The purpose of this study is not to describe the principles and procedures upon which the International Trusteeship System is based—for these are set out in Chapters XII and XIII of the Charter of the United Nations. Rather will an attempt be made, on the basis of three years' personal experience (1948–1951) of the workings of the Trusteeship Council and three years' service (1956–1959) in Tanganyika, the largest of the trust territories, to assess the real impact of the system on the governments and peoples of the trust territories themselves.

Some sixty-five years ago, when on April 14, 1890, the Union of American Republics was established, the great hope for world peace, the great promise of bringing international relations under the rule of law, lay in the development of arbitration. The Plan of Arbitration proposed by the Conference was for its time a radical one. Arbitration was to be obligatory for all disputes except those which in the judgment of a state might peril its independence; and the example thus set by the American States was not without its effect at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907. The limitation of armaments was obviously beyond the plans of practical statesmen. But even so, that was not ground for discouragement. If only the procedure of arbitration could be given greater authority and extended into ever-widening fields, it might be possible to look forward to an agreement upon the limitation of armaments when there was no longer the same need of them.

The Security Council held its 841st meeting on December 8, 1958, in response to an Israeli request that it convene to consider what was termed by this request an act of aggression committed on December 3, 1958, by the armed forces of the United Arab Republic against Israel territory in the Huleh area in northeast Galilee. The Council also had before it a report on the matter by the Chief of Staff of the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). Opening the discussion, Mr. Eban, the Israeli spokesman, stated that on December 3 a Syrian army post in the area had opened fire on Israeli shepherds and on a security patrol which came to their aid. This occurred on Israel territory in the area to which the demilitarization provisions of the 1949 Agreement were not applicable, according to Mr. Eban. Later, according to Mr. Eban, defensive fire was directed by Israeli forces against the Syrian posts. Syrian forces then opened a heavy artillery barrage on seven Israeli villages. These facts were confirmed, said Mr. Eban, in the reports of UNTSO. He informed the Council that Israel had asked UNTSO for an immediate cease-fire which was set by the latter for 1700 hours. The Israelis did not fire after 1700; on the Syrian side small arms fire again broke out after dark at 1940. Mr. Eban described a radio broadcast in Hebrew from Cairo on December 4 which indicated, in his view, that Cairo and Damascus did not repent of the bombardment or promise the cessation of such acts.

The eleventh annual session of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Administrative Council was held in Geneva from April 25 to May 19, 1956 under the chairmanship of Mohamed Nazir Mirza (Pakistan). The Council decided on a tentative program of ITU conferences which included 1) the Plenipotentiary Conference and the Administrative Radio Conference, to be held together in 1959; and 2) the Administrative Telephone and Telegraph Conference, to be held in Geneva toward the end of 1958, with the final dates to be set by the Plenary Assemblies in September and December of 1956.

The Organization of American States (OAS) Council met in a special session on October 23, 1962, in Washington, D.C., to discuss the threat to the security of the western hemisphere posed by missile bases clandestinely erected in Cuba by the government of the Soviet Union. The Council voted to act as provisional Organ of Consultation under the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of 1947 (Rio Treaty). In that capacity, the Council approved the same day a draft resolution calling for the immediate dismantling and withdrawal from Cuba of all missiles by a vote of 19 in favor, none opposed, with I abstention (Uruguay). The delegate of Uruguay explained that he had abstained on the vote because he had not yet received instructions from his government.

According to press reports, the Arab League Council, at an April 3, 1960, meeting in Cairo, decided tentatively that its members should sever diplomatic relations with France in protest of the second French atomic test in the Sahara, and recommended the freezing of French assets in several Arab countries, as well as the boycotting of Paris economically and culturally. The action did not apply to Iraq and Tunisia, since they were not represented at the meeting, and it was considered doubtful that Lebanon would accede to such measures due to its traditional attachment to France.

