During the sixth session of the Executive Board in Geneva from June 1 to June 9, 1950, it was reported that some difficulties had been encountered in the establishment of a regional office for Europe. Six member states had not replied to the request sent them on the subject, seven had expressed reservations, six had sent in negative replies, and only eight had indicated their approval. It was also proposed that rules of procedure of the Assembly be changed to permit the participation in discussions of representatives of the Executive Board in either plenary or committee meetings. During the biennial revision of the list of non-governmental organizations with which WHO maintained official relations, a total of eighteen were retained. The Executive Board also agreed that, while WHO was not an organization for sending supplies to governments, it was nonetheless true that supplies were occasionally indispensable to enable a government to carry out a specific program. A total of $100,000 had been thus distributed to Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Finland, India, Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan, Monaco, Portugal, Thailand and Yugoslavia for the control of malaria and leprosy, the improvement of nursing care and similar activities.

At a meeting in Strasbourg during the first week of August 1951, the Committee of Ministers made the following decisions: 1) referred back to a committee of experts the problem of refugees; 2) approved the addition of clauses guaranteeing the right to hold property, the right of parents to send their children to church schools and the right to participate in free elections, to the European Convention on Human Rights; 3) agreed to a change in the rules of procedure permitting the ministers, by unanimous decision, to allow those states having no interest in a particular action to abstain from voting on it. This last change would permit such projects as the Schuman Plan to be approved by ministers of the interested countries without involving others.

The meeting of the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation at Paris on October 6 and 7, 1950 had before it a memorandum submitted by the Secretary-General of the organization (Marjolin) concerned chiefly with the economic problems arising from the new international situation and the threat of inflation as a result of the western rearmament effort. The Secretary-General strongly emphasized collective action by member governments rather than on individual solutions to check inflation before it gathered greater momentum. The Council, using the memorandum as a basis, made decisions on the following present and potential problems: international financial stability, investments, raw material shortages, electrical energy, manpower, trade and payments.

On May 14, 1951 meetings were held of the Council and Political Committee of the Arab League in Damascus. Press reports indicated that the meeting of the Political Committee concerned the question of whether or not the Arab states should put into effect a real military alliance. On the same day the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Egyptian Chamber of Deputies had discussed the ratification of the Arab collective security pact. Egypt had been the originator of the pact which although initialled by six of the seven Arab nations had only been ratified by Saudi-Arabia. The press deduced from these reports that Syria wanted to know where it stood in case the Israeli-Syrian conflict became more serious. Iraq had already offered any support Syria asked for and sent some military detachments and an anti-aircraft unit through Syrian territory to the Israeli border. The Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel (Sharett), however, in an address to the Knesset Parliament in Jerusalem, warned the Political Committee that Israel was firmly resolved to defend every inch of her territory against encroachment or domination by Syria.

A two-week session of the Arab League concluded in Cairo on February 2, 1951. On January 27, the League issued a statement that the Political Committee had examined the Libyan question and that after hearing a report of the Egyptian Foreign Minister (Mohamed Salah el Din Bey) on the developments of that question in the United Nations, had authorized the Egyptian government to continue its study of the problem so that the United Nations decision relative to the independence of Libya should be implemented.

On September 15, 1951 the seventh session of the North Atlantic Council met at Ottawa. At this meeting, members were represented by their foreign ministers, defense ministers, and economic or finance ministers. Press reports indicated that the “Big Three” (United Kingdom, France, United States) intended to press for: 1) creation of a unified European army to include German units of “division” strength; 2) addition of Greece and Turkey; 3) revision of the Italian peace treaty in order to release Italy from limitations on its armed forces; 4) negotiation of a settlement of the Italian-Yugoslav dispute over Trieste.

After approving the report of the Committee on Inter-American Organizations regarding the inter-American codification agencies, the Council of the Organization of American States, at its meeting on October 4, 1950, declared that certain inter-American agencies had ceased to function and that the functions assigned in the charter of the organization to the Council and its permanent committee included all the “essential attributes formerly invested in” these agencies. This action was taken pursuant to a resolution of the Ninth International Conference of American States and after consultation with the Inter-American Council of Jurists. Agencies declared defunct were: the Inter-American Conference of American Jurists, the Committee of Experts for the Codification of International Law, the Permanent Committee of Rio de Janeiro for the Codification of Public International Law, the Permanent Committee of Montevideo for the Codification of Private International Law, the Permanent Committee of Havana on Comparative Legislation and Uniformity of Legislation, and the Permanent Committee of Jurists for the Unification of the Civil and Commercial Laws of America.

