United Nations decision 33/426
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 8 December 1978 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Government programs (topic) |
| People | J. Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallée, Eric Gairy, Gordon Cooper |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 85 |
| Year | 1978 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1978 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 13 |
On 18 December 1978 the United Nations General Assembly adopted decision 33/426 on unidentified flying objects, after a campaign by Sir Eric Gairy, Prime Minister of Grenada, for a UN body to study them. It remains the only time the General Assembly has formally considered the subject.[1][2]
Gairy's campaign
Gairy became known to UFO researchers at an international UFO congress in Acapulco, Mexico, in April 1977. In a letter of 14 July 1977 he asked the General Assembly to consider establishing an agency to investigate UFOs and share information about them. British and American officials worked to talk down or water down the proposal.[2][3][4][5]
The 1978 debate
On 27 November 1978 Gairy led a group including astronomer J. Allen Hynek and researcher Jacques Vallée, with a statement from astronaut Gordon Cooper, in addressing the General Assembly's Special Political Committee. Grenada proposed creating a UN agency or department to coordinate UFO research.[2][6][7]
The decision
The proposal did not win enough support. Instead, decision 33/426 invited interested member states to coordinate national research on UFOs and related phenomena and to inform the Secretary-General of their findings. No UN body was ever set up. In March 1979 Gairy was overthrown in a coup while abroad, and the effort lapsed.[1][2]
People and topics
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- J. Allen Hynek — Astronomer and Air Force UFO consultant from 1948 to 1969 who later founded the Center for UFO Studies.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Eric Gairy — Prime Minister of Grenada who pushed the United Nations to study UFOs in 1977–78.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Gordon Cooper — Mercury astronaut who spoke publicly about UFOs.
On the Timeline
- 1978 House SETI hearing (19 September 1978) — A NASA official testifies to the House about searching for extraterrestrial intelligence.
- CAUS lawsuit and the CIA UFO papers (15 December 1978) — Researchers claim the CIA ran secret emergency UAP studies during sighting waves.
See every 1978 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Did the General Assembly ever consider UFOs?", UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library · ask.un.org · archived copy
- Eric Gairy — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Letter from Grenada to the UN Secretary-General on unidentified flying objects, A/32/142/Add.1 (1977) · digitallibrary.un.org · archived copy
- "MoD shows close encounter files", Insider.co.uk · insider.co.uk · archived copy
- Memorandum of conversation on Grenada's UFO initiative, Foreign Relations of the United States, Office of the Historian · history.state.gov · archived copy
- Verbatim record of the 35th meeting of the Special Political Committee, UN General Assembly, 33rd session (27 Nov 1978) · digitallibrary.un.org · archived copy
- J. Allen Hynek's statement to the UN (1978), Magonia · magonia.com · archived copy
- A/33/512: Establishment of an agency or department of the UN (PDF) — UN Digital Library · digitallibrary.un.org · archived copy
- New York Times on the UN UFO debate (1978) — Patrick Gross · ufologie.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science — journals of Jacques Vallée (Anomaly Archives) · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
- Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
- wikileaks.org · wikileaks.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- Project Blue Book files — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- J. Allen Hynek — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Jacques Vallée — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- NORAD — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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