Office of the Historian

FW 501.AC/2–1749

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (Lie) to the Secretary of State 1

Lake Success, New York, February 11, 1949.

Accession by Member Governments to the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations

Sir, I have the honour to refer to my letter No. 902–4–1–1/HS of 12 March 19482 by which I requested your Government to take such measures as may be necessary to facilitate its accession to the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.

At the first part of its third session, the General Assembly again stressed the importance of this matter. By Resolution 259 (III) adopted on 8 December 1948, the Assembly emphasized that if the United Nations is to achieve its purposes and perform its functions effectively, it is essential that States Members should unanimously approve the provisions of the Convention. The Resolution further invites those States Members which have not yet acceded to the Convention to deposit their instruments of accession with the Secretary-General at the earliest possible moment.

Up to the present time, the instrument of accession of your Government has not yet been deposited and I have the honour therefore to request your Government to consider the terms of the Resolution and particularly the invitation contained therein.3

I have [etc.]

Trygve Lie
  1. Transmitted to the Secretary of State under despatch 200, February 17, 1949, from the U.S. Representative at the United Nations (Austin).↩
  2. For relevant documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. i, pp. 48–50.↩
  3. In instruction 108, March 30, 1949, the U.S. Representative at the United Nations (Austin) was requested by the Secretary of State to inform the Secretary-General that the Department had submitted to the Congress a request for favorable legislative action (501.AC/2–1749).↩