At its meeting on December 12, 1961, the Council of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed to maintain the European Monetary Agreement in force, although with certain modifications. The chief amendment concerned the maximum period for the utilization of credits granted by the European Fund. In addition, OECD could henceforth decide, in exceptional cases, that a credit granted by the European Fund might be repaid in installments spread over no more than two years.

A summit meeting of the Presidents of Ghana, Guinea, Mali, and the United Arab Republic, attended also by the Libyan Foreign Minister, the Ceylonese Ambassador in Cairo, and Premier Ferhat Abbas of the Algerian provisional government, was convened in Casablanca by King Mohammed of Morocco in early January 1961 for the purpose of coordinating policy on the Congo and of considering a suggestion for the formation of an African high military command. Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Togoland, and Tunisia were invited but did not attend the conference. Excluding Ghana, all those states present which had troops with the UN Operations in the Congo (ONUC) had announced their intention of withdrawing them prior to the meeting.

The Council of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) met at ministerial level in London on June 27 and 28, 1961. The Ministers stressed EFTA's wish ultimately toform a single European market for 300 million consumers which would follow liberal policies toward the outside world. They stated that a new effort to bring an end to European division would necessitate a readiness to make some modification of policy on all sides, but that the Stockholm Convention. In regard to approaching che six of EEC, the Council of Ministers agreed that EETA should coordingate its policies in order to remain united throughout negotitations

The Trusteeship Council held its 26th session at UN Headquarters in New York from April 14 to June 30, 1960. At its opening meeting, the 1051st, the Council adopted its provisional agenda, which included consideration of the most recent annual reports of the administering authorities on the trust territories of Ruanda-Urundi, Tanganyika, the Cameroons under United Kingdom administration, New Guinea, Nauru, the Pacific Islands, Somaliland under Italian administration, and Western Samoa, as well as examination of petitions, reports of UN visiting missions to Ruanda-Urundi and Tanganyika in 1960, matters referred to the Council by the General Assembly and the Secretary General, the report of the UN Advisory Council for Somaliland under Italian administration, and reports of various committees of the Council.

On February 23, 1962, delegations of twelve European nations, meeting in Paris, agreed on a draft convention for the creation of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) with a program to cost $280 million.1 The member nations to the agreement were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and West Germany. Sir Harrie Massey (United Kingdom), chairman of the conference, stated that the draft convention would be submitted to the governments for signature in the following two or three months. The delegates also agreed to prolong the life of the European Preparatory Commission for Space Research. The committee would continue its planning work so that ESRO could begin functioning as soon as it was established. The group was to cooperate with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States and was to be in close touch with the International Committee on Space Research. ESRO's program was to involve the firing of sounding rockets and various kinds of satellite-launching vehicles.

The Executive Board of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held its 56th session in Paris from April 4 to 30, 1960. Under the heading, Execution of the Program, the Board decided, inter alia: 1) to authorize the Director-General to utilize a sum of up to $14,000 to contribute to the carrying out of the International Study of University Admissions; 2) to set up a Consultative Committee to advise the Director-General in preparing his comments to be presented to the UN Economic and Social Council on the conclusions drawn from the survey on the main trends of research and on the dissemination and utilization of scientific knowledge for peaceful purposes; 3) to adopt the proposed agenda for the Intergovernmental Conference on Oceanographic Research to be held in Copenhagen from July 11 to 16, 1960; 4) to authorize the Director-General to advance financial assistance for activities to be undertaken during the summer in the United Arab Republic to safeguard the monuments of Nubia, noting with satisfaction the formation of national and international committees designed to secure contributions for the project; and 5) to communicate to the Economic and Social Council the Board's observations, based on the report of a meeting of experts, on measures for the promotion of further international cooperation in the fields of education, science, and culture.

Case concerning the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited (Belgium v. Spain): On June 19, 1962, the Belgian government filed with the Registrar of the Court an application instituting new proceedings against Spain on the subject of the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited. This claim, the subject of which is reparation for the damage caused to a number of Belgian subjects by organs of the Spanish state, had been the subject of earlier proceedings brought before the Court. Because of the possibility of negotiating the issue, the Belgian government had informed the Court that it did not wish to continue proceedings, and the Court on April 10, 1961, had removed the case from its list. The negotiations, however, failed, and the Belgian government had instituted new proceedings.

The Security Council considered various aspects of the current situation in the newly independent Republic of the Congo (formerly the Belgian Congo) at its 873d, 877th–879th, 884th–889th, and 896th–906th meetings. The first meeting was called at the request of the Secretary-General to hear his report on the demand for UN action submitted to him by the government of the Republic of the Congo. Accordingly, the Secretary-General opened the discussion by describing the three communications which he had received from the government of the Congo, the first requesting urgent technical assistance in the field of administration, and the second and third requesting military assistance; since the first request was within the limits of the competence of the Secretary-General himself, it was only with the last two that the Council had to concern itself. Believing that the presence of the Belgian troops currently in the Congo was a source of internal and potentially also of international tension, the Secretary-General proposed to accede t o the demand of the Congo for UN military assistance by sending to that country a UN Force which would not be authorized to action beyond self-defense nor to any action which would make it a party to internal conflicts, and which would be composed of personnel such as to avoid complications because of the nationalities used—that is, participation of troops from of African nations would be desirable, while that of troops from the permanent members of the Council would not. It would be of understood that, were the UN to act as a proposed, the Belgian government would of see its way to a withdrawal of its troops from the Congo.

