On June 24, 1947 the International Sugar Council met in London with the representatives of sixteen countries present. A motion was carried which recommended the extension until August 31, 1948 of the International Sugar Agreement by protocol signed by the member governments. The Council appointed a committee of experts to examine sugar statistics, estimate probable production and consumption of sugar during the years 1947–48 and 1948–49, and to forecast the future trend of the sugar market as a basis for the consideration of the need for reformulating the agreement. Members of the Council were urged to submit all available data by the end of August 1947.

In November 1948, the final verdict against 28 accused Japanese war criminals was delivered in Tokyo by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. The Tribunal, established on January 16, 1946, had begun hearings on May 3, 1946, and had been continually in session since that time. The reception of evidence had terminated on February 10, 1948, the tribunal having admitted 4,336 exhibits and 779 depositions in evidence and having heard 419 witnesses testify in court. Hearings had been in English and Japanese, with translation when required into Chinese, Russian, and French; the tribunal noted that language difficulties had materially delayed its work and had even made necessary the establishment of a Language Arbitration Board.

On March 31, 1949, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was officially liquidated after five and one half years of existence. Established as a temporary agency to assist war-devastated countries and areas unable to undertake their own relief and rehabilitation, UNRRA was supported by contributions from 48 member governments, four non-member governments and individuals and private organizations. Its work was carried on in missions to 16 receiving countries and it supported displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria, Italy, the Middle East, North Africa and the Far East until the International Refugee Organization was established.

On February 9, 1949, the Deputies of the Council of Foreign Ministers metin London to resume negotiations on the Austrian treaty. Of the proposed 54 provisions of the treaty, practical agreement had been reached on 39; among the questions still outstanding were 1) disposition of German assets in Austria; 2) frontiers, particularly those between Austria and Yugoslavia; 3) an international guarantee of the independence and territorial integrity of Austria; 4) the repatriation of refugees and displaced persons; 5) future prohibition to Austria of research in and manufacture of armaments; 6) the restoration of or compensation for property of United Nations nationals; and 7) the protection of ethnic minorities.After opening declarations by all representatives of the necessity for, an immediate treaty with the Austrian Government, the Deputies turned to a discussion of Yugoslav territorial and reparations claims against Austria.

A report on the work of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, issued in October 1948, summarized progress of the organization so far and the problems which it still faced. Stating that the organization was still on the threshold of European cooperation and that the most difficult problems still remained, the report defined OEEC's task as the achievement, by 1952, of a “satisfactory European economy without extraordinary outside aid.” The work of OEEC since its inception had been hampered by the facts that it was the first international organization of its kind, that it had been so quickly forced into programming aid requirements of participating countries that there had been no time for organizational problems, and that during a fairly long initial period it had not had close contact with the United States Economic Cooperation Administration since neither the administrator nor his special representative in Europe had been appointed. Despite these hindrances, however, OEEC had drawn up programs covering aid requirements of the nineteen member nations for the third and fourth quarters of 1948, the first annual program, a long-term program, and a first progress report on cooperation and economic recovery. OEEC had also undertaken to recommend to ECA actual distribution of aid between participating countries, a task which it was originally assumed would belong to ECA.

On December 3rd, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the following resolution:

“Whereas the series of tragic events which have lately befallen agents of the United Nations engaged in the performance of their duties raises, with greater urgency than ever, the question of the arrangements to be made by the United Nations with a view to ensuring to its agents the fullest measure of protection in the future and ensuring that reparation be made for the injuries suffered; and

Whereas it is highly desirable that the Secretary-General should be able to act without question as efficaciously as possible with a view to obtaining any reparation due; therefore

The General Assembly

The third meeting of the International Tin Study Group was held at The Hague from October 25 through 29,1948. Fifty-five delegates and advisors were present to represent the fourteen member governments. The Group discussed common problems in connection with production, consumption and trade and reviewed the world statistical position of tin.

On January 25, 1949, a communiqué issued in Moscow announced the creation by six eastern European countries of a new Council of Mutual Economic Assistance. The organization was established at an economic conference attended by representatives of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia and the USSR.

Sir, I have the honour to inform you that today, 7 May, the Delegations of the Netherlands and of the Republic of Indonesia met in Batavia, under the auspices and in the presence of the United Nations Commission for Indonesia, and made the following formal statements, endorsed by their respective governments.

1. On 21 November 1947, by its resolution 117 (II), the General Assembly requestedthe Interim Committee to:

“1. Consider the problem of voting in the Security Council, taking into account all proposals which have been or may be submitted by Members of the United Nations to the second session of die General Assembly or to the Interim Committee;

“2. Consult with any committee which the Security Council may designate to co-operate with the Interim Committee in the study of the problem;

“3. Report, with its conclusions, to the third session of the General Assembly, the report to be transmitted to the Secretary-General not later than 15 July 1948, and by the Secretary-General to the Member States and to the General Assembly.”

