The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization, which held its 21st session in Montreal from February 2 through April 7, 1954, decided to circulate to ICAO members a study on airport charges throughout the world made by the Air Transport Committee. A conference to amend the 1929 Warsaw convention on liability of air carriers for passengers and cargo was to be convened in the Netherlands in September 1955, according to another Council decision. Two further meetings which the Council decided to convene were an air navigation meeting for the north Atlantic region to be held in Montreal on October 5, 1954, and the fourth session of the ICAO Facilitating Division to be held as early in 1955 as practicable. The Council also decided to move ICAO's far east and Pacific office, currently located in Melbourne, Australia, to Bangkok, Thailand, sometime toward the end of 1954.

The 123d session of the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization met in Geneva, November 24 to 27, 1953. On the basis of the report of the United Nations-ILO Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labor, the Governing Body decided to take the following steps: 1) to appeal to governments which had not yet done so to ratify the four ILO conventions which dealt with forced labor or indigenous workers; 2) to invite metropolitan governments to consider applying the four conventions without modification to all their non-metropolitan territories; 3) to consider the desirability of revising the forced labor convention adopted by ILO in 1930 to make it provide for the complete suppression of forced or compulsory labor in all its forms; and 4) to affirm ILO's willingness to intensify its efforts toward the abolition of forced labor practices of an economic character, including practices not envisaged when the conventions were adopted.

The Subcommittee on Aerial Collisions, established by the Legal Committee of the International Civil Aviation Organization at its ninth session, met in Paris from January 12 to 22, 1954, with Mr. Andre Garnault (France) as chairman. A draft convention on aerial collisions, prepared at the meeting for consideration by the Legal Committee at its tenth session, reviewed the entire question of the liability of an operator or carrier in the case of aerial collision.

In the foreword to the annual report on the state of food and agriculture, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (Cardon) noted that 1953 had marked a turning point in the postwar food and agriculture situation. The growth of world production had caught up with the world growth of population, and during 1953/54 production had oontinued to expand. No essential change in this line of development was predicted for the crop year 1954/55. Two major problems, Dr. Cardon stated, confronted FAO: 1) how to reduce existing agricultural surpluses without imbalancing world trade in agricultural commodities, and 2) how to ensure continued agricultural expansion in selected products and countries so as to raise the level of world nutrition as a whole.

The eighth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund was held in Washington jointly with the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development from September 9 through 12, 1953, under the chairmanship of Mohamad Ali, Governor for Pakistan.

The Building, Civil Engineering and Public Works Committee of the International Labor Organization held its fourth session in Geneva from October 26 through November 6, 1953, under the chairmanship of M. Kaufmann (Switzerland), a government member of the Governing Body. Reports had been submitted by the International Labor Office on the three items on the meeting's agenda: 1) a general report dealing particularly with action taken by ILO members and the Governing Body in the light of previous committee conclusions; 2) methods of facilitating the progressive application in the construction industry of the principle of a guaranteed wage; and 3) factors affecting the productivity of the construction industry. After the delegates – which represented 24 countries on a tripartite basis – analyzed the problems and progress which the construction industry faced in their countries, the committee approved a series of resolutions which covered such subjects as: 1) action by engineers and architects with a view to raising productivity in the industry, 2) contract practices, 3) vocational training, 4) mechanization, 5) the psychologicàl factor involved in raising productivity, and 5) sharing the benefits of in-creased productivity. A memorandum concerning a guaranteed wage was approved without opposition which endorsed the principle of a guaranteed wage, either by agreeing to provide a specified period of work at ordinary rate of pay or by paying a minimum sum during the specified period regardless of whether or not the workers could be kept employed in customary or reasonably alternate work. In a further resolution, the committee stressed the role which the construction industries could play in implementing policies of full employment. By a vote of 60 to 39 with 24 abstentions it decided to place on the agenda of its next session the questions of protection of conditions of employment and living conditions of young workers, prevention of industrial accidents, reduction of hours of work, and practical measures for securing and maintaining full employment in the construction industry.

