The European Parliament met in Strasbourg on May 14–15, 1963. Mr. Albert Coppé, Vice President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), presented the Community's annual report. He stressed the urgent need of a common energy policy and exposed the disturbing position of the steel market in which production was at its maximum and yet imports were rising. Mr. Coppé expressed the High Authority's wish that the problems now facing ECSC be included in the discussions of proposals for synchronization of European Community programs, and he reaffirmed the High Authority's position which was in principle favorable to the merger of the European Community's executive institutions.

The 37th session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), comprising the 1314th-1351st meetings, was held in Geneva from July 13, 1964, to August 15, 1964. At the 1314th meeting Sir Ronald Walker (Australia) was elected President of the Council; Mr. Matsui (Japan) was elected First Vice President; and Mr. Chanderli (Algeria) was elected Second Vice President.

Listed below is the membership of United Nations bodies for 1968. 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.

Perhaps the most striking development in the non-political activities of the United Nations system during recent years has been the rapid expansion of its field operations. While this evolution received its chief impetus from the “Expanded” Technical Assistance Program (ETAP)inaugurated in 1950, there have also been significant shifts of emphasis toward “aids to member states” in the “regular” programs of those specialized agencies concerned with welfare, notably the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and most recently, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This growth in the volume of outpost activities has led not only to the establishment of field offices in many countries but to an increasing consideration of the pros and cons of devolving the administration of aid programs from central headquarters to the country or regional level.

The General Assembly held its fifth emergency special session at the request of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics with the concurrence of a majority of Member States. The session comprised the 1525th–1558th plenary meetings, held between July 4 and 21, 1967, with a final meeting, the 1559th, held on September 18, 1967. Abdul Rahman Pazhwak (Afghanistan), President of the 21st session of the General Assembly, presided over the emergency session

While analysis of any institution of such recent origin as the Interim Committee of the General Assembly can be only tentative in nature and must be subject to reservation at many points, it is possible at this time to identify certain trends in the development of the Interim Committee and its work. The broad questions to which an answer will be sought in the course of this inquiry are these: Why did a 1945 Netherlands' proposal for a standing committee on peace and security of the General Assembly meet with little response in the Preparatory Commission, while two years later a similar proposal by the United States was accepted by an overwhelming majority? For what purposes was the Interim Committee established, and, how successfully has it accomplished these purposes? Has the Interim Committee been organized in the best possible fashion for performance of its assigned functions? What, at this time, seems to be the future role of the Interim Committee in the United Nations system?

The General Assembly held its seventeenth session, comprising the II22nd–I202nd plenary meetings, at UN Headquarters from September 18 through December 20, 1962, during which time it took action on 95 items. The Assembly decided to convene a special session prior to June 30, 1963, for the purpose of considering the financial situation of the Organization. Six countries were admitted to membership during the session: at the II22nd meeting, Rwanda, Burundi, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago; at the II46th meeting, Algeria; and at the II58th meeting, Uganda. The membership of the UN was thereby brought to IIO.

My purpose in this article is to trace as briefly as possible the recent history of the movement for European unity, to indicate the policies it advocates and the results so far achieved; it is not to argue either for or against those policies or to speculate on what influence the movement may have in shaping the future of Europe.

The ninth annual Conference of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Parliamentarians was held in Paris on November 4–8, 1963. Addressing the parliamentarians, Mr. Dirk U. Stikker, Secretary-General of NATO, outlined the three essential aspects of the evolution in international relationships presently confronting the Alliance: first, relations between East and East—the rivalry between the Soviet Union and Communist China; secondly, relations between East and West—the questions arising from the Soviet Union's agreement to sign a partial test-ban treaty and the relations between the West and the uncommitted world; and, thirdly, relations between West and West—relations within the Atlantic Alliance itself.

Under General Assembly resolution 177 (II), paragraph (a), the International Law Commission was directed to “formulate the principles of international law recognized in the Charter of the Nurnberg Tribunal and in the judgment of the Tribunal”.

This study explores how race impacts the legitimacy of international organizations (IOs). Specifically, we examine whether the representation of Black people in IO leadership positions influences perceptions of IO legitimacy among Black and white individuals. To do so, we fielded seven survey experiments in two racially diverse countries, South Africa and the United States, and three experiments in one predominantly Black country, Kenya. Our experiments were designed to distinguish the effects of an IO leader's race from their region of origin. We find that Black IO leadership enhances perceptions of institutional legitimacy among Black citizens, but does not strongly influence the legitimacy perceptions of their white counterparts. Our findings suggest that improving the representation of historically marginalized racial groups within IOs can enhance their popular legitimacy.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held its ninth General Conference in New Delhi from November 5 to December 5, 1956. It was presided over by Mr. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister of Education (India).1 Of the 76 states which were members of UNESCO as of June 30, 1956, the Conference recognized as valid the credentials of 73 attending member states. In addition, the Conference was attended by delegates from associate members, and observers from non-member states, the UN and international and non-governmental organizations.

