In corridor and dining-room conversations during the past eight years among national representatives and Secretariat officials in the handsome Chateau de la Muette on the western edge of Paris, it has often been boasted that the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) is the most successful of the many postwar experiments in international organization. The boast is supported with a variety of comparisons, some inevitably invidious.

Some sixty-five years ago, when on April 14, 1890, the Union of American Republics was established, the great hope for world peace, the great promise of bringing international relations under the rule of law, lay in the development of arbitration. The Plan of Arbitration proposed by the Conference was for its time a radical one. Arbitration was to be obligatory for all disputes except those which in the judgment of a state might peril its independence; and the example thus set by the American States was not without its effect at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907. The limitation of armaments was obviously beyond the plans of practical statesmen. But even so, that was not ground for discouragement. If only the procedure of arbitration could be given greater authority and extended into ever-widening fields, it might be possible to look forward to an agreement upon the limitation of armaments when there was no longer the same need of them.

The United Nations provides the setting for the expression and carrying out of United States policies on a wide range of subjects of international concern. This article is about how those policies are formulated and expressed in UN organs.

The effort to federate the British Caribbean Territories has involved the use of a method much discussed in connection with the federation of states—the functional approach. From this experience can be derived lessons concerning that approach which would seem to be of value to the consideration of the problem of international federation.

For the convenience of readers, we are listing here membership of United Nations organs for 1956. Dates in parentheses represent ends of terms; unless otherwise noted, the states serve through December 31 of the year listed.

The tenth session of the General Assembly met at UN Headquarters from September 20 to December 20, 1955. At the opening plenary meeting, Mr. José Maza (Chile) was unanimously elected President of the session. On the motion of the United States, the Assembly by a vote of 42 to 12 with 6 abstentions decided not to consider any proposals to exclude the representatives of the government of the Republic of China or to seat representatives of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China during the tenth session.

At the request of the General Assembly at its tenth session, the Council considered the question of admission of new members to the UN from its 701st meeting on December 10, 1955, through its 706th meeting on December 15, and at its 708th meeting on December 21.

The Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission (Canada, France, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States) held its 21 st meeting at UN Headquarters on December 8, 1954, considered administrative and procedural arrangements, and agreed to continue its discussions in London. Meetings from February 25 (22d) through May 18 (49th) were held there. The 50th meeting was held at UN Headquarters on June I, and the Sub-Committee reconvened at Headquarters for the 51st through the 68th meetings (August 29 through October 7).

The first part of the 20th session of the Economic and Social Council was held in Geneva from July 5 through August 5,1955; Sir Douglas Copland (Australia) continued as president of the Council. The second part of the 20th session was scheduled to take place during or shortly after the tenth regular session of the General Assembly. At the opening meeting a discussion was held on adoption of the sessional agenda;1 a proposal by the United Kingdom delegate that a coordination committee be established to deal with matters of detail that might arise under item four of the agenda, general review of the development and coordination of the economic, social and human rights programs and activities of the UN and the specialized agencies as a whole, was adopted. The United Kingdom representative also proposed that consideration of 1) the status and functions of the Interim Coordinating Committee for International Commodity Arrangements and 2) the status and functions of the Commission on International Commodity Trade be postponed until the 21st session; the proposal was adopted by a vote of 10 to 5 with 3 abstentions. Also at its opening meeting the Council agreed it would decide at a later meeting whether or not to include in the provisional agenda the question of Spain becoming a party to the protocols of 1946 and 1948 on narcotic drugs. The agenda, as amended, was adopted unanimously, and fifteen of the nineteen agenda items were discussed at the first part of the session.

The sixteenth session of the Trusteeship Council was held at UN Headquarters from v June 8 to July 22, 1955. At the opening meeting Mason Sears (United States) was elected president and Max Dorsinville (Haiti) vice-president. An agenda of 20 items was adopted by the Council, which devoted the greater part of the session to examination of the annual reports on the administration of the trust territories of Somaliland, the Pacific Islands, Western Samoa, New Guinea and Nauru. The Council also made arrangements for visiting missions for 1955, and dealt with a number of questions referred to it by the General Assembly. Before concluding its sixteenth session, the Council adopted the report of the Secretary-General on credentials, and elected R. M. Urquía (El Salvador) temporary president for the fifth special session of the Council, which was to be held at UN Headquarters in October or November, 1955 for the purpose of considering the special report of the 1955 visiting mission to the trust territories of Togoland under British administration and Togoland under French administration.

