When the Soviet Union withdrew recently from the World Health Organization, a somewhat startled world learned that even the prevention of disease can be affected by world politics. The most cursory study of international organizations for other purposes discloses that none is immune to world social and political forces. On the contrary, they are in varying degree shaped and influenced by these forces, and in fact serve as vehicles for their expression.

My purpose in this article is to trace as briefly as possible the recent history of the movement for European unity, to indicate the policies it advocates and the results so far achieved; it is not to argue either for or against those policies or to speculate on what influence the movement may have in shaping the future of Europe.

In recent discussions of the value of regional arrangements for the maintenance of international peace and security, it is regrettable that little attention has been given to the experience of the League of Arab States. For although the League as an organized expression of “regional cooperation” has existed for little more than four years, its activities thus far have raised some fundamental questions regarding the proper role of such arrangements within the framework of a United Nations system.

Two new experiments in international cooperation, seldom publicized and very little known even to the specialist in international affairs, have been taking place in recent years in the Caribbean area and in the South Pacific. In each instance, colonial nations have established international organizations, advisory in character, to foster economic and social advance. Without political functions, these two organizations — the Caribbean Commission and the South Pacific Commission — have embarked on the task of raising standards of living and advancing the general welfare of the non-self-governing peoples of the area. The first of these, the Caribbean Commission, was the progenitor of the regional system and has served in large measure as a model for the later South Pacific Commission; the story of its development, with the participation first of two and later of four colonial governments, is therefore particularly interesting to follow.

The fourth regular session of the General Assembly opened at Flushing Meadows, New York, on September 20, 1949. The Assembly was to consider an agenda of 68 items, including the annual reports of the three United Nations Councils, the Secretary-General, and subsidiary bodies; and special reports from commissions operating in Korea, Palestine and the Balkans. Other topics for discussion were the disposition of the Italian Colonies, Indonesia, the situation in China, atomic energy, creation of a United Nations Field Service, economic development of under-developed areas, freedom of information, Southwest Africa, information from non-self-governing territories, and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania.

This issue covers the work of the Security Council from the 429th meeting on June 24,1949 to the 448th meeting on September 27, 1949.

At ten meetings, the Security Council considered the question of admission of new members to the United Nations in connection with two items on its agenda: the application for admission of the government of Nepal, and reconsideration of previous applications for membership.

The ninth session of the Economic and Social Council met in Geneva from July 5 to August 15, 1949. The Council took action on 50 agenda items, having decided to postpone consideration of the establishment of an Economic Commission for the Middle East, the report of the Transport and Communications Commission on inland transport in the Middle East, and the election of three members of the Economic Board for Palestine. One supplementary item was added to the agenda relating to the earthquake disaster in Ecuador on August 5, 1949.

The fifth session of the Trusteeship Council was held at Lake Success from June 15 to July 22, 1949, with Roger Garreau (France), president of the Council, presiding, and Luis Padilla Nervo (Mexico) serving as vice-president. The president was elected by a vote of 9 to 3 and the vice-president by a vote of 10 to 2 on June 16.

According to the Secretary-General's report on the work of the organization, during the year July 1, 1948 to June 30, 1949, the principal organizational problems of the Secretariat had involved missions, information centers and other offices away from headquarters. An attempt had been made to adopt uniform procedures for the visiting missions in Palestine, the Balkans, India and Pakistan, Korea and Indonesia. The program of United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees was organized using the machinery of existing relief agencies and specialized agencies.

On July 27 the Security Council by 9 votes to 0 with 2 abstentions, recommended that the Principality of Liechtenstein be permitted to become a party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice. By this decision the Security Council endorsed the opinion of its Committee of Experts that Liechtenstein was a state under the provisions of Article 93 (2) of the Charter and that the same conditions should apply to it as to Switzerland: acceptance of the provisions of the Statute, acceptance of all the obligations of a Member of the United Nations under Article 94 and agreement to contribute to the expenses of the Court upon assessment by the General Assembly after consultation with the government. The recommendation was to be considered by the General Assembly at its fourth session.