The ninth annual report of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development which was transmitted to the Board of Governors on September 24, 1954, covered the activities of the Bank from July 1, 1953, through June 30, 1954. During this period 24 loans had been made in 16 countries, a total of $324 million the highest for a year period in the Bank's history. In all, the Bank had made 104 loans and $1,914 million of the Bank's funds were committed in 34 countries. Total effective loans outstanding and held by the Bank on June 30 amounted to $1,663 million. The greater part of the year's lending, the Bank reported, had been for improvement in basic services; $119 million had been lent for expanding and improving transport facilities and $107 million for expanding electric facilities. Disbursements during the year had been the equivalent of $302 million on new and existing loans, bringing total Bank disbursements to $1,406 million. Disbursements which borrowers spent in Europe had increased during the year from the equivalent of $68 million in 1952–1953 to $115 million. The report noted the growing importance of operations in currencies other than the United States dollar, as indicated by the increase in the proportion of disbursements repayable in other currencies to 27 percent. This increase, it was reported, reflected the larger sums made available to the Bank from capital subscriptions paid in by members in non-dollar currencies and from borrowing outside the United States. Net income of $20 million was added to the supplemental reserve, increasing it to $97 million; the Special Reserve, to which the one percent commission on outstanding balances of all Bank loans was credited, was increased by $12 million, making a total of $49 million.

The eighth annual report of the International Labor Organization to the United Nations noted that certain projects, although desirable, had had to be deferred or eliminated from the 1955 program and budget for financial reasons. A number of periodical technical meetings which would ordinarily have been held in 1955 had had to be postponed, and certain ILO projects under the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance as well as a number of ILO field activities financed under the regular budget had been also adversely affected by the shortage of funds. The first chapter of the report dealt with major developments in the work of ILO in 1953 and the early part of 1954; these lay in the fields of productivity, wages and housing in underdeveloped areas, workers in non-metropolitan territories, indigenous workers in independent countries, agricultural labor including plantation workers, and national labor departments. The second chapter of the report summarized the semi-continuous activities of ILO in such fields as occupational safety and health, manpower, and statistics.

A mission sent by the International Monetary Fund to India, at the request of that government, to study monetary and financial problems arising from the Indian government's five-year development plan, said that $400 million would be needed to complete the program, according to a report released on February 7, 1954. The report indicated that this financing might be sought internally as well as through foreign assistance. The mission regarded the program, which was estimated to call for a total investment of $7 billion, as “essential to the well-being of the people of India and … important to the survival of democracy in Asia”. While grants-in-aid would have a better economic effect than borrowing to obtain the necessary foreign aid, the report noted, the Indian economy was sound and should be able to borrow abroad if need be. Among the special problems covered in the report was the unpredictability of an adequate food supply; the mission recommended that India conclude special arrangements with the United States, Canada and Australia for a supply of wheat to meet “any extraordinary future needs”. In presenting the report to the Indian Parliament, the Indian government welcomed the Fund's study but made it clear that it was not committed to its recommendations.

During the spring of 1954, the Soviet Union, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Ukrainian SSR signed the constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, who had withdrawn from UNESCO in December 1952, resumed their memberships in the organization.

The 22d session of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization was held from May 18 to June 23, 1954. During the session, the Council considered a report from the Air Navigation Commission which concluded that a comprehensive set of specifications for the type certification and operation of aircraft was not a practicable objective at that time, and that the primary objective of international airworthiness standards should instead be a definition, for application by competent national authorities, of a minimum international basis for recognition by states of certificates of airworthiness for flights of foreign aircraft into and over their territories. Such a code should be in less detailed form than existing international airworthiness and corresponding aircraft operations standards. The Council authorized the Air Navigation Commission to convene a panel of experts to prepare an initial draft, and requested the Commission to report back when this had been done.