Judgments of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labor Organization Upon Complaints Made Against the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: On November 30, 1955, the Legal Adviser of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) transmitted to the Court a resolution of the 42d session of die UNESCO Executive Board dated November 25, 1955, under which the Board, acting within the framework of Article XII of the Statute of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labor Organization (ILO), had decided to challenge the decisions rendered by the Tribunal on April 26, 1955, in die Leff, Duberg and Wilcox cases and on October 29, 1955, in the Bernstein case, and to refer die question of their validity to the International Court. The Board had decided to put to die Court die following questions: 1) had die ILO Administrative Tribunal been competent, under Article II of its Statute, to hear the complaints introduced against UNESCO on February 5, 1955, by Messrs. Duberg and Leff and Mrs. Wilcox, and on June 28, 1955 by Mrs. Bernstein: 2) in the case of an affirmative answer to the first question, a) had the Administrative Tribunal been competent to determine whether the power of die UNESCO Director-General not to renew fixed-term appointments had been exercised for the good of the service and the interest of the organization, and b) had die Administrative Tribunal been competent to pronounce on the attitude which the UNESCO Director-General, under the terms of die UNESCO constitution, should maintain in his relations with a member state, particularly as regarded the execution of the policy of the government authorities of that member state; and 3) in any case, what was the validity of the decisions given by die Administrative Tribunal in the four cases in question. Following receipt of die request for an advisory opinion, the Court fixed April 30, 1956, as the time-limit within which written statements might be submitted by any state entitled to appear before the Court, or any international organization considered by the president of die Court as likely to be able to furnish information on the questions referred to the Court, and reserved the rest of the procedure for further decision.

In the introduction to the annual report for 1954–1955 on the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the Director-General of FAO (Cardon) stated that although FAO had many separate projects in the fields of agriculture, economics, fisheries, forestry, and nutrition, the organization had an over-all program, that of improving human well-being by increasing and improving the production, distribution, and utilization of food and other products of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. He stated that progress had been made in unifying and integrating FAO's work since 1) each division of FAO contributed to the five major aspects of the general program, and 2) the work of direct technical advisory assistance for economic development had been more closely integrated with the regular FAO program. In elaborating on his themes of integration, the Director-General stated that “…the need grows more pressing for the closest integration within each receiving government, within each agency, among agencies, and with the like activities of bilateral and other programs”. During the year under review, considerable progress had been made in the more effective association of FAO's work with that of other international organizations.

The tenth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development was held in Istanbul, Turkey from September 12 to 16, 1955, under the chairmanship of Ahmed Zaki Saad (Governor for Egypt). Two of the five plenary sessions were held jointly with the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, and on September 15 an informal panel discussion was held on the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The ninth session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly was held in Montreal from May 31 through June 13, 1955.1 Representatives from 53 contracting states, and observers from the Federal Republic of Germany, the UN, and the International Labor Organization were present at the session at which Brigadier C. Stephen Booth (Canada) was elected President. Following statements by various delegations, the delegates considered the provisional agenda consisting of eighteen items; the first seventeen were adopted without discussion, but a debate developed on the last item, sponsored by the United Kingdom, which proposed that various amendments involving changes in the higher direction of ICAO be made in the ICAO Convention. It was pointed out that if this item were included in the agenda, Rule 10 (d) requiring that proposals for an amendment to the Convention be submitted to member states at least 90 days before the opening of the session would have to be suspended. The United Kingdom representative declared that his delegation was more interested in having a review of the future organization and methods of ICAO take place than in proposing specific amendments to the Convention; therefore, if it were the general wish of the delegates, he would withdraw his request for the discussion of specific amendments on the understanding that the Assembly would take up such a review under the agenda item dealing with the working methods of the Council. This proposal was unanimously adopted by the Assembly, after which the Assembly unanimously approved a proposal of France, the United Kingdom and United States to add the following item to the agenda: “The application of the Federal Republic of Germany for membership in the Organization”.

The Governing Body of the International Labor Organization (ILO) held its 130th session in Geneva from November 15 through 19, 1955, under the chairmanship of Mr. A. H. Brown (Canada). After deciding that the 40th session of the ILO Conference should open in Geneva on June 5, 1957, and noting that, in addition to the regular agenda items, the questions of forced labor, weekly rest in commerce and offices, and living and working conditions of indigenous populations in independent countries were likely to be carried over from the 39th session, the Governing Body considered several documents submitted to it by the Director-General (Morse) relating to possible further agenda items for the 40th session. The Governing Body, after some discussion, decided to add to the agenda two new items: 1) discrimination in the field of employment and occupation, and 2) conditions of employment of plantation workers.

