The United Nations cannot be expected to abolish the balancing process, which is the natural expression of the struggle for advantage and influence in international politics. It does, however, endeavor to modify the process. What are the methods which it employs? What actual effect have they had in promoting security? Above all, what relevance do they have for the conduct of American foreign policy?

Within the past eighteen months three disputes involving American republics in the Caribbean area have been brought officially before the Organization of American States. In each instance the Organization, through its Council, as mediator and conciliator, has taken action crowned with at least temporary success. This concentrated testing of a new international institution (new in the sense of recent reconstitution by charter) suggests the need to examine the cases for light thrown on the following questions: What are some of the fundamental causes of Caribbean friction and to what extent can the Organization alleviate them; what is the specific nature of the cases with which the Council has had to deal; what instruments and techniques have been employed in their settlement; and, finally, what tentative conclusions seem warranted as to the efficacy of the inter-American system in the field of pacific settlement?

Readers of this periodical will have been struck with the quantity and the variety of international bodies existing today. Whatever else may be lacking in international organization there is no lack of international organizations.

The fifth regular session of the General Assembly, meeting at Lake Success on September 19, 1950, had before it an agenda of 70 items. The Assembly was expected to discuss, in particular, questions concerning Palestine, the former Italian colonies, the Balkans, threats to the political integrity of China, the problem of the independence of Korea, observance of human rights, international control of atomic energy, technical assistance for under-developed areas, freedom of information, refugees and stateless persons, matters concerning trusteeship and non-self-governing territories, administrative and budgetary matters, reports of the specialized agencies, and reports of the Secretary-General on activities of the organization during the year.

This issue covers the work of the Security Council from the 480th meeting on August 1, 1950 to the 502d meeting on September 18, 1950. On August 1, 1950, the Soviet representative (Yakov Malik) returned to the Council meetings and participated in all of the following sessions, serving as president during the month of August.

The eleventh session of the Economic and Social Council met in Geneva, Switzerland, from July 9 to August 16, 1950. The governments of the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia communicated to the Council their refusal to participate in the session in view of the presence of the “representative of the Kuomintang group,” although the Polish representative attended meetings of the Agenda Committee where he sought unsuccessfully to delete from the agenda the consideration of reports of those committees and commissions of the Council covering sessions in which the representatives of the Nationalist Chinese government had participated. Of the 51 items included on the provisional agenda of the session, the Agenda Committee recommended action on all but one, allegations concerning the infringement of trade union rights, an item which was submitted to the International Trade Organization for consideration.

Following the recommendation in the report of the Committee on Administrative Unions and the subsequent resolution of the Trusteeship Council passed during its seventh session, a Standing Committee on Administrative Unions was established. It held its first meeting at Lake Success on August 18, 1950 at which time the delegate of Argentina (Munoz) was elected chairman. The other members serving on the committee were New Zealand (Laking), Philippines (Aquino) and the United States (Gerig). A resolution was passed by the committee at its second meeting requesting the Secretariat to prepare an informal paper on the terms of reierence of the committee. The report of the Secretariat, based on the resolution of the Trusteeship Council and the report of the Committee on Administrative Unions, was submitted on August 24, 1950 and recommended that the committee might wish to 1) give attention to measures taken in respect to the limitation and duration of the legislative powers of the High Commission and of the East Africa Central Legislative Assembly which would cease to have effect on January 1, 1950, 2) determine whether administering authorities would continue to furnish clear and precise separate financial, statistical and other data relating to the trust territories participating in administrative unions, 3) give attention to the judicial systems of New Guinea and the Cameroons, 4) give attention to the possibility of attaining greater participation of the indigenous population in legislative activities in New Guinea, 5) consider whether the allocation of legislative powers between the East Africa Central Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Assembly of Tanganyika would be conducive to the advancement of the trust territory and an attainment of the objectives of the trusteeship system, 6) examine the extent to which the administering authorities regarded the desires of the inhabitants in matters relating to the administrative unions, 7) examine the extent to which the administering authorities facilitated the work of visiting missions of the United Nations, and 8) study any modification of the boundaries, separate status, and identity of trust territories participating in administrative unions. The resolution of the Trusteeship Council also charged the committee with the duty of ensuring that the administering authorities expended on the administration, welfare and development no less than the total amount of revenue derived from the trust territory in a given year.

