Having considered the report prepared by the Secretary-General, in consulltation with the specialized agencies, on an expanded programme of technical assistance for economic development, pursuant to resolution 180 (VIII), 2 Being impressed with the significant contribution to economic development that can be made by an expansion of the international interchange of technical knowledge through international co-operation among countries, Believing that a sound international programme of this character must combine and make use of the experience of many nations, with different social patterns and cultural traditions and at different stages of development, so as to facilitate progress in the less advanced countries and to help solve their technical and economic problems.

In 1961, therefore, we shall do what we have to do. We shall help to build up Europe, which, by confederating its nations, can and must—for the sake of mankind—become the greatest potential economic, military, and cultural power that has ever existed. We shall help this assembled Europe and its daughter America to reorganize their alliance to better defend the free world and to act together in all parts of the earth.

The General Council of the International Refugee Organization held its eighth session October 23 to 27, 1951 at Geneva. The Council reviewed the annual report of the Director-General for the period July 1, 1950 to June 30, 1951 in which Mr. Kingsley summarized the activities and achievements of IRO since its inception, defined the migration trends for the previous year, and discussed methods being employed to transfer IRO functions to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Allied High Commission for Germany, and to voluntary groups and local authorities. In a supplementary report on residual problems Mr. Kingsley emphasized the serious refugee problems in Greece, Trieste, Austria, Italy, China, and Korea which would survive the organization's closure early in 1952 despite the substantial completion of IRO activities by that time. He reported that 573 ‘institutional hard core’ cases were being resettled and 1,514 locally resettled but pointed out a lack in satisfactory arrangement for 477 hard core cases in Shanghai, Samar, Greece, and Spain, while particularly emphasizing the need to make intensive efforts to resettle the 398 cases in Shanghai and 900 additional cases in Trieste. Although the Council agreed to delay its communication on residual problems to the United Nations until its next session pending further information on Trieste and Shanghai, it approved a decision first to assist the 477 hard core cases, then to apportion expenditures equally between material assistance and resettlement. At the close of this report on residual problems Mr. Kingsley announced the favorable outcome of the shipping program and satisfactory arrangements with the ‘institutional hard core’, permitting resettlement of 9,000 additional refugees before closure.

Meeting in December 1949 for its eighteenth session, the Executive Board of UNESCO elected Sir John Maud (United Kingdom) as its chairman for 1949–50. The Board devoted most of its attention to the work of the fifth General Conference which it decided to convene in Florence, Italy, on May 22, 1950; the chief task of the Conference would be to consider the “streamlined” program of operations approved by the fourth General Conference in Paris in 1949. The Board decided to abandon the practice of an opening general debate adopted at the Paris conference and to substitute a general discussion of the Director-General's report, thus permitting the delegations to go fully into the aims and policies of the organization. In preparation for the conference, the Executive Board instructed its program committee to prepare a program of three parts: 1) a basic program of operations, 2) a list of methods by which the program could be implemented, and 3) a work plan for 1951. At the same session, the Board authorized the Director-General to establish liaison with the Council of Europe as a part of UNESCO's program of cooperation with regional organizations. In view of the fact that the Council had created and intended to create no machinery for educational and cultural purposes, the Executive Board instructed the Director-General to examine the possibility of concluding an agreement with the Council in order that UNESCO might carry out certain phases of educational and cultural activity on its behalf.

The deputies of the Council of Foreign Ministers resumed negotiations on the Austrian treaty in London on June 10, 1950. The meeting ended in deadlock with the Soviet delegate declaring that so long as violations referred to in the Soviet note of July 8 on Trieste continued, there could be no guarantee that the western powers would not similarly violate the Austrian treaty. After the western delegates denied the allegations on Trieste and maintained that they were irrelevant to the Austrian treaty, it was agreed to hold a further meeting on September 7 subject to the approval of the Soviet government.

