The third regular session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, was held from 21 September to 12 December 1948 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and from 5 April to 18 May 1949 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The permanent

Headquarters of the United Nations zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

did not yet exist, so sessions of the General Assembly were convened in various cities; this was the first one to be held in

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

. The

president of the United Nations General Assembly The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly. Election ...

for both parts of the third session was Herbert Vere Evatt of Australia.

Prelude

The session was taking place but three years after the conclusion of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, a conflict so vast and impactful that it had convinced the United States and other nations to give collective security another try after the failures of the interwar period, and people were hopeful this time it would work. By 1948, the tensions of the early

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

period were already becoming apparent. On Sunday, 19 September, two days prior to the opening of the session, church bells were rung and special services held in congregations of various faiths, praying for the success of the General Assembly meetings. Such events were held in cities and towns across the United States and in parts of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Similar ceremonies were also held in both Western and Eastern Europe, including in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, as well as other parts of the world. In many of the services, one particular prayer, written anonymously, was said, part of which read:

Especially do we pray for the Assembly of the United Nations, opening in Paris. Give to men and women gathered there a sense of Thy providence and a knowledge that the good of all people must come before the good of any single person, race, or nation. Amen.

Paris part

Representatives met in Paris from 21 September to 12 December 1948 in Paris, France to convene the third session. It was hosted at the

Palais de Chaillot The Palais de Chaillot () is a building at the top of the in the Trocadéro area in the 16th ''arrondissement'' of Paris, France. For the Exposition Internationale of 1937, the old 1878 Palais du Trocadéro was partly demolished and partly ...

in the

16th arrondissement of Paris The 16th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''seizième''. The arrondissement includes part of the Arc de T ...

. In all there were 618 different meetings of the assembly and various committees at the Paris session. Initially there were negotiations over whether the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

would have adequate representation on the

United Nations General Committee The United Nations General Committee is a committee of the United Nations General Assembly whose main purpose is to organize the body's agenda, among other things. Mandate The Mandate of the General Committee consists of the following: * Crea ...

and other such UN bodies. The most important achievements of the Paris session were the ratifications of two foundational and essential documents, the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...

and the

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was ...

. The general assembly vote on the first was 48–0 with 8 absentions, and the vote on the second was 50–0 with 0 abstentions. Otherwise the Paris session was marked by disagreements between the West and the Eastern Bloc, with

Andrey Vyshinsky Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky (russian: Андре́й Януа́рьевич Выши́нский; pl, Andrzej Wyszyński) ( – 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat. He is known as a state prosecutor of Joseph ...

, the head of the delegation from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, criticizing

John Foster Dulles John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...

, the acting chair of the United States delegation. In the end, the Soviet Union expressed frustration that none of its own proposals had passed. The Paris session also addressed the situation on the

Korean peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

by declaring, via a 48–6 margin, the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

to be the only legitimate government there.

New York part

The second part of the third session took place in New York City, United States, from 5 April to 18 May 1949. It was held at the

New York City Building The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its p ...

within

Flushing Meadows Park Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushi ...

in the

borough of Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. Many of the committee sessions were held just outside the city in the village of Lake Success. As a result, the naming of this part of the session is often referred to be both at Flushing Meadows Park and Lake Success. The most significant action of this part of the session was

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 273 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 273 was adopted on May 11, 1949, during the second part of the third session of the United Nations General Assembly, to admit the State of Israel to membership in the United Nations. It was passed follow ...

, allowing the admission of the

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

into the United Nations. The general assembly voted 37–12 with 9 abstentions. Otherwise the overall session ended on an inconclusive note, with several questions regarding the disposition of Italian colonies left for the next session.

References

External links

*Report of third session
''Annual report of the Secretary-General on the work of the organization, 1 July 1948 -30 June 1949''
7 July 1949, General Assembly official records {{United Nations General Assembly Sessions, state=expanded 3 1948 in the United Nations 1949 in the United Nations 1948 in Paris 1949 in New York City