The Executive and Liaison Committee of the Universal Postal Union met at Berne, Switzerland on October 11, 1948, with representatives of seventeen countries taking part in the work of the meeting. The Secretary General (Muri) reported on measures taken concerning the following questions: 1) representation of member countries at the sessions of the Committee, 2) extension of the franking privilege to the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies, 3) communication of the decisions of the Committee to the Administrations of the Union which had submitted proposals for the session of April 1948, 4) communication to the Administrations of the Union of the work done by the Committee, 5) formulation of a juridical statute for the Union in Switzerland, and 6) regulations concerning the organization, the work and the supervision of the International Bureau of the Union.

The Executive Board of the World Health Organization met in Geneva for its second session from October 25 to November 11, 1948. Some of the more important matters considered from an agenda which comprised more than seventy items included: 1) allocation of $100,000 for an extensive research program on tuberculosis; 2) approval of the report of a committee of experts on venereal disease recommending the large-scale use of penicillin in the treatment of syphilis and calling for WHO to stimulate penicillin production and distribution; 3) authorization to the WHO Director-General to create a Bureau of Medical Supplies to coordinate information and to advise governments on questions concerning the procurement of essential drugs, biological products, and medical equipment; 4) allocation of nearly $1,500,000 for the purpose of giving more direct aid to governments in all parts of the world in the form of field demonstrations and the provision of fellowships for medical and public health personnel; 5) approval of research along lines suggested by the International Congress of Mental Health, including comparative studies, surveys and demonstrations in that field; 6) appointment of Lt. Col. Chandra Mani (India) as director of the WHO Regional Office for South East Asia which was to be established early in 1949 in New Delhi, and 7) authorization to the WHO Director-General to sign a working agreement with the Pan American Sanitary Organization to serve as the WHO regional organization for the Western Hemisphere as soon as fourteen of the twenty-one American republics had completed ratification of the WHO Constitution. The next session of the Executive Board was scheduled for February 21, 1949, also in Geneva.

The second meeting of the Caribbean Research Council was held from May 27 to 30, 1949 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, under the chairmanship of H. J. Page, Chairman of the Council. The agenda included a review of the work of the research branch of the central secretariat of the Commission as well as proposals for future research work in the area. The Council highly commended the staff of the research branch of the secretariat and the acting deputy chairman of the Council for the imagination and resourcefulness shown in the development of the research program and for the volume of practical work accomplished since the last meeting of the Council. Forty recommendations, covering a wide range of area research, were submitted for the consideration of the Commission.

During the period under review the attention of the member countries of the Arab League was focused on the meetings of the United Nations Palestine Conciliation Commission in Lausanne, Switzerland. The British proclamation of self-rule for Cyrenaica on June 2 did, however, call for comment from the League. The move was interpreted as an attempt to create a British protectorate on Egypt's frontier and an attempt to further weaken the Arab countries through partition of one of them. Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, in a formal statement of protest, stated, “It is indeed regrettable that British policy in Libyan questions is based solely on Britain's own interests. Britain has not tried to reach an understanding concerning a policy that would satisfy the Arab people.”

Plans by Arab League officials to establish an Arab government over the whole of Palestine culminated in an announcement on September 20, 1948, of the formation of such a government at Gaza, to be headed by Premier Ahmed Hilmi Pasha, Arab Military Governor of Jerusalem. King Abdullah of Transjordan promply served notice that he would bar it from the Holy Land as it amounted to recognition of partition, which the Arabs had opposed. A meeting of Palestine Arab leaders at Jericho proclaimed King Abdullah of Transjordan as King of “all Palestine” on November 28 and on December 7 the cabinet of Transjordan gave its consent that King Abdullah accept the crown of a united Palestine and Transjordan. On December 14 the Palestinian Arabs told the Arab League that they would support the Jericho decision in spite of the fact that the League was using all means of pressure to persuade King Abdullah to renounce the plan and even was considering expelling Transjordan from the League. On December 21 Abdullah's appointment of a new Mufti of Jerusalem to replace Haj Aminal-Husseini constituted a direct challenge to the Arab League which declared that it would continue to support the all Palestine government proclaimed at Gaza and that it was up to the Palestinian people to decide their own future.

Immediately after the close of the Executive Board's session held from October 25 to November 11, 1948, representatives of seventeen European countries met at a conference at Geneva and outlined the ways in which the World Health Organization could assist in the health rehabilitation of the war-devastated countries in Europe. The following decisions were made: 1) to establish a Bureau of Medical Supplies to advise governments on procurement of essential drugs and to provide supplies in an emergency; 2) to carry out a large-scale research program based on the results of the International Tuberculosis Campaign; 3) to stimulate penicillin production; 4) to set up a special temporary office to deal with the specific problems of the war-devastated European countries; 5) to prepare the integration of the Pan American Sanitary Organization with WHO as a regional body for the Western Hemisphere; 6) to apply new procedures in the field of mental health; 7) to grant $600,000 for fellowships and medical literature; 8) to appropriate $800,000 to assist countries which had requested aid; and 9) to allocate $200,000 to regional organizations of WHO.

With the ratification of the North Atlantic treaty by France on August 24, 1949, the treaty came into force. France was the last of the seven nations drafting the alliance to file its ratification, the six other original countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and Luxembourg – having previously ratified the treaty. Ratifications had also been filed by the other five nations which later became associated with the pact: Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Portugal and Italy.