The International Wheat Council held its twenty-eighth session in London on October 19 and 20, 1959, under the chairmanship of Sir Edwin McCarthy. Twenty-eight countries were represented by delegates and advisers, with observers representing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the European Economic Community.

The third part of the sixteenth session of the General Assembly was held at UN Headquarters from June 7 through June 28, 1962, when the sixteenth session was concluded. The Assembly considered the following agenda items, discussion of which had been deferred from the second part of the sixteenth session: 1) question of the future of Ruanda-Urundi; and 2) the question of Southern Rhodesia.

For almost a decade commentators on international organization have nurtured the myth that the UN Charter was originally ‘oversold’ to the American public by enthusiastic supporters, who represented the organization as a panacea for the ills of twentieth-century world politics. So unrealistic were the expectations created by this publicity barrage, so the story runs, that subsequent disillusionment with die UN was inevitable. Although propagated with many variations, the myth finds a classic formulation in the words of Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., uttered before the House Subcommittee on International Organizations and Movements, July 8, 1953: ‘The United Nations,’ said Ambassador Lodge, ‘was oversold. It was advertised entirely as an automatic peace producer. All we had to do was sign on die dotted line—so it was said—and all our troubles would be over’. A recent volume on international relations, currently in use as a college text, restated the myth in a some what less extreme form: ‘Considered a towering edifice of strength in 1945, the United Nations was often shrugged off in the early 1950's with the damning phrase, ‘debating society.’ Because expectations had been so extravagant, the achievements of the United Nations seemed ridiculously trivial to many who had expected a Utopian revolution in international relations that the United Nations could not hope to provide.” Other variations on the theme are no doubt familiar to students of international organization. Use of the expression ‘myth’ implies no denial that ‘a veritable wave of propaganda and influence was generated on behalf of American membership’ in the UN. The country was flooded with information, from bodi government and private sources, designed to win over the public to the desirability of postwar international organization. It is also true that those engaged in selling the UN to the public tried to give their arguments an optimistic, hopeful tone. Recalling the League's fate, they emphasized the differences between the League and the proposed new organization rather than their patent similarities. Often they were guilty of oversimplifying the facts of world politics upon which the future of the UN would necessarily depend. The growing split between Russia and the Western allies, so ominous for the new organization, was not usually highlighted in speeches urging the establishment of the UN. A vigorous selling campaign was unquestionably conducted.

Commission on Human Rights: The sixteenth session of the Commission on Human Rights was held in Geneva from February 29 to March 18, 1960, under the chairmanship of Mr. Mario Amadeo (Argentina). The agenda adopted by the Commission included discussion of advisory services in the field of human rights, the right of everyone to be free from arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile, a declaration on the right of asylum, freedom of information, national advisory committees on human rights, the prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities, communications concerning human rights, and a review of the human rights program along with consideration of the control and limitation of documentation.

According to press reports, the Arab League Council, at an April 3, 1960, meeting in Cairo, decided tentatively that its members should sever diplomatic relations with France in protest of the second French atomic test in the Sahara, and recommended the freezing of French assets in several Arab countries, as well as the boycotting of Paris economically and culturally. The action did not apply to Iraq and Tunisia, since they were not represented at the meeting, and it was considered doubtful that Lebanon would accede to such measures due to its traditional attachment to France.

The sixteenth annual repot of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, covering the fiscal year July 1, 1960, to June 30, 1961, was presented to the Board of Governors on September 19, 1961. The report noted that in the year under review the activities of the International Bank had been part of a broadening stream of financial and technical assistance to the less developed countries. Aid had been provided by: 1) the International Development Association (IDA), an affiliate of the Bank which was designed to aid economic growth by means of credits bearing less heavily on the balance of payments of underdeveloped countries than conventional loans; 2) the Inter-American Development Bank, which attempted to increase the flow of development funds and to coordinate efforts to assist economic development; 3) the UN Special Fund, which had financed pre-investment surveys, in some cases with the International Bank acting as executing agent; and 4) the Development Assistance Group (DAG), which consisted of ten governments that carried on continued consultations—several of these governments had taken steps to facilitate their extension of aid to the less developed countries. The report noted that the Bank had continued to cooperate with the capital markets and with private institutional investors in raising capital for economic development.

Listed below is the membership of United Nations bodies for 1967. 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.

The purpose of this study is not to describe the principles and procedures upon which the International Trusteeship System is based—for these are set out in Chapters XII and XIII of the Charter of the United Nations. Rather will an attempt be made, on the basis of three years' personal experience (1948–1951) of the workings of the Trusteeship Council and three years' service (1956–1959) in Tanganyika, the largest of the trust territories, to assess the real impact of the system on the governments and peoples of the trust territories themselves.

The ANZUS Council met in Wellington, New Zealand, on June 5–6, 1963. In reviewing the course of East-West developments during the past year, particularly those affecting the Pacific area, the Ministers noted with concern the Communists Chinese aggression against India and the continuing threat against that country, the renewal of fighting in Laos, and the persisting communist assault in South Vietnam.

It is no secret from even the most cursory reader of the daily press that NATO has of late been undergoing what is commonly referred to as a “crisis”. Four factors seem to me crucial components of the difficult problems with which the fifteen nations are wrestling.