On June 7, 1960, it was announced that the government of Guatemala had entered into a one-year stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund authorizing drawings up to $15 million in support of the country's currency. The purpose of the arrangement was to help Guatemala maintain the traditional stability of the quetzal by providing a second line of reserves to supplement other stabilization measures, such as an increase of reserve requirements against bank deposits, limitations on central bank rediscounts, and a further reduction of government expenditures. Guatemala, with a quota of $15 million, had not previously drawn upon the Fund's resources.

Secretary-General Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold in the introduction to his thirteenth annual report on the work of the Organization, June 16, 1957–June 15, 1958/ drew attention to some aspects of recent developments since the opening of the twelfth session of the General Assembly. He first dealt with the question of disarmament, observing that although new and serious difficulties had arisen to prevent pursuing the work in forms which had been followed in past years, efforts had been made Co approach one aspect of the problem from a new angle. In this context he referred to the meeting of experts from eight countries, representing both sides, which had convened in Geneva in the summer of 1958 to study the technical possibility of detecting violations of a possible agreement to suspend nuclear weapons tests. These experts agreed on what would be needed, from the technical point of view, and thus, by isolating certain non-political, scientific elements from the politically controversial elements in the total problem of disarmament, reduced the area of conflict some what. Mr. Hammarskjold suggested that it might be worth considering whether those elements of the problem of disarmament lending themselves to objective study by experts in science and technology, in military experience, and in law might not be singled out for separate treatment in a similar manner. The Secretary General noted that with the successful conclusion of the technical discussions at Geneva, all the present atomic powers had taken initiatives in the direction of a suspension of further weapons tests. The growing awareness of the increasing dangers of the continuing arms race might, Mr. Hammarskjold remarked, be reflected in the debates of the UN, were the General Assembly to resume discussion of disarmament under the item which he had proposed for the thirteenth session.

During the period from September 16, 1954 through December 15, 1954, the Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) took a number of administrative and budgetary decisions among which were the following: 1) At a meeting on September 16, 1954, the Council decided to postpone until 1955 the Second Meeting of the Inter-American Cultural Council and the Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education, the exact date of the meetings to be determined by the Council in consultation with the government of Brazil since the meetings would be held in that country. 2) On October 20, 1954, the Council decided to include the representative of Chile on the Committee on Juridical-Political Matters, thereby increasing the membership of the committee to fourteen. 3) On November 17, 1954, the Council elected Dr. José A. Mora (Uruguay) Chairman, and Dr. José Ramón Rodríguez (Dominican Republic) Vice-Chairman for 1954–1955. 4) Under a resolution adopted by the Council on December 15, 1954, the chairmen or vice-chairmen of special committees were to be included in the membership of the General Committee, and ex-chairmen of the Council who were still members might participate and vote in the discussions of the General Committee. 5) On December 15, 1954, the Council also approved the organization plan of the Inter-American Travel Congresses submitted by the Fifth Inter-American Travel Congress.

According to the press, a one-day meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Pact in Moscow on February 4, 1960, was attended by premiers and foreign ministers of the eight pact members (Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Soviet Union, and Romania) and by observers from Communist China, Mongolia, North Vietnam, and North Korea. In a 4,000-word declaration issued after the meeting, the pact members expressed the hope that forthcoming East-West summit talks would be “a turning point in the relations” between the two groups of countries and proposed that the summit agenda include such topics as general and controlled disarmament, a German peace treaty, creation of a free city of West Berlin, a ban on nuclear weapons tests, and amelioration of relations between East and West. The committee also repeated the communist proposal for a non-aggression pact between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact countries and called on NATO members to respond to the Soviet Union's armed forces cut of 1, 200, 000 men by reducing their forces as well. It criticized NATO for maintaining “inflated armies” and for arming West Germany with atomic weapons, adding that the West German government was being given a free hand in the production of these weapons.

