Under the terms of the extension of the time limit for the signing of the Torquay Protocol, granted by the sixth session of the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the protocol was signed by the United Kingdom on December 19 and by Denmark on December 21, 1951, bringing to 31 the number of signatories. On December 27, Brazil notified the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Lie) of its intention to apply the tariff concessions of the Annecy Protocol and on December 31, 1951, India signed the First Protocol of Rectifications and Modifications and the First Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to GATT. The number of the contracting parties to GATT was increased to 34 with the accession, during the sixth session, of Austria, the Federal Republic of Germany, Peru and Turkey.

The seventh session of the Contracting Parties to GATT met at Geneva, Switzerland from October 2 to November 10, 1952 under the chairmanship of Johan Melander (Norway). Participating were delegates of the 34 countries which were contracting parties and observers from other governments and intergovernmental organizations. The seventh session was concerned primarily with items arising out of the operation of GATT, including items falling under the complaints procedure, tariffs and tariff negotiations, miscellaneous items proposed by governments and non-governmental organizations and the administration of GATT. Apart from an agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Austria concerning reciprocal concessions to the tariff agreement which had been concluded in 1951 within the framework of the Torquay Tariff Conference, no tariff negotiations were undertaken during the session. In connection with the reduction of tariff levels, the contracting parties reexamined the French plan for lowering tariffs by 30 percent on a worldwide basis in three yearly stages and the contracting parties instructed working parties to continue studies of the question.

On August 14, 1951 the Universal Postal Union submitted a report on its activities for 1950 to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The Vice-Director-General (Fulke Radice) of UPU announced that the organization had formulated its activities according to the criteria established by ECOSOC; upon its recommendation the Executive and Liaison Committee had approved closer coordination of program with the United Nations and the specialized agencies. Recently the UPU had completed two important tasks: the compiling of a directory of post offices throughout the world, and the fixing of land and sea transit rates by the Technical Transit Committee at its second general meeting June 5 to 16, 1951 at Pontresina. Although dependent upon the decisions of the Brussels Congress, the work program for the following year was seen to consist largely in collecting data and preparing new publications to help underdeveloped countries improve their postal services.

Austrian State Treaty: In furtherance of the September 14, 1951, statement of the French, United Kingdom and United States foreign ministers, that there was “no justification for any further delay in the conclusion of a treaty for the reestablishment of a free and independent Austria”,1 the United States deputy for the Austrian State Treaty (Reber) issued an invitation on December 28, 1951, suggesting that a meeting of the deputies be held at London on January 21, 1952. The governments of the United Kingdom and France immediately accepted the invitation, but the Soviet reply, dated January 18, made the following objections that: 1) no action had been taken on the Soviet proposal to conduct an investigation on the extent of Austria's implementation of the four powers' decisions on demilitarization and denazification; and 2) conclusion of an Austrian treaty was unwise until the western powers had implemented their obligations under the Italian treaty, particularly with regard to the creation ofthe Free Territory of Trieste which had been “turned into an Anglo-American military base. The reply of the western powers, dated January 19 pointed out that: 1) their views on denazification and demilitarization had been made clear in the Allied Council in Vienna, “the proper body to consider such questions”; 2) the Trieste issue had no relation to the Austrian treaty; and 3) that the express purpose of the meeting which had been called for January 21 was to conclude an Austrian treaty as speedily as possible, to which end they reiterated their invitation to the Soviet deputy.

Meeting in Lisbon from February 20 to 25, 1952, and with Greece and Turkey participating as full members, the ninth session of the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization took decisions on five major items: 1) the forces to be made available to the military command during 1952; 2) the bases and facilities to be built and made available for the forces; 3) the establishment of a European Defense Community comprising six countries, including western Germany; 4) the report by the occupying powers on the proposed contractual arrangements with the German Federal Republic; 5) the reorganization and strengthening of NATO itself. In addition, the Council took note of the report by the Atlantic Community Committee on economic cooperation, agreed on the amount of the German financial contribution to defense for 1952–1953 and assigned the ground and air forces of Greece and Turkey to the over-all command of SHAPE.

The twenty-ninth session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, March 13–April 7, 1952, devoted most of its attention to the draft program and budget for 1953 and 1954. In presenting the drafts, the Secretary-General (Torres-Bodet) pointed out that they had been prepared, insofar as possible, to allow for a probable gap between UNESCO's actual resources and its theoretical budget brought about by members in arrears in contributions. In addition, the suggestions of the General Conference and the Economic and Social Council on program priorities had been followed. If UNESCO were to maintain its present level of activity, he continued, it would be necessary for the assessed budgets for each of the years 1953 and 1954 to be $9,895,029, an increase of $1,267,029 each year over the 1952 figure. Any expansion of the program, and the Director-General several times expressed opposition to stabilizing the program at its present level, would involve an even greater increase.

From June 1 to 8, 1951 the World Health Organization Executive Board met for its eighth session in Geneva under the chairmanship of Professor Jacques Parisot. Action taken at this session included authorization of the establishment of a regional organization for Africa, a request that the Director-General (Chisholm) contact member states in Europe concerning establishment of a central regional office in Geneva and immediate constitution of a regional organization, and appointment of a regional director for the western Pacific.

The thirtieth session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization met at UNESCO House in Paris from May 26 to June 6, 1952. The board approved a provisional agenda for the seventh session of the UNESCO General Conference, which was scheduled to open on November 12, as well as proposals concerning the organization of its work. The board decided that the fourth meeting of representatives of national commissions should be held on November 8 and 10 and December 11, and approved the Director-General's proposals regarding the agenda for this meeting. Draft amendments to the rules of procedure of the General Conference, to the financial regulations, and to the directives concerning relations with international non-governmental organizations, necessitated by adoption of the system of biennial sessions of the General Conference, were approved.

