In everyday speech, the word “refugee” means any person who has to leave his home because of a general catastrophe — natural or social. People whose dislocation was caused, in one way or another, by the second world war came to be called “displaced persons” or “DP's.” The largest remaining group of such displaced persons is in China, where there are perhaps 25,000,000 people who are still living away from their former homes; but the problem which they present, though it is almost unimaginably vast and tragic, comes within the jurisdiction of a single nation. The same is true of the second largest remaining group, the perhaps 10,000,000 Soviet citizens who have not returned to their pre-war places of residence. The perhaps 8,000,000 Germans recently transferred from East Prussia, Silesia, the Sudetenland and other areas into the four zones of diminished Germany and Austria pose an international problem; but it is being handled by the occupying authorities — jointly or separately. Apart from several hundred thousand persons of Chinese nationality driven by the war from their homes in non-Chinese portions of Southeast Asia and some tens of thousands of Indian nationality, similarly displaced, who do not raise vexing political questions, the persons with whom a general international organization for uprooted people must deal are almost exclusively the perhaps 2,000,000 European refugees — refugees in the narrower technical meaning of the term, bristling with political complications.

The pattern of relations between the United Nations and the specialized agencies has now been developed to a point where some comparison of the theory of the Character with emerging practice may be useful. By midsummer 1947 the Economic and Social Council had held four sessions. Its structure of commissions and subcommissions had been substantially established and the first round or so of meetings completed. Formal agreements, as envisaged by Articles 57 and 63 of the Character, had been concluded with four specialized agencies — ILO, FAO, UNESCO, and ICAO — all of which were going concerns. Negotiations to this end were slowly progressing with the Bank and the Fund. A seventh agency (WHO), although still in the preparatory stage, had begun negotiations with a view to the eventual conclusion of an agreement, while the constituent instrument of the International Trade Organization, then in the final drafting phase at Geneva, was certain to call for the establishment of a formal connection between ITO and the United Nations. The IRO, though a United Nations creation and declared by its basic instrument to be a “specialized agency” within the meaning of Article 57, belongs in a different category because of its temporary character.

It is a mistake to underestimate the extent and the significance of the failure at Moscow. With respect to Germany the conference ended with the participants further apart than they had been at Potsdam. Nor can a modicum of comfort be salvaged by asserting that Moscow achieved a clearer understanding of the aims and ambitions of the four powers now occupying Germany. While the discussion contributed something in detail to a clarification of points of agreement and disagreement, on major issues the initial positions of the participants were known before the conference assembled. And at Moscow no power receded from its initial position on any major issue. The pertinent question is, why did the Moscow conference fail?

There are two possible answers to this question, in both of which some truth is, probably, to be found. The first runs in terms of what has come to be standard negotiating technique at meetings of the Conference of Foreign Ministers. Following the practice favored by Soviet negotiators, no country is willing to make a concession until convinced by protracted and exhausting debate that the positions of others are firm. If one accepts this interpretation a certain measure of optimism is possible even after Moscow. One can refer to the experience of the satellite treaties in the negotiation of which the powers came to final agreement only after some fifteen months of what seemed at times hopeless disagreement. If it took four meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers to obtain agreement on the much less difficult questions involved in the satellite treaties, it can be argued that to write off the possibility of agreement on Germany after only one meeting is, at least, premature.

First Special Session

The first special session of the General Assembly, convened at the request of the United Kingdom to consider the question of Palestine, met in New York from April 28 to May 5, 1947. The original agenda for the session contained only one substantive item, the British proposal for “constituting and instructing a special committee to prepare for consideration of the question of Palestine at the second regular session.” To this was added, at the request of the Governments of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, an additional item: “The termination of the Mandate over Palestine and the declaration of its independence.”

This issue covers the work of the Security Council from the 132nd meeting on April 30, 1947, to the 170th meeting on July 29, 1947.

The Greek Question

The Security Council discussed the Greek question twice in the period under review, from May 12 to May 22, 1947, and from June 27 to July 29, 1947.

On May 8, 1947, the Soviet representative (Gromyko) requested that the Greek question again be placed on the agenda. In addition to Mr. Gromyko's request, the Council had, when the matter was taken up on May 12, communications from the Chairman of the Commission of Investigation Concerning Greek Frontier Incidents and from the Yugoslav, Albanian, and Bulgarian liaison officers to the Commission. The burden of the letters from the liaison officers was 1) that their respective countries had participated loyally in the work of facilitating the investigation; 2) that the action of the Commission in appointing a Subsidiary Group to remain in Greece, with the terms of reference as defined, was beyond its competence until its report had been acted upon by the Security Council; and 3) that the three governments would therefore not participate in the activities of the Subsidiary Group. The Chairman of the Commission reported that the Commission had accepted the view of the French representative (Daux) that it did not have the competence to answer these notes from the liaison officers and that the whole matter should be referred to the Security Council.

