The Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) held a number of meetings during the period May-December 1956. Following a series of discussions concerning the proposed text of the statutes of the Inter-American Peace Committee as submitted by the Committee on Juridical-Political Matters the Council revised and approved the text on May 9.1 A document dealing with the draft convention on extradition was also submitted by the committee to the Council, which decided to transmit the draft to OAS member states for comment. From July 18 to 22 the Council held a special meeting in Panama City to commemorate the Congress of Panama of 1826.

Listed below is the membership of UN bodies for 1960. Unless otherwise noted, membership expires on December 31 of the year indicated.

The United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees presents a challenging example of the world's response to a new and sudden human tragedy at a time when its sympathies had almost been drained away by recent appeals. The need for relief measures in the Middle East was created by the flight of at least 750,000 Arabs from their homes in Palestine during 1948. The problem was first brought to the attention of the United Nations by the late Count Folke Bemadotte and the Arab League in July of that year, and there was set in motion an ad hoc relief organization, the direct descendant of which is functioning at the present time. A brief survey of the operation to date provides a study in the manner in which international organizations, governmental and nongovernmental, have met human needs in an area seething with tension and tragedy.

The United Nations action against aggression in Korea was aided by a series of fortuitous circumstances which included the absence of the Soviet delegate from the Security Council in June 1950, the existence of a United Nations commission in Korea which was able to provide a timely and unimpeachable report of the facts, and the availability to United Nations forces of a base in Japan from which military operations could be, conveniently undertaken. For the purpose of assuring so far as possible that united resistance to further acts of aggression would not have to depend so largely on coincidence, the General Assembly, on November 3, 1950, gave its overwhelming approval to the “Uniting for Peace” resolution.

During the period from December 22, 1955 to February 21, 1956, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development made two loans in two countries. A loan of $4.2 million to Honduras was announced by the Bank on December 22, to enable a highway maintenance organization to be set up and begin operations; the loan was also to finance preliminary engineering studies for the improvement and new construction of various sections of two of the country's important highways. The Bank of America of San Francisco, the American Security and Trust Company of Washington, D. C. and the Whitney National Bank of New Orleans participated in the loan, without the Bank's guarantee, to the extent of $872,000. The total cost of the project was estimated to be equivalent to $8 million The loan was for a period of nine years at an annual interest of 4½ percent, including the Bank's commission; amortization was to begin on December 1, 1957. This was the first Bank loan to Honduras.

The fourteenth regular session of the contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was held in Geneva from May 11 to 30, 1959. Mr. W. C. M. Beale (United States) spoke at the opening meeting to urge west European countries to end discrimination against dollar imports. At the same meeting it was decided to admit Spain as an observer. Mr. Fernando Garcia-Oldini of Chile, chairman of GATT, referred in his opening address to the brighter prospects for international trade, as the threat of economic recession began to fade.

The Board of Governors presented its report on the Agency's work during its seventh year, covering the period from July 1, 1963, to June 30, 1964, to the eighth General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Noting that the membership of the Agency had increased from 82 to 87 during the year under review, the report listed the five new members: Algeria, Gabon, the Ivory Coast, Libya, and Nigeria. In its introduction, the report stated that the year had been marked by further notable improvement in the prospects for economically competitive nuclear power and by interesting developments with regard to the use of nuclear energy for desalinization. In accordance with a request of the General Conference, the Board had considered the question of financing IAEA's activities but had not been able to make any further recommendations.