The first part of the eighth ordinary session of the Assembly of the Western European Union (WEU) took place in Paris from June 4 to 8, 1962. Mr. Arthur Conte (French Socialist) was re-elected President. In addition to the usual reports on defense questions, the Assembly took up the question of the negotiations between the European Common Market and the United Kingdom. On the solution of the Commonwealth problem in the negotiations, the Assembly recommended that special provisions should be worked out to cover a transitional period for imported foodstuffs, especially from the temperate zone. On political union, the Assembly's recommendation proposed that it should take the form of a Community institution, with an executive independent of the member states and responsible to an elected assembly and a ministerial council voting in some cases by qualified majority.

Ambatielos Case: When oral proceedings in the preliminary objection in the Ambatielos Case opened on May 15, as announced, the President of the Court stated that the Greek government had designated an ad hoc judge in the person of Mr. Jean Spiropoulos. Sir Eric Beckett, counsel for the United Kingdom, stated that, in spite of the United Kingdom's contention that the jurisdiction of the Court should be accepted as widely as possible by states, it felt bound to contest the jurisdiction of the Court in the case under consideration because: 1) the dispute related to facts occurring before 1930 when the United Kingdom first accepted the Optional Clause; 2) it considered the claim of denial of justice completely unfounded on the merits; 3) it considered it clear that municipal remedies had not been exhausted; and 4) no claim of any denial of justice or other breach of an international obligation was made until 1933, ten years after the events and eight years after a refusal of a request ex gratia in which it had been admitted that no legal claim could be made. Sir Eric explained that the United Kingdom, although it took the preliminary objection that the Court had no jurisdiction, had filed a comprehensive counter-memorial on the merits of the case in order that the Greek government's aspersions on the administration of justice in the English High Court and Court of Appeal should not appear on the record unrefuted. Further, the United Kingdom denied that the terms of the 1886 or 1926 treaties (or the declaration appended to the latter) between the two governments lent any support to the Greek government's claims on behalf of Mr. Ambatielos.

As Secretary-General, it is my firm belief that a new and great effort must be attempted to end the so-called “cold war” and to set the world once more on a road that will offer greater hope of lasting peace.

According to the report of the United States High Commissioner for Austria (Donnelly) covering the first quarter of the year 1951, the most significant political event of the period was the decision of the Austrian government to elect its new president, successor to Dr. Karl Renner who died on December 31, by popular vote instead of by parliamentary ballot. This new presidential election law, enacted by the Austrian parliament on January 16, was one of the subjects under discussion at the February 9 meeting of the Allied Council. Although the three western powers voiced their approval of the new law, the Soviet delegate contended that since the Austrian constitution of 1929 had not been approved by the Allied Council he saw no legal basis for the law and insisted on having it replaced by a “special constitutional law”, which would have been subject to the Soviet veto. The United States representative supported the validity of the Austrian constitution, pointing out that the Soviet Union had already approved many laws modifying the 1929 constitution —a slightly amended form of the 1920 constitution — which had been voided by the Nazis in 1938. The point at issue was the fact that instructions had been given to the Austrian government to prepare a new draft constitution by July 1, 1946, and the Austrian parliament, instead of attempting the task of formulating a constitution which would be acceptable to all members of the Allied Council as well as to Austria, had passed resolutions in April 1946 reviving the Federal Constitutional Law of 1929.

The Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) held its 29th session in Geneva on January 15–26, 1962, under the chairmanship of Dr. A. O. Abu Shumma. The Standing Committee on Administration and Finance held eight meetings. The Standing Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations held two meetings and considered new applications from organizations for official membership, as well as carrying out a quadrennial review of the organizations in official relationship with WHO. The Standing Committee on Headquarters Accommodations also met.

The annual report of the Technical Assistance Board (TAB) to the Technical Assistance Committee, which covered the activities of the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance (EPTA) during 1959 and, coming as it did at the end of the first decade of operations of the program, completed the record of the first ten years, was made public in June 1960. The report revealed that the period under consideration (July 1950 to June 1960) had ended with the pledge of an increase in UN technical assistance, following some reduction in the size of the 1959 program. Although the amount pledged by the 83 member governments for operations in 1959 had been $29.6 million, causing a 3 percent reduction in the amount spent to deliver aid, pledges for 1960 were expected to reach an all-time high of $33.4 million. In the face of the retrenchment necessary in 1959, the size of the technical assistance program in Africa had continued to rise modestly, the continent having received 14 percent of the aid given on a worldwide scale, as compared to 12 percent in 1958, while slight reductions in the Latin American and Middle Eastern programs had been necessary. However, the largest expenditure on regional projects, as in the past, had been in Latin America, where the cost of UN and specialized agency participation in such projects as the Fundamental Education Center in Mexico, the Andean Indian Program, and the Central American Economic Integration Program had reached $1.1 million. A substantial proportion of new EPTA operations had been in the form of assistance to the emerging states of Africa, financed by the use of contingency funds amounting to $1.2 million in all, thus making it possible to initiate assistance for which funds would not otherwise have been available.