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.

The first days of December, 1946, saw the completion of the first round of the peace treaties. Except for the verification of the texts and the final arrangements for signature, the treaties with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland were now ready, after fifteen months of back-breaking and often heart-breaking effort. The initial installment of peace-making had, in fact, taken more than fifteen months, for several of the thorniest questions—notably, the disposition of the Italian colonies, freedom of commercial navigation on the Danube, and Italian reparation—had received their preliminary going-over at Potsdam. And at least one question—the disposition of the Italian colonies—had been post-poned for later settlement.

Report to the General Assembly: In accordance with a resolution adopted during the fourth regular session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the fourth report of IAEA to the UN General Assembly consisted of the annual report of the Board of Governors to the General Conference, covering the period July 1, 1959, to June 30, 1960, together with a supplement dealing with developments, including action taken by the General Conference, during the period July 1 to September 30, 1960. The report noted that during the period under review the preparatory activities of the Agency had begun to bear fruit and that in most domains the year had been the first full year of normal operations. One of the main goals of the Agency, the report continued, was to foster the safe use of nuclear power under economically competitive conditions, but in this area there were still innumerable problems to overcome. Since the cost of generating electricity from nuclear power plants, although steadily declining, was still substantially higher than that of producing conventional power except in a few special cases, the earlier nuclear power plans of a number of countries had been revised and construction of plants was not proceeding at the rate foreseen some years ago. With regard to reactor technology, the Board reported that work was being done to improve the performance of reactors and to reduce their costs of operation by detailed technical modifications, although the cost of research on advanced reactor concepts was so high that only a very few major industrial countries had the necessary material resources to conduct such research. While the Board considered it unlikely that nuclear—propelled ships would become economically competitive with conventional ships in the near future, progress had been made in this sphere in the year under review, as witnessed by the commissioning of a nuclearpropelled ice-breaker and the launching of the first nuclear merchant ship.

Ambatielos Case: When oral proceedings in the preliminary objection in the Ambatielos Case opened on May 15, as announced, the President of the Court stated that the Greek government had designated an ad hoc judge in the person of Mr. Jean Spiropoulos. Sir Eric Beckett, counsel for the United Kingdom, stated that, in spite of the United Kingdom's contention that the jurisdiction of the Court should be accepted as widely as possible by states, it felt bound to contest the jurisdiction of the Court in the case under consideration because: 1) the dispute related to facts occurring before 1930 when the United Kingdom first accepted the Optional Clause; 2) it considered the claim of denial of justice completely unfounded on the merits; 3) it considered it clear that municipal remedies had not been exhausted; and 4) no claim of any denial of justice or other breach of an international obligation was made until 1933, ten years after the events and eight years after a refusal of a request ex gratia in which it had been admitted that no legal claim could be made. Sir Eric explained that the United Kingdom, although it took the preliminary objection that the Court had no jurisdiction, had filed a comprehensive counter-memorial on the merits of the case in order that the Greek government's aspersions on the administration of justice in the English High Court and Court of Appeal should not appear on the record unrefuted. Further, the United Kingdom denied that the terms of the 1886 or 1926 treaties (or the declaration appended to the latter) between the two governments lent any support to the Greek government's claims on behalf of Mr. Ambatielos.

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.

In the closing months of the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War and for about two and one-half years thereafter, the American voluntary agency CARE (Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere) operated a rehabilitation program in Nigeria's East-Central State. With funds largely provided by USAID, it concentrated on rebuilding or extending basic structures, like bridges and water systems, and on distributing badly needed planting material. During much of that period, while the war for Bangladesh's independence still raged, the British voluntary agency Oxfam also sought, in timely fashion and on its own initiative, to improve the condition of refugees who had fled to camps within India. Its major emphases were on supplementary feeding, medical assistance, sanitation, shelter, and clothing.

Amos Perlmutter has raised an interesting series of points in his commentary on my recent article concerning the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). As I understand the crux of his argument, it is as follows. “From the outset UNRWA was a political organization” (p. 307). Despite this fact I have displayed a “low level of political judgment” (p. 306) which has led me to focus neither on the decisions rendered by UNRWA's commissioner-general nor on the future impact of UNRWA and the ways in which it can contribute to stability in the Middle East. Presumably these latter two types of analysis would be “high-level political judgments” (p. 308).