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1955 was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on July 1, 1955. The report noted that during the period under review the trend of the previous fiscal year toward the relaxation of restrictions imposed for balance of payments reasons on imports, on currency transfers, and on dealings in foreign exchange had continued, resulting in a considerable improvement in international financial relations. The European industrial countries, in particular, because of a continuance of favorable payments balances had been able to reduce their use of restrictions, and in a few cases practically eliminate them. It was pointed out in the report that even the European countries which had experienced minor setbacks in their balance of payments in 1954 and 1955 had not increased their import restrictions. The report stated that the point had probably been reached at which obstacles to any further removal of import restrictions in Europe were due as much to a wish for protecting individual industries as to payments difficulties. In countries outside Europe, the relaxation of import restrictions was an important factor in the expansion of imports in many primary producing countries in 1954. However, because of the weakening of their reserves, several primary producing countries, especially Australia and Thailand, had to increase their import restrictions in the latter part of 1954. In addition to the reduction in the use of such restrictions, the tendency toward giving more equal treatment to imports from different sources or paid for in different currencies was noted in the report as another encouraging factor in the international financial situation.

During September 1955 sessions were held of six of the regional committees of the World Health Organization (WHO). The eighth session of the Regional Committee for Southeast Asia was held in Bandung, Indonesia from September 5 to 10, 1955, under the chairmanship of Dr. Saiful Anwar (Indonesia). The committee approved a work program for 1957 which called for an expenditure in Southeast Asia of approximately $1.4 million under the WHO regular budget. The committee's work program, based upon specific requests put forward by the member states of the region, was designed primarily to strengthen further the various national health services. At the session the annual report of the Regional Director was discussed in detail and approved. The committee also discussed tuberculosis in Southeast Asia, malaria eradication, environmental sanitation, health education of the public, and the training of auxiliary health workers. The committee decided to hold its 1956 and 1957 sessions in New Delhi and Burma, respectively.

The Council of the Arab League, meeting in Cairo on October I, sent congratulations to Premier Nasser of Egypt on his armaments purchase agreement with Czechoslovakia. The period subsequent to the announcement of the agreement was regarded as one of heightened tension between the Arab states and Israel. On November 9, Prime Minister Anthony Eden (United Kingdom) declared that his government would like to assist Israel and the Arab states toreach a settlement of their differences. If those nations wanted to attain peace, he stated, they would have tomake some compromise on their positions; the Arab states based their claims on the 1947 and other UN resolutions, while the Israel position was founded on the Armistice Agreement of 1949 and on the territory they currently occupied. In the view of the Prime Minister, it would be possible to bridge the gap between the two positions through negotiations, and he stated that if a mutually acceptable boundary arrangement were reached, the United Kingdom and perhaps other powers would be prepared to give a formal guarantee to both sides. The Arab League Political Committee on November 13 considered the Eden proposals, and although no conclusive information as to its view of the proposals was made public, it was reported that Egyptian Premier Nasser welcomed them. The reaction in Israel, however, was reported to be highly unfavorable, the Israel view being that the territorial changes proposed by the Prime Minister included cession to Egypt of a large part of the Negev and of the port of Elath on the Gulf of Akaba.

On September 23, 1955, Pakistan announced its formal adherence to the alliance formed on February 24 by Iraqand Turkey, and adhered to by the United Kingdom on April 5 (Baghdad Pact). On October 11, the government of Iran announced its intention to adhere to the Pact; following parliamentary approval of the decision, Iran formallyadhered on November 3. Both before and after Iran's formal adherence to the Pact, the Soviet Union, according to press reports, protested strongly. In a note of October 12, the Soviet government declared that the accession of Iran was incompatible with the interests of consolidating peace and security in the near and middle east, and contradicted certain treaty obligations of Iran with respect to the Soviet Union. In a subsequent note, the Soviet Union repeated its protest, alleging that Iran's adherence to the Pact “inflicted serious damage” to relations between Iran and the Soviet Union, and that Iran would have to bear the full consequencesof joining. In a reply to the earlier Soviet note, Iran had declared that its object in adhering to the Pactwas the consolidation of peace and security in the middle east; the Pact was for defensive purposes, and Iran'sadherence should not mar Iranian-Soviet friendly relations, nor did it conflict with the terms of existing agreements between Iran and the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, both the United States and United Kingdom had formally welcomed Iran's decision.

The first part of the seventh ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg from July 5 through 9, 1955; Mr. Guy Mollet (France, Socialist) was elected President of the session.