The Security Council considered various aspects of the current situation in the newly independent Republic of the Congo (formerly the Belgian Congo) at its 873d, 877th–879th, 884th–889th, and 896th–906th meetings. The first meeting was called at the request of the Secretary-General to hear his report on the demand for UN action submitted to him by the government of the Republic of the Congo. Accordingly, the Secretary-General opened the discussion by describing the three communications which he had received from the government of the Congo, the first requesting urgent technical assistance in the field of administration, and the second and third requesting military assistance; since the first request was within the limits of the competence of the Secretary-General himself, it was only with the last two that the Council had to concern itself. Believing that the presence of the Belgian troops currently in the Congo was a source of internal and potentially also of international tension, the Secretary-General proposed to accede t o the demand of the Congo for UN military assistance by sending to that country a UN Force which would not be authorized to action beyond self-defense nor to any action which would make it a party to internal conflicts, and which would be composed of personnel such as to avoid complications because of the nationalities used—that is, participation of troops from of African nations would be desirable, while that of troops from the permanent members of the Council would not. It would be of understood that, were the UN to act as a proposed, the Belgian government would of see its way to a withdrawal of its troops from the Congo.

The Executive Board of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held its 56th session in Paris from April 4 to 30, 1960. Under the heading, Execution of the Program, the Board decided, inter alia: 1) to authorize the Director-General to utilize a sum of up to $14,000 to contribute to the carrying out of the International Study of University Admissions; 2) to set up a Consultative Committee to advise the Director-General in preparing his comments to be presented to the UN Economic and Social Council on the conclusions drawn from the survey on the main trends of research and on the dissemination and utilization of scientific knowledge for peaceful purposes; 3) to adopt the proposed agenda for the Intergovernmental Conference on Oceanographic Research to be held in Copenhagen from July 11 to 16, 1960; 4) to authorize the Director-General to advance financial assistance for activities to be undertaken during the summer in the United Arab Republic to safeguard the monuments of Nubia, noting with satisfaction the formation of national and international committees designed to secure contributions for the project; and 5) to communicate to the Economic and Social Council the Board's observations, based on the report of a meeting of experts, on measures for the promotion of further international cooperation in the fields of education, science, and culture.

The Council of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) held its twentieth session on October 14–18, 1963, under the chairmanship of Mr. D. Ramon Huidobro, permanent Chilean representative to the European Office of the UN. ICEM Director B. W. Haveman keynoted a discussion of ICEM's proper role with his request that fuller use be made of ICEM's migration machinery which, he pointed out, had aided in the resettlement of some one and one-quarter million people during the past eleven years. Mr. Haveman's proposals for future action included: 1) making the good offices and machinery of ICEM available in areas in which ICEM did not at present operate; 2) establishing improved reception and placement services, especially in Latin America; 3) exploring the possibilities of making the fullest use of ICEM in carrying out governmental migration policies and programs; and 4) encouraging the settlement of European farmers in Latin America.

For almost a decade commentators on international organization have nurtured the myth that the UN Charter was originally ‘oversold’ to the American public by enthusiastic supporters, who represented the organization as a panacea for the ills of twentieth-century world politics. So unrealistic were the expectations created by this publicity barrage, so the story runs, that subsequent disillusionment with die UN was inevitable. Although propagated with many variations, the myth finds a classic formulation in the words of Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., uttered before the House Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements, July 8, 1953: ‘The United Nations,’ said Ambassador Lodge, ‘was oversold. It was advertised entirely as an automatic peace producer. All we had to do was sign on die dotted line—so it was said—and all our troubles would be over’. A recent volume on international relations, currently in use as a college text, restated the myth in a some what less extreme form: ‘Considered a towering edifice of strength in 1945, the United Nations was often shrugged off in the early 1950's with the damning phrase, ‘debating society.’ Because expectations had been so extravagant, the achievements of the United Nations seemed ridiculously trivial to many who had expected a Utopian revolution in international relations that the United Nations could not hope to provide.” Other variations on the theme are no doubt familiar to students of international organization. Use of the expression ‘myth’ implies no denial that ‘a veritable wave of propaganda and influence was generated on behalf of American membership’ in the UN. The country was flooded with information, from bodi government and private sources, designed to win over the public to the desirability of postwar international organization. It is also true that those engaged in selling the UN to the public tried to give their arguments an optimistic, hopeful tone. Recalling the League's fate, they emphasized the differences between the League and the proposed new organization rather than their patent similarities. Often they were guilty of oversimplifying the facts of world politics upon which the future of the UN would necessarily depend. The growing split between Russia and the Western allies, so ominous for the new organization, was not usually highlighted in speeches urging the establishment of the UN. A vigorous selling campaign was unquestionably conducted.