As Secretary-General, it is my firm belief that a new and great effort must be attempted to end the so-called “cold war” and to set the world once more on a road that will offer greater hope of lasting peace.

The Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) held its 29th session in Geneva on January 15–26, 1962, under the chairmanship of Dr. A. O. Abu Shumma. The Standing Committee on Administration and Finance held eight meetings. The Standing Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations held two meetings and considered new applications from organizations for official membership, as well as carrying out a quadrennial review of the organizations in official relationship with WHO. The Standing Committee on Headquarters Accommodations also met.

According to the report of the United States High Commissioner for Austria (Donnelly) covering the first quarter of the year 1951, the most significant political event of the period was the decision of the Austrian government to elect its new president, successor to Dr. Karl Renner who died on December 31, by popular vote instead of by parliamentary ballot. This new presidential election law, enacted by the Austrian parliament on January 16, was one of the subjects under discussion at the February 9 meeting of the Allied Council. Although the three western powers voiced their approval of the new law, the Soviet delegate contended that since the Austrian constitution of 1929 had not been approved by the Allied Council he saw no legal basis for the law and insisted on having it replaced by a “special constitutional law”, which would have been subject to the Soviet veto. The United States representative supported the validity of the Austrian constitution, pointing out that the Soviet Union had already approved many laws modifying the 1929 constitution —a slightly amended form of the 1920 constitution — which had been voided by the Nazis in 1938. The point at issue was the fact that instructions had been given to the Austrian government to prepare a new draft constitution by July 1, 1946, and the Austrian parliament, instead of attempting the task of formulating a constitution which would be acceptable to all members of the Allied Council as well as to Austria, had passed resolutions in April 1946 reviving the Federal Constitutional Law of 1929.

Report to the General Assembly: The third report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the UN General Assembly covered the period from July 1, 1958, to June 30, I959. The report noted that the period under consideration had been characterized by the fact that member states had begun to make substantial requests to the Agency for assistance, which the Agency had in fact been able to furnish. Furthermore, the Agency had begun to carry out its regulatory tasks, organize its first meetings, conferences, and symposia, enter upon its own research, and greatly expand the collection and publication of technical information. Whereas on June 30, 1958, membership of IAEA had stood at 66, one year later it stood at 70, Iran, Iraq, the Philippines, and the Sudan having in the meantime deposited instruments of ratification of the Statute. In the broadest terms, according to the report, the production of radioisotopes and their use in industry, agriculture, medicine, and research, and the eventual production of economic nuclear power, under safe and secure conditions, continued to be the main objectives of most of the Agency's work. For the attainment of these aims IAEA had been employing a variety of means, including technical assistance, the diffusion of information, the formulation of regulations and recommendations, the supply of nuclear fuels, the promotion of research reactor development, the elaboration of safeguards, the organization of training courses, and the award of fellowships and research contracts. A notable development was cited as being the completion of the Agency's first supply operation, three tons of natural uranium in metallic form having been supplied to Japan.

By June 1, 1950 Austria had become the sixtieth country to ratify the International Telecommunication Convention of Atlantic City, 1947. Four additional countries acceded to the convention bringing the membership of the International Telecommunication Union to 64. The Hungarian People's Republic, the Republic of Poland, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, also during the period under review, ratified the European Broadcasting Convention, Copenhagen, 1948.