A combined exercise, lasting about three days, was held at the end of April 1951. United Kingdom and Dutch military, naval and air forces took part in the exercise. A Dutch light cruiser, two United Kingdom destroyers, two Dutch frigates and a number of United Kingdom and Dutch MTB's, landing craft and motor launches cooperated with Dutch military forces in bombardment and amphibious operations and Netherlands aircraft provided air attack and support.

The Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, meeting on August 29, 1951 issued a declaration at the close of the meeting stating that the broad objectives of the OEEC policies would be to expand total production in western Europe by 25 percent over the next five years. By this increase in production, an improvement in living standards and further social progress could be achieved while meeting defense requirements. “Conditions from country to country may vary, but an expansion of this size is well within the power of the European economy as a whole through the effective use of its resources… Europe possesses great national resources, a large industrial potential, a skilled and ample labor force, and a capacity to achieve rapid technical progress. The full mobilization of these resources requires foresight, resolution, a cooperative effort, and the pursuit of policies based on social justice. The governments are convinced that such policies are essential in order to preserve the gains already made and to realize continued progress. Social justice demands a distribution of burdens and benefits that will promote the well-being of the less favored sections of the community.”

The Caribbean Commission held its twelfth meeting at Barbados from May 7 to 12, 1951 under the chairmanship of Sir George Seel (United Kingdom).

Jamaica was chosen as the site for the fifth session of the West Indian Conference which was to be held in the first half of October to avoid conflict with the tourist season. The principal theme was to be “Industrialization and Vocational Training”.

As a result of certain decisions of the North Atlantic Council, the five Brussels treaty powers met in Brussels on December 20 to effect the immediate merging of the Western Union defense organization with that of the North Atlantic Treaty nations. It was decided that the Brussels Pact board of production and supply would be incorporated with the production board of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The defense forces of the Brussels Pact organization were to form the nucleus in the administration and personnel of the enlarged and unified North Atlantic defense organization. However, a statement issued by the Consultative Council of Western Powers revealed that the Brussels Pact organization would not be abolished and that the merger with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization “would in no way affect the obligations which the five countries have undertaken by virtue of the Brussels Treaty.”

On September 26, 1950, the Austrian cabinet voted to permit the country's cost of living to rise to an approximation of the world level, and to make a compensating increase of ten to fourteen percent in wage levels. Three days later the United States representative (Keyes) charged, with the support of the French and United Kingdom commissioners (Bethouart and Caccia), that the resulting riots in Vienna had been inspired by the Soviet Union which had a) transported rioters in trucks about Vienna, b) refused to permit Viennese police in the Soviet sector to be used to quell the rioting, c) prevented police from removing workers of a Soviet controlled plant from railway yards which they had occupied. These charges were denied by the Soviet commissioner (Tsinev) as slanderous allegations of the western representatives whose countries had been responsible for the riots because of the deterioration of living conditions in Austria as the result of the Marshall Plan.

Meeting on July 7, 1951, the Council of the Organization of American States accepted the offer of the government of Panama that the seat of the Second Extraordinary meeting of the Inter-American Economic and Social Council, called for August 20, should be at Panama City. In subsequent meetings, the Council took action, on the initiative of the representative of Mexico, toward implementing Article 76 of the Charter of Bogotá by establishing a provisional Committee for Cultural Action. The provisional committee was to be appointed by the first meeting of the Inter-American Cultural Council, which was to meet at Mexico City from September 10 to 25, 1951. In accordance with the Charter, the permanent members of the Committee for Cultural Action were to be designated at the Tenth Inter-American Conference. Further, the Council decided to establish a special committee which would be entrusted with the responsibility of studying the procedure that should be followed in order to define the position of the American countries in regard to the Universal Convention on Copyright sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and in order to determine the way in which the rules of Pan American conventions could be brought into accord with the proposed universal rules.