The Assembly of Western European Union (WEU) held the second part of its fifth ordinary session in Paris from November 30 to December 3, 1959. The President of the Assembly Mr. Victoria Badini- Confalonieri (Italian Liberal), opened the first sitting with a tribute to the late John Edwards, following with an examination of the history and functions of WEU in the light of proposed changes of the organization's functions. He stated that the European Economic Community (EEC) of the Six and the Union of the Seven were complementary, rather than incompatible, as WEU's Council of Ministers could become a ”clearing house” for relations between the Six and the United Kingdom, the only member of WEU that was not a member of EEC. He expressed the hope that at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers the question of the new political role of WEU would be the chief matter considered. Mr. Giuseppe Pella, Italian Foreign Minister, speaking as Chairman-in-Office of the WEU Council, stated that the Council of Ministers attached great importance to coll-laboration with the Assembly; noting that relations between the Council and the Assembly had improved since the creation of the organization, he went onto list areas that the Council had considered or was considering which concerned both organs, namely: 1) measures which would allow the Assembly a more direct share in the adoption of its budget; 2) the area of armament production; 3) the search for permanent offices for WEU; and 4) the question of transferring WEU's exercise of social and cultural activities to the Council of Europe. Regarding the latter, he stated that, in agreeing to the transfer, the Council wished merely to reduce duplication and not to detract from the Union's independence. Finally, he stressed that consultation among the Six should lead to political consultation with the United Kingdom in the WEU context, rather than ruling it out.

The International Wheat Council held its twenty-eighth session in London on October 19 and 20, 1959, under the chairmanship of Sir Edwin McCarthy. Twenty-eight countries were represented by delegates and advisers, with observers representing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the European Economic Community.

It is now three years since the United Nations General Assembly first convened in London, and over five years since the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China announced at the first Moscow Conference their recognition of “the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization … for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

The General Assembly concluded its sixth session in Paris on February 5, 1952 having considered an agenda of more than seventy items. Major political questions before the Assembly included: disarmament and prohibition of the atomic bomb; collective measures; the establishment of a commission to investigate the possibility of German elections; termination of the United Nations Commission on the Balkans; and Palestine and related problems. The question of the independence of Korea was deferred pending the conclusion of armistice negotiations.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development participated in several loans for electric power development during the late winter and spring of 1961. 1) On February 23, 1961, the Bank announced a loan of $30 million for the expansion of electric generating and transmission facilities in Yugoslavia. The loan was to help finance die construction of a 216,000-kilowatt hydroelectric plant in the Velebit mountains near Senj on the Adriatic coast and the installation of 790 miles of high voltage transmission lines to improve the country-wide electric power network. Six private commercial banks participated in the loan, which was for a term of 25 years and was to bear interest of 5¾ percent, with amortization to begin March 1, 1965. 2) The Bank also made a loan to the Japanese Development Bank that in turn was to re-lend the proceeds to the Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., for the expansion of electric generating capacity on the island of Kyushu. The loan, announced on March 16, 1961, was to assist in financing the construction of a 156,000-kilowatt thermal power plant at Kokura in northern Kyushu, one of the most heavily industrialized areas in Japan. It was for a term of twenty years and bore interest of 5¾ percent, with amortization to begin September 1, 1962. The International Bank had previously lent $11.2 million in 1953 for the installation of an initial 75,000-kilowatt unit in the Karita thermal power station to expand the Kyushu company's power facilities. 3) Another loan for electric power expansion was made known on March 29, 1961, when the Bank announced that it had lent $8.4 million to the United Kingdom Protectorate of Uganda for the extension of the electric power transmission and distribution systems of the Uganda Electricity Board. The loan, guaranteed by the United Kingdom, was for a term of twenty years and bore interest of 5¾ percent, with amortization to begin June 1, 1964. Fourteen banks in the United States, Belgium, and the Netherlands participated in the loan, which was to meet the cost of imported goods and services for the Electricity Board's $14 million development program. 4) On May 12, 1961, the Bank announced a loan of $22 million for the expansion of hydroelectric installations to supply power to the metropolitan area of Medellin, an important manufacturing center in Colombia. The loan was made to the Empresas Publicas de Medellin, an autonomous public enterprise, and was to provide for the addition of 138,000 kilowatts of new capacity to the system already servicing the area and for the extension of transmission and distribution facilities. Empresas was to finance local currency costs from its own resources. The Bank had already loaned $12 million to Empresas in 1959 for the first stage of its electricity project. Four commercial banks participated in the loan, which was for a term of 25 years, bore interest at 5¾ percent, and was scheduled to begin amortization in March 1966.

