The Twenty-First Session of the Assembly of the League of Nations met in Geneva from April 8 to April 18, 1946, for the purpose of going out of existence and transferring its responsibilities and assets to the United Nations or other appropriate international bodies. C. J. Hambro of Norway was elected President, two committees were organized to draft the appropriate resolutions, and the Assembly resolved that “so far as required, it will, during the present Session, assume the functions falling within the competence of the Council.” The Assembly then voted to admit the representatives of Austria to sit in on its meetings and those of the two committees as observers, listened to a number of moving tributes to its work from various delegates, and at the Sixth and Seventh Meetings passed the necessary resolutions for the dissolution of the League.

Tangier, a seaport in the northwestern corner of Africa totalling 225 square miles with a population of 60,000 inhabitants, was internationalized by a Convention signed on December 18, 1923, by Great Britain, France, and Spain, who agreed on its permanent neutrality. Spain occupied the area in 1940, removed British employees, and in 1941 deposed the Moroccan native ruler.

Formed at the Evian Conference in July, 1938, by 31 of the 32 participating states, the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees for the first five years of its existence was charged with responsibility for 1) persons in Germany and Austria who had to emigrate on account of political opinions, religious beliefs or racial origin and 2) persons in this category who had left their country of origin but had not yet settled permanently elsewhere. Involuntary migrants from the Sudeten area were added to the scope of the Committee's work after the annexation of that territory to Germany. Prior to the outbreak of the war, approximately 240,000 out of 400,000 refugees were settled.

Twenty-seven governments having substantial interests in cotton, as exporters or importers, were represented at the fifth meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) in Washington, from May 7 to 14, 1946. ICAC was established by the International Cotton Meeting of 1939 for the purpose of recommending steps to achieve international agreement on the regulation of world cotton supplies in relation to demand, so as to eliminate problems and difficulties presented by a world surplus of cotton. Governments represented at the May meeting were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, France, Greece, Great Britain, India, Iran, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Turkey, USSR, the United States, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia.

See Food and Agriculture Organization, p. 122.

See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, p. 130.

See World Health Organization, p. 134f.

The third meeting of the International Rubber Study Group, comprising representatives of the Governments of France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and the United States, to discuss common problems arising from the production and consumption of rubber, took place at The Hague from November 25 to 28, 1946.

The First International Conference on Private Air Law held at Paris in 1925 adopted a resolution providing for the creation of the International Technical Committee of Aerial Legal Experts, usually referred to as CITEJA. This committee of experts acted on their own responsibility and their respective governments were free to approve or reject their conclusions at international conferences. The committee was organized and held its first sessions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Paris in May, 1926, with twenty-eight countries participating. Its initial working schedule covered the establishment of a program dealing with subjects pertaining to private air law to be studied by commissions of experts, preparation of texts of international conventions on legal subjects for consideration at periodic international conferences, and maintenance of the principle of the progressive elaboration of a single international code of private air law.

Established in 1932 by the Madrid Radio-telegraph Conference as a successor to the International Telegraph Union, the International Telecommunications Union held a meeting in Moscow September 28 to discuss necessary revisions to be made in the Madrid Convention, and to hold informal preliminary discussions prior to the calling of a World Telecommunications Conference. Delegates were present from China, France, USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Established by the Geneva Convention of 1925 for the purpose of supervising the opium trade, the Permanent Central Opium Board consists of eight independent persons chosen for their technical qualifications, impartiality and independence. Governments are required to submit to the Board quarterly or annual statistics concerning the production, manufacture, stocks, import and export of raw materials covered by the Convention.

International cooperation regarding maritime problems was extended during the exigencies of war with the establishment of the United Maritime Authority which, as a wartime shipping organization, controlled the activities of ninety percent of the world's non-Axis tonnage. With the termination of United Maritime Authority controls, transitional machinery was set up to ensure transportation of UNRRA and other rehabilitation cargoes.

The Universal Postal Union, the most widespread of international associations, is composed of all nations of the world. Established by international convention, it was first set up in 1874 by representatives of national postal administrations. Details of the Union are worked out in a series of “arrangements” and “règlements”; members of the organization propose amendments to the documents mentioned and discussion then takes place in the Congress.

The Arab League, composed of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Transjordan, Saudi-Arabia, and Yemen, was established by the pact signed by these states on March 22, 1944. According to the pact, which may be regarded as the League's constitution, the League has as its purpose to strengthen relations between the member-states, to coordinate their policies in order to achieve cooperation between them, and to safeguard their independence and sovereignty. With due regard to the “organization and circumstances of each state,” cooperation is to be effected specifically on 1) economic and financial affairs: commercial relations, customs, currency, and questions of agriculture and industry; 2) communications: railroads, roads, aviation, navigation, telegraphs and posts; 3) cultural affairs; 4) nationality, passports, visas, extradition, and execution of judgments; 5) social affairs; and 6) health affairs.

The Agreement formally establishing the Caribbean Commission was signed at Washington on October 20, 1946, by the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and France. The Commission has as its purpose to strengthen cooperation among the signatory powers and their dependencies in the area “with a view toward improving the economic and social well-being of the peoples of the territory.” Together with its auxiliary bodies — the Caribbean Research Council and the West Indian Conference — the Caribbean Commission is an outgrowth of the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission, which was established in March, 1942. In December, 1945, France and the Netherlands accepted invitations to become members of the Commission, and on July 15, 1946, the present agreement was first initialed. The four-power body, like its predecessor the Anglo-American Commission, serves strictly in an advisory and consultative capacity, its main function being “to study, formulate and recommend … measures, programs, and policies with respect to social and economic problems, … make recommendations for the carrying into effect of all action necessary or desirable in this connection, [and to] … assist in coordinating local projects which have regional significance and to provide technical guidance.”

As an independent regional non-political organization, the Pan-American Union, with its headquarters in Washington, has functioned for over fifty years to develop cooperation in social, economic and cultural affairs among the American Republics.

After consideration of possible control machinery and zones of occupation in Austria, the European Advisory Commission agreed that the Allied Control Machinery in Austria should consist of an Allied Council, an Executive Committee, and staffs appointed by the four governments concerned. The whole organization, composed of the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, was known as the Allied Commission for Austria. The purposes of the Allied Commission, as laid down by the European Advisory Commission, include 1) the separation of Austria from Germany; 2) the establishment of a central Austrian administrative machine; 3) preparation for the establishment of a freely elected Austrian Government; and 4) facilitation of the administration of Austria.

The Conference of Foreign Ministers was established by the Potsdam Declaration “to continue the necessary proparatory work for the peace settlements.” During the period under review it held three sessions, the first in London from September 11 to October 2, 1945, the second in Paris in two meetings from April 25 to May 16 and from June to July 12, and the third in New York from November 4 to December 6, 1946.

The first formal action by the Allied Governments in considering the problem of reconstruction of the disrupted transport system of Europe's devastated areas was taken in October, 1942, when the Inter-Allied Committee on Post-war Requirements set up a Technical Advisory Committee on Inland Transport, with Professor E. R. Hondelink of the Netherlands as chairman. On November 18, 1942, the Hondelink Committee held its first meeting in London, with representatives present from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The work of the Committee consisted of 1) the preparation of estimates of requirements of equipment for the rehabilitation of inland waterways, railways, and ports against estimated movements of military and relief materials, and 2) the planning of an organization to expedite the movement of relief and priority traffic in post-war Europe. As a result of this work, the basis was laid for the eventual Agreement establishing the European Central Inland Transport Organization.

The General Assembly shall meet every year in regular session commencingon the third Tuesday in September.