The General Assembly,

In accordance with Annex XI, paragraph 3, of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947, whereby the Powers concerned have agreed to accept the recommendation of the General Assembly on the disposal of the former Italian colonies and to take appropriate measures for giving effect to it,

Having taken note of the report of the Four Power Commission of Investigation, having heard spokesmen of organizations representing substantial sections of opinion in the territories concerned, and having taken into consideration the wishes and welfare of the inhabitants of the territories, the interests of peace and security, the views of the interested Governments and the relevant provisions of the Charter,

Additional measures to increase the numbers of scientists and engineers in European countries were agreed upon by the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) in approving the second annual program of the organization's Office for Scientific and Technical Personnel. Potential funds at the disposal of the Office were increased to approximately $1,350,000 in order to put this program into effect. The new program was to comprise courses, seminars, conferences, and improved methods of instruction and experiment which would help the spread of scientific and technological knowledge and new training policies throughout Europe.

The Assembly of Western European Union (WEU) held the second part of its fourth session in Paris from December 17 to 20, 1958, under the presidency of Sir James Hutchison (British Conservative). In the course of the session, the Assembly was addressed by the Foreign Ministers of Belgium, the German Federal Republic, and the Netherlands, by the United Kingdom Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, by the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (M. Spaak), and by the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (General Norstad). The Supreme Commander considered that if a demilitarized zone was established in Europe, as suggested in the Rapacki Plan, his task would become impossible; M. Spaak also had little faith in a denuclearized zone, in an era of intercontinental missiles.

The seventeenth session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board was held in Geneva from January 17 to February 2, 1956. One of the principal decisions taken at the session concerned a comprehensive program of research and study for protection against the effects of atomic radiation. The program was to include studies under WHO auspices on the effect of radiation on human heredity, on the protection of health against radiation, the standardization of radiation units and radiation doses to encourage the adoption of uniform codes of practice, and the improvement of pharmaceutical standards for modes of preparation and specific activities of radioisotopes for medical use. Training of health personnel, provision of fellowships and training facilities for a study of the problem of radioactive waste disposal, and the collection and distribution of information on the medical problems of atomic energy and on the medical uses of isotopes were also to be included in the study program. Among other decisions taken by the Board were the following: 1) it expressed pleasure that the Soviet Union had expressed its readiness to participate actively again in the work of WHO, and referred to the Assembly the question of settling arrears of contributions by the Soviet Union; 2) it recommended a budget of $11,000,000 for 1957, an increase of $800,000 over the budget for 1956; 3) it approved the creation of registry centers for the study of cancer tissues on an international basis, in the hope that comparative research might give a clue to the cause of cancer; 4) it endorsed a program of research to overcome the danger of growing resistance of disease-bearing insects to modern insecticides; 5) it called for more decisive action, in the form of large-scale campaigns, against leprosy in every country still affected by the disease; and 6) it appointed a fivemember committee on malaria eradication to advise the Director-General on various aspects of the intensified malaria campaigns and on steps to obtain increased voluntary contributions from official and private sources. Before concluding its seventeenth session, the Board agreed to hold the eighteenth session in Geneva beginning on May 28, 1956, after the close of the ninth World Health Assembly.

Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand): According to an order of December 5, 1959, the International Court of Justice in the case of the Temple of Preah Vihear fixed January 20, i960, as the time limit for filing the memorial of Cambodia, and May 23, 1960, for filing the counter-memorial of Thailand.

Reorganization of the Coal and Steel Industries of the Ruhr: On March 29 the Allied High Commissioners met with west German trade union leaders to discuss the contemplated revision of the anti-trust provisions for Ruhr iron and steel and coal industries of United States-United Kingdom Law 75, passed by the bipartite military government organization in November 1947. After two days of continued negotiations on the proposed law, which would reorganize the iron and steel industries of the Ruhr, the Allied High Commission on April 14 issued a communiqué stating that the draft of the law had been adopted with certain amendments. The communiqué further stated that the decision to adopt the preamble had not been unanimous and that an appeal had been made against it. When Sir Brian Robertson (United Kingdom) and John J. McCloy (United States) voted in favor of the preamble, André François-Poncet (France) appealed to the French government against a clause granting the federal government the right to decide the eventual ownership of die iron and steel and coal industries. Following rejection of the French appeal the Commission made public the reorganization law on May 17.

