Dr. Charles Habib Malik (Lebanon)
Elected President of the thirteenth session of the General Assembly
Dr. Charles Habib Malik, of Lebanon, President of the thirteenth re session of the General Assembly, has had a distinguished career both at home and abroad. While he has been Lebanon's Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Education since 1956. His name has been well known to students of international affairs for more than a decade.
He attended the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco in 1945 and is one of the few diplomats who has been present at every session of the General Assembly since the Organization began. As a leading United Nations personality, he is perhaps best for the important role he played, as Chairman of the Assembly's Social and Humanitarian Committee in the hammering out and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Paris nearly ten years ago.
Dr. Malik. a tall, solidly-built man. was born fifty-two years ago in the Lebanese coastal village of Bitirran. He was educated at the American Mission School for Boys in Tripoli, Lebanon, and at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. where he received his B.A. in mathematics and physics in 1927. He then studied at Harvard University in the United States and received his M.A. in philosophy in 1934 and Ph.D. in philosophy in 1934. He also holds several honorary degrees from other American universities.
From 1927 to 1929 Dr. Malik taught at the American University in Beirut as instructor in mathematics and physics. The following year he joined the Al-Hilal Publishing House in Cairo and from 1930 to 1932 he was with the Rockefeller Foundation Unit on Bilharzias, Cairo, engaged in studying the disastrous effects of the disease which is transmitted to human beings by snails.
Dr. Malik was Assistant in Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University in 1936-37. Beginning in 1937 he held various posts with he American University of Beirut, and served as Head of the Department of Philosophy in 1943-45. After an absence on diplomatic services, he returned to that university in 1955-56 as Professor and Head of the Postgraduate Department.
In the period 1945-53 Dr. Malik served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Lebanon in the United States, and held a similar post in relation to Cuba during 1946-53. In 1953-55 he was Ambassador to the United States. Since November 18, 1956, he has been Lebanon's Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Education.
Dr. Malik was the representative of Lebanon on the Economic and Social Council, from its second to its eighth sessions, and was President of the Council at its sixth and seventh sessions. He has also represented his country on the Commission on Human Rights and served as Chairman of that body in 1951-52.
Dr. Malik, who talks with ease in English, French, German and Arabic, is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Society of International Law. Often described as an Arab philosopher, Dr. Malik is the author of numerous articles on scientific, social and philosophical topics in American and Arabic journals.
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