The Trusteeship Council held its eighth special session from October 13 to October 17, 1958, at UN Headquarters in New York. Following the adoption of its agenda, the Council decided to examine simultaneously the two major items before it, the future of Togoland under French administration and the examination of the annual report of the French government on Togoland for the year 1956. The Council also had before it the observations of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the territory. At the Council's 937th meeting, Mr. Dorsinville, the commissioner for the supervision of elections in the territory, presented his report on the elections which had been held on April 28, 1958, which he had drawn up in accordance with a resolution adopted at the twelfth session of the General Assembly. Mr. Dorsinville drew the attention of the Council to the fact that the election results had been contested in six electoral circonscriptions, but that the appeals concerning the results had been rejected by the administrative tribunal. The composition of the Chamber of Deputies was, therefore, the same as that announced by the Election Returns Board, as given in Mr. Dorsinville's report. The commissioner re-affirmed the conviction expressed in his report that the results of the elections reflected the wishes of the people of Togoland. He pointed out that by the election of April 1958 the unanimity of the government of Togoland had ended, so that the present government was composed of a majority of a little more than two-thirds of the members of the new Assembly. The change in public opinion in Togoland seemed to explain the election results, in Mr. Dorsinville's view; the UN mission, he stated, had helped to create the circumstances favorable to the free expression of the people's will. Mr. Dorsinville also noted that the conversations between the French government and a Togolese delegation which had resulted in a communique were an indication of the good relations to be promoted between Togoland and France.

A significant aspect of post-Stalinist Soviet foreign policy has been the flexibility and imaginativeness with which it has maneuvered in under-developed areas, particularly in the non-aligned nations of Southern Asia—Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon, India, and Indonesia. This innovation involved a fundamental shift in tactics and must now be considered a prominent feature of Soviet foreign policy. The previous neglect of South Asia was occasioned by a preoccupation with the sovietization of eastern Europe, the imperatives of postwar reconstruction and economic expansion, and the rise of communist China; it may also be attributed, in important measure, to Stalin's underestimation of the role which the area might play in enhancing the international position of the Soviet Union. This aspect of Stalinism is now over. Since 1953, Soviet leadership has pushed its interests in South Asia with skill and vigor, both on a bilateral basis and within the framework of international organizations. Of late, the bilateral ventures have received careful attention in this country. Less systematic attention, however, has been devoted to Soviet behavior in international economic organizations. In this respect, the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) affords an excellent opportunity to investigate this phase of Soviet political behavior.

Recognizing the determination of the United Nations to create conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations,

TheParties to this Charter undertake in the fields of trade and employment to co-operate with one another and with the United Nations

For the Purpose of

Realizing the aims set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, particularly the attainment of the higher standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and social progress and development, envisaged in Article 55 of that Charter.

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter referred to as the Convention), signed in Rome on November 4, 1950 entered into force on September 3, 1953. It provides in Article 19 for the establishment of two organs whose task it is “to ensure the observance of the engagements undertaken” in the Convention by the contracting parties: a European Commission of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) and a European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Court).

Reorganization of the Coal and Steel Industries of the Ruhr: On March 29 the Allied High Commissioners met with west German trade union leaders to discuss the contemplated revision of the anti-trust provisions for Ruhr iron and steel and coal industries of United States-United Kingdom Law 75, passed by the bipartite military government organization in November 1947. After two days of continued negotiations on the proposed law, which would reorganize the iron and steel industries of the Ruhr, the Allied High Commission on April 14 issued a communiqué stating that the draft of the law had been adopted with certain amendments. The communiqué further stated that the decision to adopt the preamble had not been unanimous and that an appeal had been made against it. When Sir Brian Robertson (United Kingdom) and John J. McCloy (United States) voted in favor of the preamble, André François-Poncet (France) appealed to the French government against a clause granting the federal government the right to decide the eventual ownership of die iron and steel and coal industries. Following rejection of the French appeal the Commission made public the reorganization law on May 17.

Having considered the report prepared by the Secretary-General, in consulltation with the specialized agencies, on an expanded programme of technical assistance for economic development, pursuant to resolution 180 (VIII), 2 Being impressed with the significant contribution to economic development that can be made by an expansion of the international interchange of technical knowledge through international co-operation among countries, Believing that a sound international programme of this character must combine and make use of the experience of many nations, with different social patterns and cultural traditions and at different stages of development, so as to facilitate progress in the less advanced countries and to help solve their technical and economic problems.