A significant aspect of post-Stalinist Soviet foreign policy has been the flexibility and imaginativeness with which it has maneuvered in under-developed areas, particularly in the non-aligned nations of Southern Asia—Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon, India, and Indonesia. This innovation involved a fundamental shift in tactics and must now be considered a prominent feature of Soviet foreign policy. The previous neglect of South Asia was occasioned by a preoccupation with the sovietization of eastern Europe, the imperatives of postwar reconstruction and economic expansion, and the rise of communist China; it may also be attributed, in important measure, to Stalin's underestimation of the role which the area might play in enhancing the international position of the Soviet Union. This aspect of Stalinism is now over. Since 1953, Soviet leadership has pushed its interests in South Asia with skill and vigor, both on a bilateral basis and within the framework of international organizations. Of late, the bilateral ventures have received careful attention in this country. Less systematic attention, however, has been devoted to Soviet behavior in international economic organizations. In this respect, the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) affords an excellent opportunity to investigate this phase of Soviet political behavior.

The Trusteeship Council held its eighth special session from October 13 to October 17, 1958, at UN Headquarters in New York. Following the adoption of its agenda, the Council decided to examine simultaneously the two major items before it, the future of Togoland under French administration and the examination of the annual report of the French government on Togoland for the year 1956. The Council also had before it the observations of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the territory. At the Council's 937th meeting, Mr. Dorsinville, the commissioner for the supervision of elections in the territory, presented his report on the elections which had been held on April 28, 1958, which he had drawn up in accordance with a resolution adopted at the twelfth session of the General Assembly. Mr. Dorsinville drew the attention of the Council to the fact that the election results had been contested in six electoral circonscriptions, but that the appeals concerning the results had been rejected by the administrative tribunal. The composition of the Chamber of Deputies was, therefore, the same as that announced by the Election Returns Board, as given in Mr. Dorsinville's report. The commissioner re-affirmed the conviction expressed in his report that the results of the elections reflected the wishes of the people of Togoland. He pointed out that by the election of April 1958 the unanimity of the government of Togoland had ended, so that the present government was composed of a majority of a little more than two-thirds of the members of the new Assembly. The change in public opinion in Togoland seemed to explain the election results, in Mr. Dorsinville's view; the UN mission, he stated, had helped to create the circumstances favorable to the free expression of the people's will. Mr. Dorsinville also noted that the conversations between the French government and a Togolese delegation which had resulted in a communique were an indication of the good relations to be promoted between Togoland and France.

It is a truism that the text of the Charter gives a quite misleading picture of the United Nations as it is today. In no respect is this more true than in the working of the Organization in the maintenance of international peace and security. Those provisions of the Charter which were claimed by its authors to provide the new Organization with teeth that the League of Nations did not have either have never been used or have in practice been of little importance. New emphases and new methods have been developed through the liberal interpretation of Charter provisions. These have not always been equally acceptable to all Members, however. The process of adaptation and development continues, with great present uncertainty as to what the future has in store.

The United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees presents a challenging example of the world's response to a new and sudden human tragedy at a time when its sympathies had almost been drained away by recent appeals. The need for relief measures in the Middle East was created by the flight of at least 750,000 Arabs from their homes in Palestine during 1948. The problem was first brought to the attention of the United Nations by the late Count Folke Bemadotte and the Arab League in July of that year, and there was set in motion an ad hoc relief organization, the direct descendant of which is functioning at the present time. A brief survey of the operation to date provides a study in the manner in which international organizations, governmental and nongovernmental, have met human needs in an area seething with tension and tragedy.