The sixth session of the Council met in Paris from June 13 to 24, 1949. The Council heard a report by the Director-General (Dodd) on his visits to Europe and the Far East, and examined the world food situation and the problems which appeared to lie ahead. Available information indicated that although more than two-thirds of the world's population was still chronically undernourished, there had been several important changes in the world food situation in the past few months, particularly the emergence of surpluses in certain countries. Food consumption in 1948–49 in western and central Europe was ten per cent higher than in 1947–48, in terms of calories; this was due to the excellent 1948 harvest and the continuation of imports at a high level. In the Far East and parts of Africa and Latin America output remained at a low level, apart from improvement in a few crops and areas — such as rice in Thailand and oilseeds in West Africa. In the underdeveloped regions lack of capital and equipment, inadequate technical assistance and continued internal disturbances constituted major obstacles to expansion of production. World grain exports in 1948 were the highest since 1930–31, although increased consumption in exporting countries kept world exports of fats and oils still 33 per cent below prewar levels. Less than ten per cent of the world's food production was exchanged between countries, representing only three-quarters of the volume exchanged before the war. Standards of nutrition in the ill-fed areas of the world could be raised only by increasing production in those areas or by transferring to them supplies from countries producing more than they themselves needed and which were capable of still further increased output.

Forty-eight nations were represented at the fourth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was held in Washington from September 13 to 16, 1949. Maurice Petsche, Minister of Finance of France and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Bank, acted as chairman and as co-chairman at the joint sessions with the International Monetary Fund.

The third ICAO assembly was held in Montreal from June 7 to 20 and considered an agenda limited to financial and administrative questions. An Administrative Commission was established with a Contributions Working Group and a Budget Working Group to study the finances for 1950. The Assembly adopted a budget of $2,810,607 which provided about the same financial level for 1950 as had been given for 1949. This permitted the continuance of the working program on the same scale as before but allowed no room for expansion. The Assembly further approved a resolution authorizing the Secretary-General to accept a part of contributions in other currencies than Canadian dollars and agreed on a scale of contributions for 1950. Sanctions, consisting of suspension of voting power in the Assembly, Council and their subsidiary bodies, but not regional meetings, were imposed on Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Poland and Jordan because they were delinquent in contributions for a period exceeding two years. The Council was to discuss with defaulting states the whole question of their position in relation to the organization and, if possible, to secure the payment of outstanding contributions by such arrangements as might be mutually satisfactory. If a settlement was not made, the Council was to consider other possible courses of action and submit its recommendations to the fourth assembly.

The thirty-second General Conference of the International Labor Organization closed on July 2, 1949 after adopting three new international labor conventions, revising five others, approving three recommendations, revising one recommendation and voting several resolutions on ILO policy. One of the conventions required ratifying countries to assure to workers the right to organize into trade unions and to bargain collectively. This convention complemented the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize adopted in 1948. The other two new conventions were designed to assure that workers employed in the execution of contracts entered into by public authorities had wages, hours of work and working conditions not less favorable than those generally prevailing in the industry; and to protect workers' wages by assuring that they were paid in full, in cash, promptly and directly to the workers. The revised conventions approved by the conference 1) established international minimum standards to protect persons migrating from one country to take employment in another (replacing a convention adopted in 1939); 2) provided for the gradual abolition or the regulation of employment agencies which charged fees and were operated for profit (replacing a convention adopted in 1933); 3) established vacations with pay for seafarers; 4) set standards for the accommodation of crews on board ship; and 5) fixed minimum wages and maximum hours for seafarers and set requirements for the manning of ships. The three recommendations supplemented the Convention of Labor Clauses in Public Contracts and the Convention on the Protection of Wages, and recommended standards on vocational guidance for young persons and employment counseling for adults.

