United Nations

The Order of Malta Observer at the UN Assembly

New York. A meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in which the Order of Malta has been admitted as Observer from last September. The Delegation of the Sovereign Order, was led by the Receiver of the Common Treasure, Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni, accompanied by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Luciano Koch and Amb. Dino Samaja, the Order's Ambassador in Ecuador and President of the Brazilian Association of Saõ Paolo.

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, as a further demonstration of its legal personality of international law, was admitted as Permanent Observer to the Assembly of the United Nations last September.

As the Order has not yet nominated its ambassador to the UN, the Receiver of the Common Treasure, Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni presided, by mandate of His Most Eminent Highness the Prince and Grand Master, Fra' Andrew Bertie, over the admission ceremony, accompanied by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Luciano Koch.

Zaire. The Order's humanitarian work for the Rwandese population, in the refugee camps set up in Zaire along the border with Rwanda, where thousands found shelter during their exodus from the lands devastated by civil war. In the photo, the distribution of drinking water from the purification plants installed by the German Relief Corps (MHD).

Count Marullo personally thanked the ambassadors of the countries who had voted for the admission of the Sovereign Order in the United Nations Assembly, and first of all Italy. The Italian Foreign Minister, Sen. Antonio Martino, when welcoming the Order during the admission session, stressed its great, universally recognised humanitarian merits and its total, generous presence in disasters during times of war and peace.

In turn, Count Marullo, meeting with the ambassadors of the various countries represented in the United Nations, illustrated the significance of the Order's presence in the assembly, affirming that it will offer the possibility for closer ties with those governments not yet bound by mutual diplomatic relations, for initiating suitable contacts within the framework of the Order's commitments for the third millennium. In this sphere, the Order has specific and carefully considered strategies, not only for reorganising its internal structure with the reform of its constitutional documents, but also for studying a profound renewal within the framework of its humanitarian work with a more rational distribution of resources.