The Secretary-General stated in his annual report on the work of the United Nations for the period of July 1, 1949 to June 30, 1950 that despite the failure of the allied powers to resolve their disagreements over the peace settlements of World War II, the United Nations had demonstrated its capacities in many fields during the first five years of its existence. The major decisions and acts of the United Nations between July 1,1949 and June 30,1950 included 1) the decision of the General Assembly to grant independence to Libya within two years and to Somaliland after ten years, 2) the transfer of sovereignty from the Netherlands to the Republic of Indonesia, 3) the renewed effort of the Security Council to settle the dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan, 4) the successful maintenance of the armistice between Israel and her neighbors by the operations of the Mixed Armistice Commissions, 5) the “progressive pacification of the northern borders of Greece” although no settlement of major differences was reached, 6) the start of the United Nations Technical Assistance Program and the pledging of twenty million dollars by Members to the first period of the program, 7) the convening of the United Nations Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources, serving as a beginning for future international action, 8) the preparation of a series of covenants on human rights, 9) the agreement on limitation of opium production, 10) the establishment of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, 11) the decision to appoint a High Commissioner for Refugees, when the International Refugee Organization terminated in 1951, 12) the further development of the trusteeship system with the formulation of an agreement for Italian Somaliland incorporating provisions designed to strengthen the system of supervision which are not found in other trusteeship agreements, and 13) the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice reaffirming the principle of international responsibility for Southwest Africa.

This case was brought to the Court following a dispute between Colombia and Peru on the interpretation of the Convention on Asylum signed at Havana in 1928 and the right of asylum. The government of Peru charged that the government of Colombia did not keep within the terms of the treaty when asylum was granted to Victor Raul Haya de la Torre, a writer and the head of a political party, by the Colombian government in the Colombian Embassy in Lima, Peru. Since the Court had neither a national of Colombia or Peru sitting on the bench, both governments availed themselves of Article 31 (3) of the Statute and named Dr. José Joaquin Caicedo Castilla (Colombia) and Dr. Luis Alayza y Paz Soldan (Peru) to sit as judges ad hoc.

The Sixth Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization was to meet in Washington in November. The eleventh session of the Committee on Financial Control met in July 1950 and recommended reduced expenditure in 1951. Factors responsible for the cut in the working budget, which at maximum would have been $5,000,000 but was estimated at $4,500,000, were the $200,000 which constituted the first repayment installment on the four year loan granted the FAO by Italy for the removal of its headquarters to Rome and $100,000 repayment to its Working Capital Fund which had been drawn upon the previous year. The Director-General (Dodd) noted that despite decreased income increased requests had been made by the member governments upon FAO, especially in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry divisions, and that it had been necessary to create new regional offices in Cairo and Bangkok. The aims of FAO continued as they had been stated in the Report of the Fifth Session of FAO Conference; (1) to undertake a limited number of projects of major importance, (2) to increase projects which extended direct aid to enlargement of production and improvement of nutrition, (3) to place greater emphasis on activities aimed at increasing production of food and primary products, and (4) not to alter the general character of the FAO regular program although it was to be somewhat integrated with that of the United Nations technical assistance program. Budgetary reductions were made in administrative services, travel, regional organization, information and translation work, statistical and economic service, and direct technical assistance. The expanded Technical Assistance Program mitigated, however, reductions of FAO in this field.

In August the International Bank reported a net income for the fiscal year ending June 30,1950 of $13,698,398. For the preceding fiscal year net income had amounted to $10,610,247. Gross income, exclusive of $5,663,064 set aside in the Bank's special reserve, amounted to $25,464,065 for the year ending June 30, 1950, as compared with $21,578,413 for the preceding fiscal year. Expenses amounted to $11,765,667, including $4,370,011 for administration purposes and $7,395,656 for bond interest and other expenses. The Bank also reported that during the period from the beginning of its operations up to June 30, 1950, income had exceeded expenses by $27,339,492 and that commissions received by it on its loans and which were set aside in a special reserve, amounted to $13,737,205 on June 30,1950. During the fiscal year total loan commitments by the Bank increased from $650,100,000 to $816,445,000, loan repayments in the amount of $552,136 were received, and cancellations amounting to $7,638,017 were effected at the request of borrowers. Also disbursements on loans amounted to $87,871,146 bringing total loan disbursements on June 30, 1950 to $614,162,160 and leaving $125,799,823 to be disbursed. As of June 30,1950 the total subscribed capital was $8,348,500,000 including $125,000,000 worth of Poland's shares, which were to be repurchased by the Bank.

Eleventh Session: The Council met for a week (June 22–29) after the Assembly to take care of certain items requiring action before the summer recess. All of the twenty states elected to Council membership on June 10 were represented at the meeting.