On July 6 and 7, 1948 a meeting was held in Washington to which were invited representatives of the 36 governments which had signed the International Wheat Agreement concluded there March 6, 1948. Representatives of the following countries informed the meeting that their governments had ratified the agreement and had deposited their formal instruments of acceptance with the United States State Department by the deadline of July 1: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Belgium, Cuba, Greece, the Netherlands, and Poland indicated that their legislatures had ratified and that formal instruments of acceptance would be deposited early that month. The representatives present discussed the possibilities of further ratifications, particularly the prospects of ratification by the United States Government, and decided that prospects of ratification during the 1948–49 crop-year were remote. Thereupon, representatives of some of the ratifying states gave notice that their governments withdrew from the agreement, because the guaranteed quantities of countries which had formally accepted it were insufficient to ensure its successful operation. A preparatory committee was appointed consisting of the representatives of Australia, the Benelux customs union, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States to keep under review prospects of concluding a new international wheat agreement. The United States was invited to convene the meeting as soon as it considered the time propitious to negotiate a new international agreement.

On December 10, 1948, the United States Departments of State and Army announced that SCAP would direct the Japanese Government to carry out anc effective economic stabilization program calculated to achieve fiscal, monetary, price and wage stability in Japan, as well as to maximize production for export. The nine-point program consisted of the following measures: 1) achievement of a true balance in the consolidated budget by stringent curtailing of expenditures and maximum expansion in total government revenues; 2) assurance that credit extension was rigorously limited to those projects contributing to the economic recovery of Japan; 3) acceleration and strengthening of the program of tax collection; 4) establishment of an effective program to achieve wage stability; 5) strengthening of the coverage of existing price-control programs; 6) improvement of the operation of foreign trade controls and tightening of existing foreign exchange controls to the extent that such measures could appropriately be delegated to Japanese agencies; 7) improvement of the effectiveness of the allocation and rationing system; 8) increasing of production of all essential raw material and manufactured products; and 9) improving the efficiency of the food collection program.

At the beginning of 1948, the Inter-Allied Reparation Agency hoped that substantial numbers of the 858 plants listed by the western zone commanders of Germany in October, 1947, would quickly be made available for distribution under a new procedure adopted by the Assembly of the Agency.

Whereas, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

The Governments of the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, having taken the measures necessary to carry out, faithfully and in full, each and every one of the provisions contained in the Resolution of the Provisional Organ of Consultation approved on December 24, 1948, the text of which is annexed to the present Pact of Amity, and is fully accepted by the signatory Governments, reiterating their firm resolve to continue taking all measures necessary, without restriction, to observe fully and faithfully each and all of the provisions and recommendations contained in the said Resolution; desiring to put an end to the situation that has arisen between the two states, and at the same time solemnly to reaffirm their desire to maintain the closest friendship and to strengthen the fraternal bonds which have historically characterized their relations; and wishing to avail themselves of the offer made to them by the Council of the Organization of American States, acting as a Provisional Organ of Consultation, of its good offices in attaining this objective, have agreed to enter into the present Pact of Amity in the presence of the Chairman and other Members of the Council.

The sixth meeting of the Rubber Study Group was held in London from March 29 to April 1, 1949, under the chairmanship of Sir Gerard Clauson. Fifteen member nations attended the sessions whose primary object was to review the world rubber situation and discuss problems relating to production, consumption and trade in rubber. Countries attending included Australia, Belgium, the British Colonies, Burma, Canada, Ceylon, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Liberia, the Netherlands and Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The year between 1 July 1948 and 30 June 1949 covered in this, my fourth annual report on the work of the United Nations, has been, on the whole, a year of progress towards a more peaceful world.

It is true that the world has had its full share of crises and alarms. The rival claims in an ideological conflict have been pressed as though they were the only issue of our times, while the great Powers have continued their efforts to strengthen their relative positions before the situation is brought nearer to stability by the conclusion of peace treaties. Although overshadowed by the great Power differences, movements of national independence and social upheavals in many parts of the world have unavoidably contributed to international tensions. These conditions, which have persisted since the war ended, continue to cause widespread anxiety among the peoples of the world as to the prospects for world peace and the ability of the United Nations to prevent a third world war.

The Governments of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the French Republic, the Irish Republic, the Italian Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

The Council of OEEC at its tenth session which opened in Paris on December 28, 1948, studied and adopted the report on the 1949–50 Program and the interim report on the European Recovery Program. The Council instructed the Secretary-General to submit the interim report to the Economic Cooperation Administration of the United States. In adopting this report the members of the Organization reaffirmed their intention to achieve a joint European Recovery Program and invited members to examine methods for initiating the necessary action to attain this objective, in particular those mentioned in the interim report, and to inform the Organization before January 31, 1949 of their preliminary conclusions.

Having considered the declaration made by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution 96 (I) dated 11 December 1946 that genocide is a crime under international law, contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by the civilized world;