Although no meetings of the Economic and Social Council were held during the period under review, its subsidiary groups were active. The Council itself was scheduled to open its fifth session at Lake Success on July 19, 1947, to consider an agenda of 39 items. Topics for consideration included the reports of the Economic Commissions for Europe and the Far East, the Fiscal and Economic and Employment Commissions, and the International Children's Emergency Fund, a draft convention on the crime of genocide, negotiations with the World Health Organization and the Universal Postal Union, protection of migrant and immigrant labor, and possible establishment of an economic commission for Latin America.

Economic Commission for Europe: The Economic Commission for Europe met in Geneva from May 2 to May 14, and from July 5 to July 16, 1947. At its first session it considered primarily organizational problems, including drawing up rules of procedure, relationship with non-member countries, Allied control authorities, and non-governmental organizations, and the general scope of the Commission's work. The Commission authorized its executive secretary to invite specialized agencies and non-member European nations to participate in its work (with the exception of Franco Spain), and established certain criteria for consultation with non-governmental organizations. It also asked for cooperation by Allied control authorities, although the USSR urged that the question of Germany should be left to the consideration of the Council of Foreign Ministers and Allied Control Council.

At both the first and second sessions considerable discussion arose over voting procedure, with the USSR taking the position that certain categories of questions should be decided by a two-thirds vote, while the United States and Luxembourg insisted that decisions must be on a simple majority basis.

Pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Trusteeship Council on April 24, 1947, concerning the formation of a special mission to be sent to Western Samoa to investigate a petition received from representatives of that area, an ad hoc committee of nine members was established to decide on the composition of the mission. The petition had requested that the territory be granted self-government, that New Zealand as the present administering authority would “see fit to act as Protector and Adviser to Samoa in the same capacity as England is to Tonga,” and that the division of the Samoan islands, with Eastern Samoa as a possession of the United States and Western Samoa under the trust administration of New Zealand, be discontinued.

Administrative and Budgetary Matters: On April 10, 1947, the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions met, in its advisory capacity, to deliberate on the form of the 1948 budget and various matters of a financial or administrative nature falling within its competence. Based mainly on reports from the Secretary-General (Trygve Lie), the committee review covered such subjects as 1) auditing procedure, 2) investments of United Nations funds, 3) commitments against the Working Capital Fund, 4) control of expenditures resulting from Council resolutions, 5) loans to specialized agencies, 6) the fund for self-liquidating purchases and activities, 7) procedure for the final valuation of League of Nations assets, 8) form of the 1948 budget, 9) desirability of strengthening the role of the Bureau of the Comptroller by allowing the Comptroller more specific authority, 10) administrative and budgetary relations with the specialized agencies, 11) the need for greater study of United Nations basic salary scales to determine any necessary adjustments, 12) arrangements to conduct surveys concerning Secretariat efficiency and results of work so far accomplished, and 13) preliminary information on workload in departments, United Nations Appeals Board, staff retirement plans, development of Branch Offices and limitation of staff recruitment.

Corfu Channel Dispute: Following the Security Council's decision of April 9, 1947, to refer the Corfu Channel dispute to the Court, Great Britain submitted an application on May 22, 1947, instituting proceedings against Albania for the destruction of two British destroyers in the Corfu Channel in October, 1946. The dispute was to constitute the first case to come before the Court. As of July 15, 1947, no word had been received from Albania regarding British action, and there had been no decision as to the date on which the case would reach the Court.

International Cereals Conference: Under the sponsorship of FAO and at the request of the International Emergency Food Council, a special cereals conference met in Paris from July 9 to 12. The United Nations, the Economic Commission for Europe, the International Wheat Council, and some fifty-two nations were invited to attend the conference for a general discussion of measures which might be taken to ease the effects of the severe world shortage of grains expected for 1947–48. The Conference reported an “unparalleled” scarcity of grain in Europe and estimated the world's requirements at 50,000,000 tons. Both the Canadian and United States delegations, representing the two greatest grain-exporting nations of the world, criticized this figure as an overestimation and warned that a more “realistic view” should be taken of the export possibilities of their countries which were expected to furnish twothirds of the total 32,000,000 tons of exportable grain for the season. Motions adopted at the closing plenary session of the Conference pledged the grain-importing nations to take drastic steps to conserve available local production and to insure their maximum distribution for “exclusively human consumption.” These motions also described machinery for keeping data collected on a current basis and for the issuance of quarterly reports on the cereal situation in each country.

On April 29, 1947, the International Bank announced that it had received from the Government of the Netherlands a formal application for a loan of $535,000,000 for the financing of the more urgent projects included in its over-all rehabilitation, reconstruction and industrialization plans. On May 12, President Ismet Inonu of Turkey announced the intention of his government to seek the loan of an unstated amount from the International Bank.