In 1961, therefore, we shall do what we have to do. We shall help to build up Europe, which, by confederating its nations, can and must—for the sake of mankind—become the greatest potential economic, military, and cultural power that has ever existed. We shall help this assembled Europe and its daughter America to reorganize their alliance to better defend the free world and to act together in all parts of the earth.

On June 3, 1960, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced an agreement with three other investors to invest the equivalent of £2.3 million in the Kilombero Sugar Company, Ltd., in Tanganyika, for a sugar production and refining project estimated to cost £3.2 million, production to begin in 1962. The investment was represented by the equivalent of £1.15 million in debentures bearing 7 percent interest and maturing by 1973; by, £500,000 in convertible income notes maturing by 1975 without fixed interest and bearing returns contingent on earnings; by, £650,000 in share capital; and by an option on ordinary shares. Additional financing for the project was to come from an issue of convertible preferred shares, totaling, £700,000, by the Standard Bank of South Africa and the Colonial Development Corporation, to be offered for sale to residents of Tanganyika.

According to the press, the four experts appointed by the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) in January 1960 for the purpose of drawing up plans for a body to succeed OEEC recommended, in a report published on April 20, 1960, the establishment of a new economic organization linking Europe with North America, to be called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The principal difference between the proposed organization and OEEC, apart from the full membership of the United States and Canada, was to be its emphasis on the promotion of economic growth and development in Asia and Africa. The supreme body of the organization was to be a council of ministers with powers identical to those of the parallel OEEC body; that is, member governments would be expected to conform to its decisions, which were to be taken unanimously. However, any country was to have the right to abstain by disclaiming interest in the subject under discussion, thereby freeing itself of the obligation to carry out the resulting decisions. The daily operations of the organization were to be directed by a secretary-general of wide political prestige, appointed for a five-year term. The report also envisaged the establishment of a preparatory committee to decide which of OEEC's tasks should be continued by the new organization.

On July 11, 1958, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development made a loan equivalent to $33 million to the Japan Development Bank to assist the privately owned Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. to modernize and expand the capacity of its iron and steel plants. United States, German, and Swiss banks participated in the loan, without the Bank's guarantee, for a total amount equivalent to $1,100,000. The entire project was scheduled for completion by March 1962 at an estimated cost equivalent to $83 million. The Bank's loan, which financed approximately 40 percent of this total, was for a term of 15 years and bore interest of 5⅜ percent. It was guaranteed by the government of Japan.

Mr. Paul van Zeeland (Belgium) presided over the eleventh session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe which was held in Strasbourg, May 22 and 23. Several meetings of the ministers' deputies had been held prior to the convening of the eleventh session to consider primarily the Eden proposals, in particular a memorandum circulated by the United Kingdom deputy expanding his government's ideas. On the basis of this memorandum and on replies to a questionnaire circulated to governments by the deputies, the deputies reported to the Committee of Ministers that “it had not been possible to reach agreement on the action to be taken on the British proposals … the majority of the delegations considered that the Committee of Ministers and the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe … could be used as the ministerial and parliamentary institutions of (the restricted) Çommunities.” At its eleventh session, the Committee of Ministers, noting the report of the deputies, decided to give formal approval to the principles underlying the Eden proposals and to request the opinion of the Consultative Assembly on the best means of giving them effect.

The press announced that the Inter-American Economic and Social Council met in Punta del Este, Uruguay, under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS) from August 5 to 17, 1961. A draft act embodying the principles of the “Alliance for Progress” plan for the economic development of Latin America envisaged by the United States was put before the meeting by the delegates of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the United States, according to press reports. Mr. Douglas Dillon, United States Secretary of the Treasury, promised that his government would provide active assistance in the form of development loans running up to 50 years, but Mr. Dillon made it clear that the development scheme depended on the local programs for social and economic advancement. It was noted that aside from the United States offers, some European and odier countries had indicated that they would take part in development programs in the area.