The fourth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund was held in Washington from September 13 to 16, 1949 with Pierre Mendes-France, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Fund, presiding. The first, third and fifth sessions were joint meetings with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The General Council of the International Refugee Organization held its third (special) session in Geneva from June 28 to July 8, 1949. The Council was concerned chiefly with the problems of completion of the program of IRO by June 30, 1950, and future international action concerning refugees. Further recommendations on the termination of activities, as well as estimates of the number of persons who would remain registered for IRO services on June 30, 1950, were submitted by the Director-General. Mr. Tuck reported that this number would be approximately 304,000 of whom 172,000 would be receiving care and maintenance. Certain amendments to the recommendations of the Director-General were proposed and on July 6, 1949, the Council adopted a resolution instructing the Director-General to: 1) discontinue on August 31, 1949, with certain stated exceptions, all registration whereby refugees and displaced persons might be determined to fall within the mandate of the organization; 2) discontinue after December 31, 1949, admissions to displaced persons' assembly centers, and, after March 31, 1950, admissions to care and maintenance; 3) discontinue care and maintenance by June 30, 1950, for all persons other than those in process of repatriation or resettlement and those refugees or displaced persons who required permanent assistance, such as institutional care, and for whom other satisfactory arrangements would not have been completed; 4) institute an intensive counselling program with the aim of interviewing by November 1, 1949, all refugees and displaced persons receiving care and maintenance whose future had not been provided for; and 5) report to the fourth session of the General Council on the arrangements made for completing the several programs.

The third session of the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade adjourned at Annecy, France on August 13, 1949 after 133 bilateral tariff negotiations had been completed by 34 countries. Although tariff schedules were not expected to be made public until late in 1949, it was reported that a special exchange agreement had been signed among the Contracting Parties, similar to the International Monetary Fund articles of agreement. The Contracting Parties not members of the Fund were required to sign a separate exchange agreement.

The conference of the International High Frequency Board in Mexico City terminated April 10, 1949 after having been in session since October 22, 1948. The purpose of the meeting was to consider frequency requirements of all countries, technical engineering problems, a frequency assignment plan and generally “to put to an end the anarchy prevalent in high frequency broadcasting.” Although it was first suggested that all problems should be considered anew at a future meeting of a technical committee in France, the majority of delegations felt that a final agreement should be concluded at Mexico at the same time as the Basic Plan for allocations which would only need to be completed by technical considerations. A French proposal that only those countries which had signed the Mexico Agreement by June 15, 1949 might take part in the work of the technical committee was adopted by 43 votes to 1 with 5 abstentions. The agreement was approved by 50 of the 69 countries participating; the United States and the Soviet Union did not sign the agreement.

The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization held its sixteenth session in Paris from June 9 to 15, 1949. At the first meeting Jaime Torres Bodet, Director-General, drew attention to the main points in his report on the activities of the organization since the fourteenth session. One of the questions which he considered essential and to which he drew the Board's attention was coordination between the United Nations and the specialized agencies as regards technical assistance to underdeveloped countries. In conformity with the decisions of the fifteenth (extraordinary) session of the Executive Board, UNESCO was represented by two members on a working party which met at Lake Success in March and drew up a series of projects for consideration by the United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination. A second question concerned general education; the two missions sent by UNESCO to the Philippines and Siam had concluded their work with very encouraging results. The foundation of two new national commissions, those of India and Switzerland, was reported.

The Second World Health Assembly met in Rome from June 13 to July 2, 1949 under the presidency of Dr. Karl Evang (Norway) and approved the program, policies and budget of the World Health Organization for 1950. Adopted by the Assembly and subsequently approved by the Executive Board was the regular budget of $7,893,000 of the usual contributions of member governments and a supplementary budget of $9,152,520 to be raised on a voluntary basis from member governments and used not only to extend the projects covered by the regular budget but to include projects under the United Nations technical assistance program for under-developed areas. By mid-summer Yugoslavia, Ceylon, the Dominican Republic, India and the United States had indicated their willingness to make contributions to the supplementary budget.