The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization held its 36th session in Paris, November 30 through December 9, 1953, under the chairmanship of General Sir Ronald Adam. The Board requested the Director-General to submit detailed proposals for the organization of the eighth session of the General Conferenceto the Board's 37th session. In preparing these, he was to take into account the views expressed by the Board, particularly those concerng arrangements for discussion of the Director-General's report, discussion of the draft program and budget estimates, general organization of meetings, voting procedure, and documents and records. organization of meetings, voting procedure, and documents and records. The Board recommended that the eighth session of the General Conference revise its rules of procedure to provide that, in case of doubt as to whether a proposed amendment was an amendment of substance or an amendment of form, it be deemed an amendment of substance unless a two-thirds majority favored interpreting it otherwise. The Board also requested member states to submit their reports for the eighth session of the Conference to the Director-General not later than April 15, 1954.

The Seventh World Health Assembly met in Geneva from May 4 to 21, 1954, and elected Dr. J. N. Togba (Liberia) as its president. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (Candau) in presenting his report on the work of WHO in 1953, emphasized the “prolonged and extremely grave” financial difficulties of the organization, and noted the adverse effect that curtailment of WHO projects was likely to have on the confidence of member governments in WHO. If WHO were to continue a favorable course of development along lines of more long-term projects, Dr. Candau stated, a more stable financial arrangement would have to be made. The Assembly commended the Director-General for the work performed, approved the manner in which the activities of WHO were carried forward in 1953, and commended the Executive Board for the work it had performed.

The 125th session of the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization was held in Geneva on May 28 and 29, 1954, with Mr. A. M. Malik (Pakistan) presiding. Preliminary consideration was given to the agenda for the 39th session of the ILO Conference (1956), which, it was decided, would be comprised of the Director-Generals report, financial and budgetary questions, and information on the application of Conventions and Recommendations, The Director-General was requested to submit to the November session of the Governing Body reports dealing with the national law and practices of member states in the fields of (1) weekly rest in commerce and offices, (2) living and working conditions of indigenous populations in independent countries, and (3) forced labor. He was also requested to provide a general note on the conditions of plantation workers and on discrimination in the field of employment and occupation.

The seventh plenary assembly of the International Telegraph Consultative Committee (CCIT) of the International Telecommunication Union met in Arnhem, Netherlands, from June 5 through 13, 1953, under the chairmanship of Mr. van der Toorn (Netherlands). Most of the work of the session was carried on in study groups on the following subjects: 1) general telegraphy, 2) technical aspects of the establishment, operation and maintenance of telegraph channels, 3) technical aspects of telegraph apparatus, 4) vocabulary, symbols and classification, 5) phototelegraphy and facsimile, 6) technical aspects of switching in the service of start-stop apparatus, 7) European telegraph network operated by start-stop apparatus, 8) operational methods and quality of service, 9) services offered to users and rates other than telex rates, and 10) international service of telegraph subscribers and rates for such service. At the request of the Buenos Aires Plenipotentiary Conference of ITU, CCIT considered the possibility of amalgamating itself with the International Telephone Consultative Committee (CCIF) and concluded, by a vote of 16 to 11 with 1 abstention, that such a course would not serve the best interests of ITU. CCIT decided to hold its eighth plenary assembly in Geneva in the first half of 1956.

During September 1953 sessions of four regional committees of the World Health Organization were held. From September 7 to 10, the third session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe met in Copenhagen. Among the major recommendations of the committee, which was attended by delegates from 22 countries, was that Geneva should become the permanent site of the regional office for Europe. For 1955 aid to health projects, training courses, and other activities in European countries, the committee recommended a budget of approximately $l,600,000. Part of this amount was to come from the regular budget of WHO, and the rest from United Nations technical assistance funds, UNICEF, and other agencies having joint program arrangements with WHO. The work already carried out through the regional office for Europe received general approval, minor revisions in the plans for 1954 were made, and a program for 1955 was discussed and approved. Particular attention in the plans for Europe was given to educational and training activities; these included conferences on various subjects, such as modern trends in tuberculosis control, and special studies of interest to many countries on such subjects as water standards, teaching methods for nurses, and sanitary engineering terminology in English and French. An extensive fellowship program was also approved. Despite the emphasis on education and training in the program for 1955, almost a fifth of the total budget for this year was to be devoted to the control of certain communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis (in Austria, Finland and Turkey), diphtheria and whooping cough (in Yugoslavia), and trachoma (in Tunisia and Morocco).

