Online summit marks UN General Assembly’s 75th anniversary

A summit to mark the 75th anniversary of the first meeting of the UN General Assembly is scheduled to begin in London today.

The 51 nations that established the General Assembly met on January 10, 1946, at Methodist Central Hall, close to the Houses of Parliament.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will speak at an event titled We The Peoples – the first words of the organisation’s charter – to highlight UN achievements and call for “a renewed partnership to address the many challenges” facing the world.

“A third world war – which so many had feared – has been avoided. And never in modern history has the world gone so many years without a military confrontation between the major powers,” Mr Guterres told the 75th anniversary UNGA meeting. “This is a great achievement of which member states can be proud – and which we must all strive to preserve.”

The ceremony today is also to feature a message from peacekeeping troops in Mali, West Africa and the role of the UN operations will be recognised.

London was not to be the permanent home of the General Assembly, which in April convened in Flushing Meadow, New York, and was opened by the chairman of the Belgian delegation Frank van Langenhove.

The UN yearbook of 1946-47 showed that the first meeting was dominated by the issue of the mandate for Palestine, as well as the withdrawal of troops from Lebanon and Syria. However, there was a dispute over Jordan’s application for UN membership that later divided the UN Security Council along Cold War lines.

Diplomats from Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations played a leading role in the sessions.

After a conference in San Francisco, the UN officially came into existence in October, 1945. October 24 is marked as UN Day as the point the charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, UK, US and a majority of other signatories. Mr Guterres’s online visit to London will continue until Tuesday.

It is his first such online effort since the coronavirus pandemic started last year. He was to attend in person, but because of the UK’s worsening public health situation, London arranged for an online alternative.

Tomorrow and Tuesday, he is scheduled to discuss climate change and will hold talks with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.