions under consideration ranged
all the way from disarmament to a proposal
for translation of the classics, from the future
of millions of dependent peoples to the min-
utiae of U.N. internal administration. In one
form or another, almost every type of question
which is of concern to one or more nations
was discussed, with an outspokenness that
made it clear that the Member nations are
determined to use the Assembly as it was de-
signed to be used,-as the world's chief forum
for discussion and also as the world's chief
policy-making body.
Under the expert leadership of its Presi-
dent, M. Paul-Henri Spaak of Belgium, the
General Assembly functioned with a smooth-
ness that was commended by many observers.
It put into operation the trusteeship system
by which certain non-self-governing territor-
ies will come under international supervision.
It elected members to the Trusteeship Coun-
cil, thus completing the organizational frame-
work of the U.N. contemplated in the Char-
ter. It decided on New York City for its per-

manent headquarters. It admitted four new
members to the United Nations,-Afghanis-
tan, Iceland, Sweden and Siam. It adopted a
budget and agreed upon a scale of contribu-
tions to that budget. It gave final approval to
the constitution of the proposed new organ-
ization to deal with refugees. It recommended
that an Economic Commission for Europe
should be established. It took steps toward the
codification of international law. It decided
upon more positive action directed against the
Franco regime in Spain. It set an important
precedent as to what should be the dividing
line between matters of international concern
and matters of purely domestic jurisdiction.
Most important of all, it held significant dis-
cussions on the question of disarmament from
which finally emerged, - after considerable
debate and much give and take,-unanimous
agreement on the principles to be followed in
controlling and regulating armaments.
In addition to agreement on these main is-
sues, resolutions were passed on many impor-
tant though less spectacular questions. More
attention would doubtless have been given to
the significance of these if they had not been
overshadowed by the action taken on ques-
tions vitally affecting the peace of the world.
Accord on Arms Inspection
Starting with widely different approaches
to the problem of disarmament the members
of the Assembly's Political and Security Com-
mittee argued and conceded, drafted and re-
drafted until finally they were able to agree
unanimously on a resolution which was then

Reproduction by Permission of Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Buffalo, NY

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