During October and November, 1950, press reports indicated that the Allied High Commission for Germany was primarily concerned with the implementation of the three-power agreement on Germany reached in New York on September 19, 1950. Although all of the proposals relating to the creation of mobile police formations and the integration of German forces into those of western Europe were stalled pending agreement between the members of the North Atlantic Council as to the nature and size of such German forces, reports indicated that consideration of various proposals to amend the occupation statute were going forward. While no details were revealed, the Chancellor of western Germany (Adenauer) indicated that one suggestion had been that the easing of allied industrial, economic and political controls would be conditioned upon the acceptance by the Bonn government of prewar German debts and a willingness to share strategic war materials. Other reports indicated that the amended occupation statute would terminate controls over German use of funds, food and other supplies, permit the lapsing of powers enforcing decartelization once existing orders had been carried through and adequate legislation enacted, and would abandon the review of all laws or directives while reserving emergency power to annul any believed inconsistent with previous policy.

The fourth session of the West Indian Conference met at Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands West Indies from November 24 to December 7, 1950. In addition to the sixteen commissioners from the four member governments, the conference was attended by delegates from fourteen of the fifteen territories administered by member governments and by a large number of observers representing the United Nations, ILO and FAO.

Meeting in Strasbourg on May 2, 1951, before the opening of the third session of the Consultaive Assembly, the eighth session of the Committee of the Ministers agreed that western Germany should be promoted from associate to full membership in the Council of Europe as it fulfilled, in their estimation, the requirements of the Statute. On the same day, Dr. Konrad Adenaur, Chancellor and Foreign Minister for the Federal Republic of Germany, joined the committee. The Saar was left, therefore, as the only associate member of the Council and its minister of the interior (Hector) attended committee meetings as an observer. The question of the Saar's future status was avoided by the Committee of Ministers in view of the German position that it should be completely dropped from membership.

With the development of certain administrative frictions (concerning coal quotas, occupation costs, and the scrap metal treaty) between the western occupying powers and the German Federal Republic, early indications were that if the talk of “contractual agreements” did materialize it would reserve, for the occupying powers, wide controls over important areas of west Germany's internal and external affairs. In Washington, however, a general modification of approach was noted during the September discussions between the United States Secretary of State (Acheson), the United Kingdom Foreign Secretary (Morrison), and the French Foreign Minister (Schuman), preparatory to the Ottawa meetings of the North Atlantic Council.

Proposed Meeting of the Council: Meeting in Prague on October 20 and 21, 1950, the foreign ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, eastern Germany and the Soviet Union issued a statement in reply to the communiqué on Germany released on September 19 by the foreign ministers of France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Charging that the position of the three western governments was merely a screen to conceal the aggressive objectives of the North Atlantic Treaty and that the creation of mobile police formations was nothing less than the reconstitution of a German army, the eight foreign ministers stated that they considered as urgent 1) the publication by the three western powers and the Soviet Union of a statement of their intent to refuse to permit German rearmament and of their unswerving determination to create a united peace-loving German state; 2) the removal of all restrictions hindering the development of the peaceful German economy and the prevention of a resurgence of German war potential; 3) the conclusion of a German treaty and the withdrawal of all occupation forces within one year of its conclusion; and 4) the creation of an all-German constituent council to prepare for a provisional German government. The text of the communiqué was communicated to the United Kingdom, the United States and France under cover of a Soviet note on November 3. Stating that the Prague declaration possessed “the greatest significance for the cause of assuring international peace and security” and touched the “fundamental national interests of the peoples of Europe,” the Soviet government proposed the convening of the Council of Foreign Ministers „for consideration of the question of fulfillment of the Potsdam agreement regarding demilitarization of Germany.”

On May 5, 1951, the Deputies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced the adoption by their governments of new terms of reference for the North Atlantic Council, a reorganization of the various committees of the Council, and the creation of a financial and economic board.

The seventh session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe was held in Paris on March 16 and 17; 1951. During a private meeting held before the session, the ministers agreed that Germany should become a full member of the Council. Final decision was deferred, however, pending consultation with the Standing Committee of the Assembly.