On April 5, 1949, the Brussels Treaty Powers addressed a request to the United States Government for military aid. “Since the signature of the Brussels Treaty the five governments [United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg] have had under consideration a common defence programme. Convinced of the necessity for such a programme, they believe that its formulation and application must be based on entire solidarity between them. They have reached the conclusion that if this defence programme is to be effective the material assistance of the United States Government is essential…”

The third session of the West Indian Conference opened at Guadeloupe, French West Indies on December 1, 1948 and closed on December 14, after considering policy to be followed by the Caribbean Commission for the next two years. The Conference was attended by two delegates from each of the fifteen territories within the jurisdiction of the commission and observers invited by the commission from Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

During the period under review the activities of the Arab League and of its member states were concentrated on the Palestine dispute. Conversations were held in Cairo on February 14, 1949 between the Palestine Conciliation Commission and Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the League who later conferred with the Prime Minister of Egypt.

The Ambassadors to the United Kingdom of Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, the High Commissioner for Eire, and the Minister of Luxembourg began a conference in London on March 28, 1949, under the chairmanship of Sir Gladwyn Jebb, British representative on the permanent commission of the Consultative Council of Western Powers, to examine draft proposals for a Council of Europe.

The Consultative Council consisting of the five foreign ministers held its sixth session on June 17 and 18, 1949. Although discussion was not publicized and no decision was announced, a communiqué was issued by the Council giving the principal matters discussed by the ministers. An important item on the agenda concerned aspects of the German problem in collaboration with “political questions of mutual interest”. The Council examined the progress accomplished in plans for the common defense of the five countries, in particular the report of the last session of the defense ministers' conference, and considered a report of the finance and economic committee on the application of the decisions reached at the fifth session of the Council. The reports of the Secretary-General on a year of cooperation in social and cultural matters between the five countries were approved and directions given for further work in these fields.

On August 3, 1949 Luxembourg, Norway and Italy deposited their instruments of ratification, bringing the total number of ratifications to the seven necessary to bring the Statute of the Council of Europe into force. The United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland had already ratified the statute.

The third regular session of the Consultative Council of the Western Powers met at Paris October 25 and 26, 1948. According to the communiqué issued by the five foreign ministers of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands at the conclusion of the meeting, four major topics were discussed.

The Council of the Organization of American States, at a meeting on April 11, 1949, approved the report of the Finance Committee recommending procedures for financing the new building of the Pan American Union. It was agreed to instruct the Director-General to proceed immediately with the building project, inform the Carnegie Corporation of the action, and authorize the Secretary General to obtain loans of not more than $1,150,000. It was also decided to transmit the project of Statutes of the Inter-American Cultural Council to the member governments with the request that they submit observations which they deemed advisable before May 15, 1949, after which the Statutes would be put into effect on a provisional basis. After the first session of the Cultural Council, the Council would incorporate its recommendations in the statutes and formulate the definitive text.

The third session of the biennial West Indian Conference met at Guadeloupe, French West Indies, from December 1 to 14, 1948, and made many recommendations to be followed by the Caribbean Commission. Committee I concerned itself with the report of the Secretary-General (Cramer) who had advised that there was a growing need for undertaking more specific projects which could be tackled within the framework of the organization and within its present resources. The committee recommended that the Commission continue to appoint to permanent positions on the secretariat, West Indians of proved ability; that, before any recommendation of the conference was accepted the Secretary-General should make an estimate of the administrative and financial implications of undertaking the project; that if any project depended for its success on the cooperation of territorial governments the project should not be undertaken before such cooperation was assured; and that the Monthly Information Bulletin should include all available information on legislation affecting social and economic developments in the various territories.

At a meeting on June 15, 1949, the Council of the Organization of American States adopted a resolution establishing a permanent mixed commission of six members, three each from the Council and the Inter-American Economic and Social Council, to ensure close collaboration between the two organs and to facilitate the work of the economic council. The resolution especially recommended the study of the economic problems listed in Resolution X of the Bogotá Conference.

Organizational questions and research plans were discussed at the third session of the South Pacific Commission which was held in Anse Vata, Noumea, New Caledonia, from May 7 to 17, 1949 under the chairmanship of Mr. J. B. D. Pennick of the Netherlands. The Commission approved a work program for the Research Council in the fields of health, economic conditions and social development. Among the specific studies authorized for the following year were 1) methods of improving collection and dissemination of epidemiological intelligence; 2)collection of data on diet and nutrition of communities and individuals; 3) study of atoll and low island economy; 4) study of fishery methods; 5) review and summary of information on cash crops; 6) survey of facilities for professional and technical training in the South Pacific; 7) the use of visual aids in education among island people; and 8) study of techniques for teaching literacy.

At a meeting on December 1, the Council of the Organization of American States considered a draft agreement between the Council and the Pan American Institute of Geography and History and approved recommendations by which the Institute was to be considered an Inter-American Specialized Organization under Article 96 of the Charter of the Organization. On a United States motion, the Council appointed a Special Committee to consider the subject of specialized inter-American conferences and to recommend to the Council a procedure for the convening of such conferences. The chairman of the Council (Corominas) notified the members that fourteen governments had appointed representatives to the American Committee on Dependent Territories and that in accordance with Resolution XXXIII of the Ninth International Conference of American States the Council should convoke the committee.

On April 4, 1949 the North Atlantic security alliance treaty was signed in Washington by representatives of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. When ratified by Belgium, Canada, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the treaty would come into force.