Case concerning the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited (Belgium v. Spain): On June 19, 1962, the Belgian government filed with the Registrar of the Court an application instituting new proceedings against Spain on the subject of the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited. This claim, the subject of which is reparation for the damage caused to a number of Belgian subjects by organs of the Spanish state, had been the subject of earlier proceedings brought before the Court. Because of the possibility of negotiating the issue, the Belgian government had informed the Court that it did not wish to continue proceedings, and the Court on April 10, 1961, had removed the case from its list. The negotiations, however, failed, and the Belgian government had instituted new proceedings.

The sixteenth annual repot of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, covering the fiscal year July 1, 1960, to June 30, 1961, was presented to the Board of Governors on September 19, 1961. The report noted that in the year under review the activities of the International Bank had been part of a broadening stream of financial and technical assistance to the less developed countries. Aid had been provided by: 1) the International Development Association (IDA), an affiliate of the Bank which was designed to aid economic growth by means of credits bearing less heavily on the balance of payments of underdeveloped countries than conventional loans; 2) the Inter-American Development Bank, which attempted to increase the flow of development funds and to coordinate efforts to assist economic development; 3) the UN Special Fund, which had financed pre-investment surveys, in some cases with the International Bank acting as executing agent; and 4) the Development Assistance Group (DAG), which consisted of ten governments that carried on continued consultations—several of these governments had taken steps to facilitate their extension of aid to the less developed countries. The report noted that the Bank had continued to cooperate with the capital markets and with private institutional investors in raising capital for economic development.

In his Introduction to the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, 16 June 1966–15 June 1967 Secretary-General U Thant observed that during the period under review the international political situation had deteriorated considerably. The war in Vietnam had progressively intensified, there had been renewed warfare in the Middle East in June 1967, and the situation in Cyprus had not improved. Only limited progress had been made in such areas as disarmament, outer space, economic and social development, decolonization, and human rights. Frustrations in respect of South Africa, South West Africa, and Rhodesia continued, although in the cases of South West Africa and Rhodesia the General Assembly and the Security Council, respectively, had taken certain steps which might help in time to improve the situation

It was reported that during a meeting of the Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) on February 8, 1960, a debate took place on the alleged violations of human rights perpetuated by the government of General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina of the Dominican Republic. Dr. Falcon-Briceno, Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, who had brought the charge on instructions of his government, contended that a concern for human rights was a basic function of the inter-American system and called upon the Council to investigate the situation. He was challenged by the Dominican ambassador, Mr. Diaz Ordoñez, who insisted that the prevailing situation was a matter of exclusively domestic concern to his government and stressed the fact that non-intervention in internal affairs was a basic principle of the inter-American system. The delegates were urged to action by the delegate of Honduras, who expressed the view that the principle of non-intervention should not close the door to action deemed to be necessary for the preservation of human rights and liberties. After a threehour debate, the Council reportedly decided, by a vote of 20 to none, with 1 abstention (the Dominican Republic), to initiate an inquiry into the matter. To this end, five nations—Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Peru, and the United States—were appointed as a working group to consider whether and how the organization could conduct an investigation in the case.