First Meeting of the Assembly

The Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) convened for its first meeting at Montreal on May 6 and remained in session until May 27. For the most part its activities during this inaugural session were confined to the problems of organizing the permanent agency, which succeeded the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization on April 4. At the Second Plenary Meeting on May 7, the Hon. A. S. Drakeford (Australia) was elected President of the Assembly and six commissions were constituted to deal with 1) constitutional and general policy questions such as structure, relations with non-contracting states, immunities and privileges and amendments to the Convention; 2) technical questions of international standards and recommended practices and international collaboration on research; 3) economic questions including the possibility of a multilateral agreement on commercial rights in international air transport, economic burdens on international air transport, statistics, international air mail and registration of air agreements; 4) legal questions such as the drafting of conventions on international air law, recognition of rights in aircraft and the legal status of commanders of aircraft; 5) administrative and financial questions as to the organization of the Secretariat, publications and general finance; and 6) financial and technical aid to member states through ICAO.

The 30th International Labor Conference

The International Labor Conference, the legislative body of the ILO, convened for its 30th session on June 19,1947, at Geneva. C. J. Hambro (Norway) was elected president; vice-presidents selected were Carlos Desmaras (Argentina), Robert Watt (United States) and Sir John Forbes-Watson (United Kingdom).

The Australian Government was notified on May 23 of the decision of the Governors of the Fund approving Australia's application for membership. Australia was given until August 31, 1947 to accept membership, subject to the terms and conditions set down by the Board of Governors. Upon accepting membership on August 5, Australia's quota in the Fund became $200,000,000.

The second part of the first session of the IRO Preparatory Commission convened on May 1, 1947, at Lausanne, Switzerland, to continue work started in February, 1947, concerning the problem of refugees and displaced persons in relation to the setting up of the International Refugee Organization. Due to cessation on June 30, 1947, of relief activities by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, the Commission faced the immediate problem of taking over resettlement work and care of displaced persons which formerly had been handled by UNRRA and the IGC.

Three world telecommunications conferences, called by the United States, were held throughout the spring and summer of 1947 to deal with urgent problems resulting from dislocations of war and recent advances in the several fields covered by the International Telecommunications Union. At a preliminary Telecommunications Conference, held at Moscow in September, 1946, representatives of China, France, the United Kingdom, USSR, and the United States had decided that existing telecommunications conventions and regulations required revision to meet present needs; for this purpose the conferences were called.

In an effort to complete work on the ITO draft charter and to effect tariff reductions, the Preparatory Committee of the International Trade Conference at Geneva has been working since April 10, 1947, to iron out difficulties in the most extensive multilateral trade negotiations so far attempted. After extensive preparation of the charter, a process which began in London during the autumn of 1946 and continued at Lake-Success in January and February, 1947, discussions reached the final stage in the Geneva meeting. However, it was expected that revision of the charter would not be completed until the close of tariff negotiations, because necessary changes in the text of the charter depended, in large measure, on the outcome of the tariff talks.

Executive Board: Preliminary plans for the remainder of 1947 were considered by the Executive Board of UNESCO, which met in Paris on April 10, 1947. Among various projects studied by the Board, two, in particular, occupied attention because of the immediate need for work in those fields. These were the re-education of Germany and the removal of barriers to the free flow of news and ideas between different countries.

On May 6, 1947, the Universal Postal Union convened in Paris to consider an agenda of some 700 items, among which was the question of affiliation of the Union with the United Nations as a specialized agency.1 The General Commission, having decided in favor of affiliation, the President of the Congress (Le Mouel), on May 29, notified the Secretary-General of the United Nations that a draft agreement intended to establish this relationship between the two organizations had been adopted on the previous day. Subject to several amendments in form and substance, the draft approved in Paris followed closely the report and proposed draft adopted at the Meeting of Postal Experts at Lake Success in December 1946. In communicating the adoption of the draft agreement, the President of the Universal Postal Congress requested that negotiations with the United Nations be undertaken before the recess of the Congress on June 22, and arrangements accordingly were completed for a meeting between the ECOSOC Committee on Negotiations with Specialized Agencies and representatives of the Universal Postal Union in Paris on June 17.

Interim Commission of WHO: The third session of the Interim Commission of WHO, which began on March 30, 1947 at Geneva, closed on April 12, after assigning priority to the various health problems confronting the world. Representatives of sixteen of the eighteen member states (Liberia and the Ukrainian SSR being absent) attended the session. Results of Conference discussions indicated wide-spread agreement on such matters as 1) appointment of expert committees to develop program proposals relating to specific diseases, 2) strengthening of national health services, and 3) facilities for training public health personnel. It was hoped that a practical first year's program could be presented to the first World Health Assembly when that body convenes, probably in February, 1948.