Listed below is the membership of United Nations bodies for 1967. Unless otherwise noted, membership expires on December 31 of the year indicated in parentheses. Where names of individuals are listed, the members serve in their personal capacities and not as representatives of states; their nationalities are given for information only.

The first emergency special session of the General Assembly, summoned by the Secretary-General in the light of the resolution adopted by the Security Council at its 751st meeting on October 31, 1956, was held from November 1 through 10, 1956 (56Ist–563d, 565th, 566th–567th and 572d plenary meetings), under the presidency of His Excellency Ambassador Rudecindo Ortega (Chile). At the opening of the session the representative of France (de Guiringaud) criticized the principal substantive item of the provisional agenda of the session, which was the “question considered by the Security Council at its 749th and 750th meetings held on October 30, 1956”. Mr. de Guiringaud stated that in his view it was impossible for the letter of the representative of Egypt to the Security Council to be dealt with by the Assembly, since in the Security Council debate on the Egyptian complaint, no draft resolution had been presented, and consequently no vote had been taken; therefore, no lack of unanimity on the part of the permanent members of the Council had been demonstrated. As to the United States draft resolution considered by the Security Council, Mr. de Guiringaud held that it was within the framework of Chapter VI of the Charter, rather than Chapter VII. Therefore, he concluded, the conditions of the “Uniting for Peace” resolution had not been fulfilled, and he made a complete reservation on behalf of his government as to the convening of the special session of the Assembly and as to the validity of any resolution that might be adopted.

At the end of its twentieth year the United Nations is in the midst of a constitutional crisis the outcome of which is still in doubt. During its lifetime it has survived other profound changes, some no less constitution shaking than the present one. Other developments were absorbed chiefly through a process of informal Charter interpretation and institutional adaptation; whereas the current financial crisis was allowed to reach the stage where formal confrontation of conflicting Charter interpretations could be avoided only by adopting a procedural device to evade decision that, unfortunately, also brought the Assembly to a halt.

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.

The eighteenth session of the Administrative Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was held in Geneva from March 23 to April 26, 1963, under the chairmanship of Mr. Gabriel Tedros (Ethiopia).

On February 23, 1962, delegations of twelve European nations, meeting in Paris, agreed on a draft convention for the creation of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) with a program to cost $280 million.1 The member nations to the agreement were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. Sir Harrie Massey (United Kingdom), chairman of the conference, stated that the draft convention would be submitted to the governments for signature in the following two or three months. The delegates also agreed to prolong the life of the European Preparatory Commission for Space Research. The committee would continue its planning work so that ESRO could begin functioning as soon as it was established. The group was to cooperate with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States and was to be in close touch with the International Committee on Space Research. ESRO's program was to involve the firing of sounding rockets and various kinds of satellite-launching vehicles.

The report of the Director-General on the activities of the United Nations, Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for 1960 included a discussion of: 1) relations with member states and international organizations; 2) execution of the program; and 3) administrative services. In the first section the Director-General commented that, in 1960, UNESCO's role had assumed its full importance in the collective system of international organizations and that its close cooperation with the UN had resulted in new possibilities for direct, large-scale action.

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.

At its meeting on December 12, 1961, the Council of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed to maintain the European Monetary Agreement in force, although with certain modifications. The chief amendment concerned the maximum period for the utilization of credits granted by the European Fund. In addition, OECD could henceforth decide, in exceptional cases, that a credit granted by the European Fund might be repaid in installments spread over no more than two years.

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.

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.

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.

This research note reports the findings of a mail survey of higher level Guatemalan civil servants, soliciting their views on the United Nations. The survey was administered in the summer of 1979 for comparison with similar surveys of Norwegian and United States officials undertaken five years earlier, to determine whether experience with international organizations produces attitudes more favorable to international cooperation.

The first concrete step in effecting international regulation of air navigation was taken by the Aeronautical Commission of the Peace Conference in 1919 when it drew up the International Air Convention of October 13, 1919, instituting the International Commission for Air Navigation (which came into being in July, 1922) in order to provide rules for air traffic. Later modifications in the text of the Convention were authorized in June, 1929.

Executive Board

The fifteenth session of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) was held in Geneva from January 18 to February 4, 1955, under the chairmanship of Dr. H. Hyde (United States). The Director-General's proposals for the provisional agenda of the eighth World Health Assembly, as amended, were approved by the Board. The Board recommended that the Assembly adopt the revised rules of procedure, which the Board had re-examined and amended in the light of comments received from governments. The Board also noted that it had carried out a study of the procedure for consideration of the annual program and budget by the Assembly, in accordance with the Assembly's request, and that it believed it would be useful for the Assembly committee on program and budget to set up a working party at the beginning of each Assembly session to make a review of the financial and budgetary aspects of the proposed program and budget estimates. Proposals relating to the establishment of committees and their terms of reference were also made to the eighth Assembly.

From its 921st through its 923d meetings the Security Council considered the complaint of the government of Cuba that the United States was planning direct military intervention in Cuba.Mr. Wadsworth, the representative of the United States and the first speaker, deplored the fact that because of continued provocation over nearly a two-year period the United States had been forced to break diplomatic relations with Cuba, and denied as false propaganda the Cuban charges that the United States was contemplating a military attack on Cuba. Mr. Roa, the Cuban representative, stated in his opening remarks that Cuba considered the Security Council the proper organ before which to bring its case, and that his country opposed any effort to transfer the examination of its claim to the Council of the Organization of American States. He charged, inter alia: 1) that United States materials had been air-lifted to counter-revolutionary groups in the Cuban mountains; 2) that United States Embassy officials had been engaged in espionage and in conspiracy with counterrevolutionary elements; 3) that false and harmful propaganda against Cuba was being broadcast from the United States, with the support of the United States government; 4) that mercenaries were being trained at Guantanamo Naval Base, with a view to launching a number of small military expeditions against different points of the island; and 5) that destroyers had been placed on the alert in Key West, ninety miles from Cuba. The ultimate objective of these movements, Mr. Roa added, was a military invasion of his country.

A summit meeting of the Presidents of Ghana, Guinea, Mali, and the United Arab Republic, attended also by the Libyan Foreign Minister, the Ceylonese Ambassador in Cairo, and Premier Ferhat Abbas of the Algerian provisional government, was convened in Casablanca by King Mohammed of Morocco in early January 1961 for the purpose of coordinating policy on the Congo and of considering a suggestion for the formation of an African high military command. Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Togoland, and Tunisia were invited but did not attend the conference. Excluding Ghana, all those states present which had troops with the UN Operations in the Congo (ONUC) had announced their intention of withdrawing them prior to the meeting.

The Council of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) met at ministerial level in London on June 27 and 28, 1961. The Ministers stressed EFTA's wish ultimately toform a single European market for 300 million consumers which would follow liberal policies toward the outside world. They stated that a new effort to bring an end to European division would necessitate a readiness to make some modification of policy on all sides, but that the Stockholm Convention. In regard to approaching che six of EEC, the Council of Ministers agreed that EETA should coordingate its policies in order to remain united throughout negotitations

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.”