Meeting on January 7, 1952, the Council of OEEC agreed that for January, February and March, Belgium, a constant creditor in the European Payments Union, would receive a maximum of $60 million in gold — a reduction of 25 percent on the previous allowance. This was a partial solution to the problem of Belgium's excess credit position. The Council also recommended that member countries try to increase exports to Belgium and that Belgium increase its imports from them.

The Executive and Liaison Committee of the Universal Postal Union held its sixth meeting in Berne, Switzerland, January 21 to 28, 1952. The Committee made recommendations to the forthcoming Congress on such questions as revision of the Paris Acts concerning parcel post, harmonizing the Acts of UPU and the Geneva Conventions in matters of freedom of postage to war victims and air mail.

From May 5 to 22, 1952 the Fifth World Health Assembly met in Geneva. In his opening remarks, Dr. Leonard A. Scheele, president of the Fourth World Health Assembly, summarized events during the first four years of the World Health Organization and stressed the central importance of the problems of the education of public health and related personnel and personnel shortages to the accomplishment of WHO's aims.1 The remainder of the first plenary meeting was devoted to speeches by representatives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Meteorological Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, who stressed the need for cooperation between their respective organizations and WHO. Dr. Juan Salcedo (Philippines) was elected president by acclamation at the second plenary meeting. On May 6, the Assembly voted to admit the United Kingdom of Libya to membership in the organization, and on May 12, Tunisia and Morocco were admitted as associate members, subject to notice of acceptance of associate membership on their behalf.

At the meeting of the Arab League's Political Committee during October 1951, the committee decided to recommend to the Council that all Arab states, Members of the United Nations press for the inclusion of the Moroccan case on the agenda of the sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly. On October 4, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt (Eldin) requested the General Assembly that the item “violation of the principles of the Charter and of the Declaration of Human Rights by France in Morocco” be placed on its agenda.

Under Article VII of the tripartite security pact between the United States, Australia and New Zealand which entered into force on April 29, 1952, the parties were to establish a council to “consider matters concerning the implementation of this Treaty”. The foreign ministers of the United States (Acheson), Australia (Casey) and New Zealand (Webb) met in Honolulu, Hawaii, from August 4 through August 6, 1952, in the Council's first session. Statements by the participants prior to the opening of the Council indicated that the meeting would be exploratory only and would endeavor to establish more permanent machinery of consultation.

At the request of the Director-General (Chisholm) of the World Health Organization, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Lie) transmitted on March 20, 1952 to the People's Republic of China and the People's Democratic Republic of North Korea WHO's offer of assistance in controlling reported epidemics in north Korea. Two further telegrams were sent on March 27 and April 3 but no acknowledgment or reply had been received.

The Consultative Council's eleventh session was held in Paris on November 13, 1951, with Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister, serving as chairman. In addition to international questions, the Council considered the relationship to be established between the Brussels Pact organization and the Council of Europe, agreeing on the terms of a letter on this subject to the latter. It examined the results of cooperation among the five members in the political, social and cultural fields and in civil defense affairs. With the entry into force of the three main multilateral social conventions, the Brussels Treaty countries were offering complete reciprocity to one another in social security matters. It was resolved that practical schemes for cultural cooperation, especially in education, were to continue to strengthen European solidarity.

The Charter of the Organization of American States came into effect on December 13, 1951 upon the deposit of the fourteenth ratification, that of Colombia.

Meeting to examine the progress of the Colombo Plan, the ministers of Australia, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam, convened the Consultative Committee at Karachi on March 24, 1952. The committee was to discuss any alterations in the six-year programs in the light of changed circumstances, and detailed programs for the first two years. Press reports indicated that major importance was placed on the questions of the admission of Japan and possible United States financial aid.

By March 1952, the total membership of the World Meteorological Organization had been increased to seventy-five–fifty-two states and twenty-three territories – by the following ratifications of the World Meteorological Convention: Ceylon, Ecuador, Denmark, Haiti, Netherlands (on behalf of Surinam, Curaçao and New Guinea) and Cuba

The thirteenth session of the Caribbean Commission was held in the Virgin Islands from October 29 to November 3,1951, with Ward M. Canaday (United States) presiding. Items on the agenda included the budget for 1952, consideration of special reports and recommendations, and preparation for the fifth session of the West Indian Conference scheduled to be held in Jamaica in 1952.

The Arab League Collective Security Pact entered into force on August 23, 1952, following the deposit of the instrument of ratification of Iraq. Saudi Arabia signed the pact on August 18.

During the period reviewed, both the Council and Political Committee of the League held several meetings to consider such political matters as the boycott against Israel, possible united action by the Arab League members against the German Federal Republic if an indemnity treaty with Israel were ratified, and policies to be pursued by Arab League members in the seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly. The sixteenth session of the Council, which had opened on March 16 only to adjourn immediately sine die, resumed meeting in Cairo from September 10 to 23. The agenda of the meeting, over which Aly Maher (Egypt) presided, included 1) general Arab political problems, 2) proposals for the establishment of an Institute of Arab Studies at Columbia University, 3) the budget, 4) organization of Arab propaganda, 5) education of children of Arab refugees, 6) Lebanon's proposal to reorganize the Council's inner structure, 7) the question of opening Council meetings to the public, and 8) the founding of an Arab Court of Justice. The Council decided to hold its meetings in secret.