The annual report of the Technical Assistance Board (TAB) to the Technical Assistance Committee, which covered the activities of the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance (EPTA) during 1959 and, coming as it did at the end of the first decade of operations of the program, completed the record of the first ten years, was made public in June 1960. The report revealed that the period under consideration (July 1950 to June 1960) had ended with the pledge of an increase in UN technical assistance, following some reduction in the size of the 1959 program. Although the amount pledged by the 83 member governments for operations in 1959 had been $29.6 million, causing a 3 percent reduction in the amount spent to deliver aid, pledges for 1960 were expected to reach an all-time high of $33.4 million. In the face of the retrenchment necessary in 1959, the size of the technical assistance program in Africa had continued to rise modestly, the continent having received 14 percent of the aid given on a worldwide scale, as compared to 12 percent in 1958, while slight reductions in the Latin American and Middle Eastern programs had been necessary. However, the largest expenditure on regional projects, as in the past, had been in Latin America, where the cost of UN and specialized agency participation in such projects as the Fundamental Education Center in Mexico, the Andean Indian Program, and the Central American Economic Integration Program had reached $1.1 million. A substantial proportion of new EPTA operations had been in the form of assistance to the emerging states of Africa, financed by the use of contingency funds amounting to $1.2 million in all, thus making it possible to initiate assistance for which funds would not otherwise have been available.

Palestine: Seven months after the first special session of the General Assembly met to consider the question of Palestine, the problem was again before the Assembly. Three agenda items dealt with the topic: 1) the original British proposal for discussion of the question, which had resulted in the convening of the special session, 2) the Report of the Special Committee on Palestine, established by that session, and 3) a proposal by Iraq and Saudi Arabia for termination of the mandate over Palestine and recognition of its independence as a unitary state.

The fifth meeting of the Rubber Study Group, attended by delegates of fifteen nations and observers from several international organizations, was held in Washington from April 26 to 29, 1948.

The Group examined the rubber statistical position and made estimates for natural rubber production and total consumption of natural and synthetic rubber during 1948 and provisionally for 1949. Production for 1948 was estimated at approximately 1,390,000 tons with total consumption nearly 1,745,000 tons. Production in 1949 was expected to reach 1,550,000 tons while consumption would remain at the 1948 level.

Case concerning the Arbitral Award Made by the King of Spain on December 23rd, 1906 (Honduras v. Nicaragua): On July 1, 1958, Honduras filed an application instituting proceedings against Nicaragua concerning an arbitral award made by the King of Spain with regard to the demarcation of the limits between the two countries. According to Article 5 of the Bonilla-Gamez Treaty which determined the limits, certain points in dispute might, in certain circumstances, be referred to the decision of the government of Spain. Thus an arbitration was requested from the King of Spain in October 1904, and the award was made on December 23, 1906. The application stated that, when the time came to proceed to the delimitation, Nicaragua contended that the arbitral award was a nullity and that it was not possible to resolve the dispute by diplomatic means or through the mediation of friendly nations and governments. Under the resolution adopted by the Organization of American States on July 5, 1957, the governments of Honduras and Nicaragua concluded an agreement at Washington on July 21, 1957, by virtue of which their dispute should be referred to the International Court of Justice. In its application Honduras requested the Court to declare that Nicaragua's failure to give effect to the arbitral award of 1906 constituted a breach of an international obligation and that Nicaragua was under an obligation to carry out the award.

The Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held its 26th session in Madrid, June 3–14, 1957, under the chairmanship of S. A. Hasnie. During its discussion of current FAO activities the Council 1) decided to accept the invitation of the United States government to act as host to the fifth World Forestry Congress in 1960; 2) agreed to the proposed procedures for organizing the second session of the joint Food and Agriculture Organization/Economic Commission for Europe Committee on Forestry Working Techniques and the Training of Forest Workers, which was to be held in Moscow in September 1957; 3) established the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission to promote improvements in inland fisheries and to give advice on the matter; 4) approved certain budgetary amendments to the constitution of the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease; 5) received the report of a mission which had been appointed in 1951 to examine the Moroccan agricultural and food supply situation arising from drought conditions, noted subsequent developments and the intentions of several governments to assist Morocco, and requested the Director-General to keep the situation under review and to take further steps which might be necessary; and 6) requested the Director-General to examine the advisability of establishing a committee on settlement, resettlement, and agrarian reform, as proposed by the government of Israel.

On April 1, 1948, following lengthy discussion of methods of implementing the General Assembly resolution of November 29, 1947, concerning the partition of Palestine, the Security Council approved a resolution calling for the convening of a special session of the Assembly. The resolution requested the Secretary General “in accordance with Article 20 of the United Nations Charter, to convoke a special session of the General Assembly to consider further the question of the future government of Palestine.”