The Governing Body of the International Labor Organization held its 112th session at Geneva from June 2 to 30, 1950. During consideration of an agenda of 22 items, the Governing Body completed the membership of the fact-finding and conciliation commission on freedom of association, decided to establish an ad hoc committee of five or six persons having experience in the field of occupational safetyand health to be appointed by the Director-General in consultation with officers of the Governing Body, and authorized the Director-General (Morse) to communicate the report of the Third International Pneumoconiosis Conference held at Sydney in February and March 1950 to the United Nations Secretary-General and the Director-General of the World Health Organization. The Governing Body also convened a meeting of experts to study the status and conditions of employment of domestic workers, authorized the Director-General to communicate to governments the reports, resolutions and memoranda adopted by the second session of the Chemical Industries Committee, accepted an invitation from the government of the United States of Indonesia to hold the first session of the Committee on Work in Plantations in Indonesia in December 1950, and appointed members of the Governing Body delegates to the third session of the Petroleum Committee to be held in Geneva in October and November. Other action taken by the Governing Body included acceptance of the invitation of the French government to hold the third session of the Textiles Committee in Lyons from November 28 to December 9, 1950, approved the general lines of a program of technical assistance ILO could undertake in the manpower field, noted that ILO had $2,500,000 at its disposal for its technical assistance activities, and accepted an offer by states members of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation which were also members of ILO to make available to ILO $998,000 for establishment of a special fund to finance additional action in the field of migration.

The government of Egypt paid $8,507,929.67 in gold and United States dollars to the International Monetary Fund on July 10,1950 in exchange for the equivalent amount in Egyptian pounds. Of the amount paid by Egypt to the Fund $829,766.03 was in gold and $7,678,163.64 in United States dollars. This payment, which became due in consequence of recent increases in Egypt's monetary reserves, fulfilled that country's obligation to use part of the increase to repurchase the Fund's holdings of Egyptian pounds in excess of 75 percent of Egypt's quota.

The fifth session of the IRO Council which met in Geneva during March 1950 decided upon the maintenance and care of displaced persons who were to be resettled before March 31, 1951. The termination date of IRO activities was to be carried on beyond the former termination date of June 30, 1950 set by the Council. The Director-General, J. Donald Kingsley, was instructed to request the Allied High Commission in Germany to contribute to the cost of the additional program out of Deutschemark funds. The Council voted that the International Tracing Service, an activity of IRO, also was to be continued beyond June 30, 1950, but that the Director-General was to arrange a transfer of this service to the High Commission in Germany before March 31, 1951. The sixth session of the General Council was to meet in Geneva in October.

Tariff negotiations were to commence September 28 at Torquay, England between the contracting parties of GATT. In August the United States announced its intention to negotiate with Cuba at the September meeting in addition to the 23 previously named countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Sweden, Turkey, Union of South Africa and the United Kingdom). It was announced that Nicaragua had become the first Central American republic to approve GATT.

In May 1950 the United Nations Secretary-General (Lie) and the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Bodet) submitted a joint report to the Economic and Social Council entitled “Teaching about the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies”. This was in response to resolution 203 (VIII) of ECOSOC which requested the Secretary-General and the Director-General of UNESCO to submit jointly, not later than June 1, 1950, a complete, analytical report on the progress achieved in teaching about the United Nations in educational institutions of member states. The report was based largely on information received from nineteen member countries during 1949, but use also was made of statements received and included in two interim reports on teaching about the United Nations submitted to ECOSOC in 1948 and 1949. Altogether reports from 37 members were analyzed.

The Third World Health Assembly met in Geneva from May 8 to May 27, 1950. Notice of Poland's decision to withdraw from WHO was received August 15 by the Director-General (Dr. Brock Chisholm). By its action, Poland became the tenth member to withdraw. However the Third Assembly did not officially accept the resignations as there was no provision for withdrawal in the WHO Charter and asked that the decisions be reconsidered.

The Political Committee of the Arab League met in Alexandria on August 14, 1950 to prepare a common program for the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. It was also reported in the press, however, that one of the main subjects for discussion was the wide divergence of opinion among the Arab states, concerning United Nations intervention in Korea, the Palestine problem, the nomination of an Arab state to the United Nations Security Council, to which Lebanon and Turkey had announced themselves candidates, and the proposals of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for the solution of the Palestine problem. Press reports further indicated that Egypt had agreed that the question of Jordan's status in the League, after the annexation of east Palestine, would not come up again until the October meeting of the Council of the League. The League was reported as anxious to obtain United Nations recognition as a regional organization with official standing, similar to that of the Organization of American States. As a preliminary to such recognition it was believed necessary to obtain the signatures of all the League members to the collective security pact which had been adopted by the Council at its last meeting. On August 17, 1950 the Political Committee decided to direct its members to inform the United Nations that the demands concerning Arab refugees in Palestine would be pressed in the General Assembly, and would insist on concrete implementation of the United Nations resolutions calling for the return of Arab refugees to their original homes and the internationalization of Jerusalem.

On July 20, 1950 the seventh periodic meeting of the Western Union Defense Committee took place. Present were the defense ministers of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg as well as the military, air and naval chiefs. The ministers considered the international military situation and some proposals drawn up by the commanders-in-chief. They recognized the necessity of speeding up, without delay, the production of war material and of increasing the defensive power of the western union land, air and sea forces “as a guarantee against aggression.”