The 'Assembly of concern'.

• Position: United Nations 1983 General Assembly

Before the session's suspension, the Assembly considered a record number of items (147) and adopted a record number of resolutions (330) and decisions (77).

Several questions remained to be taken up at a resumed thirty-eighth session, expected to be convened early in 1984. These included: the launching of global negotiations on international economic co- operation for development; the election of one member of the Economic and Social Council, from the Latin Group; ob- servance of the quincentenary of the discovery of America; the question of Cyprus; implementation of resolu- tions of the United Nation's; and con- sequences of the prolongation of the armed conflict between Iran and Iraq.

Discussion of equitable representa- tion on and increase in the mem- bership of the Security Council was postponed until the thirty-ninth As- sembly session, beginning in Septem- ber 1984, as was the item of East Timor.

Before the work began, representa- tives of 149 nations, against the famil- iar backdrop of the Assembly's green marble dais, reviewed their particular political concerns during the annual general debate. The themes included the widening schism between East and West and the need for nuclear arms control, as well as the need for new international economic relations and strengthened international co- operation. During the period of the general debate, 27 Heads of State and Government addressed the As- sembly (see Un Chronicle Special Supplement, "The Nations Speak", containing summaries of the general debate and statements by Heads of State and Government).

Then the Assembly's plenary and seven Main Committees plunged into its heavy agenda, debating the issues and drafting resolutions.

The policies of two Member States-Israel and South Africa- were condemned by the majority of the Assembly. Certain Western States, including the United States, were asked to terminate their collabo- ration with these two States. Pro- grammes for Palestinian refugees and for the oppressed peoples of southern Africia, in particular Namib- ians, were recommended. The As- sembly also declared invalid the re- sults of the all-white referendum in South Africa on a new constitution setting up a parliament based on racial groups.

The Assembly dealth with situations of hostility or dispute around the world-in Grenada, Central Ameri- ca, Afghanistan, Kampuchea, the *falklands/Malvinas and Mayotte.

A comprehensive study on the question of Antartica-a subject debated by the Assembly for the first time-was requested. A number of developing nations were of the view that the resources of that continent should be considered the "common heritage" of mankind. Some of the 28 States party to the 1959 Antartica Treaty, which bans military activities on the continent, felt that any revision might jepardize the Treaty. (A detailed story on the Antartica debate will appear in the Un Chronicle, 1984, No. 3.)

Long-range Goals: Also addressed were the long-range goals of nuclear disarmament and the development of international security, a new international economic order, a better life for the world's children, youth, women, aging, refugees, migrants and other special categories of persons and the general realization of human rights. The 35th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was observed on 9 December at Headquarters.

calls were made for self-determination in a number of Non-Self-Groverning territories, mostly islands in the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Carribean. The island nation of St. Christopher and Nevis became the United Nations' 158th Member in September.

Questions relating to a new world information order, outer space, the effects of atomic radiation and United Nations peace-keeping...