The Executive Committee of the World Meteorological Organization held its fourth session in Geneva from October 6 through 26, 1953. Formal approval was given to all the new meteorological codes and forms of message recommended by the Commission for Synoptic Meteorology. The Secretary-General (Swaboda) was asked to prepare a report on the different units of measurement used in weather reports (Celsius v. Fahrenheit, knots v metres per second, millimeters v. inches, etc.) in order that the WMO Congress, to which the Executive Committee referred the question, could determine the desirability of a universal agreement on units for weather reports. Various recommendations of the Commission for Climatology and the Commission for Aerology concerning the need for publishing surface and upper air observations were considered. The International Barometer Convention proposed by the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation was approved, and members were asked to apply the Convention from January 1, 1955. The Executive Committee also considered problems relating to the publication of the new international cloud atlas, especially the text of the abridged atlas and the revision of the English text of the main volume. General satisfaction with the development of the WMO program in the field of technical assistance was expressed by the Executive Committee, which also approved the working arrangement with the Technical Assistance Administration. The Secretary-General was authorized to continue negotiations with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on a working agreement; a working agreement between WMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization was approved to become effective January 1, 1954. It was decided to create a consultative status for interested non-governmental organizations which would entitle them to send observers to the WMO Congress and regional and technical bodies and to present working documents. After deciding to hold the second WMO Congress in April 1955, the Executive Committee adopted a provisional budget for 1954 of $363,000, of which $27,250 was alloted for publications and $64,500 for the production of the international cloud atlas. The fifth session of the committee was scheduled for late August or early September 1954.

The ANZUS Council held its second meeting in Washington, D.C., on September 9 and 10, 1953. While the first meeting of the Council had been devoted largely to organizational matters, the second meeting provided an opportunity for the foreign ministers of Australia, New Zealand and the United States to review the developments of the past year and to discuss common problems in the Pacific area. Prior to the opening of the meeting, there had been speculation in the press about the possibility of providing some form of associate membership in ANZUS for other countries — particularly the United Kingdom – and other international organizations. The United Kingdom was reportedly dissatisfied with its exclusion from the organization; Prime Minister Churchill had been quoted as telling the House of Commons on June 17 that he “did not like the Anzus Pact at all” and that he hoped that “perhaps larger and wider arrangements could be made which would be more satisfactory than those now in force”. According to the communique issued at the close of the meeting, however, the ministers “unanimously concluded … that to attempt to enlarge its membership would not contribute directly and materially” to the strengthening and defense of the ANZUS area. The communique pointed out that ANZUS was one of a number of arrangements for the furtherance of the security of the nations of the area; specifically the communique mentioned the mutual security pacts between the United States and the Philippines and Japan, United States defense understandings with the government of China on Formosa and the relationship of Australia and New Zealand with the other Commonwealth nations. Together, the communique noted, these arrangements ‘constitute … a solemn warning to any potential aggressor and represent the growing foundation for lasting peace in the Pacific”.

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1954, was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on July 1, 1954. During the period under review, the report noted, important steps toward currency convertibility had been taken in several countries, notably Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom; restrictions on dollar imports had been lightened, exports of domestic capital had been freer, and more reliance had been placed on the regulative powers of the price mechanism. The easing of restrictions had gone hand in hand with an improvement in the world balance of payments equilibrium, and a reversal, during 1953, of the downward trend in the volume of world trade which had appeared early in 1952. Sound fiscal and monetary policies had improved the competitive position of Europe which had experienced more stable prices and less inflationary pressure; the report cautioned that the coincidence, up to mid-1953, of a high level of business activity in the United States with slack demand conditions in western Europe had been a purely fortuitous aid in improving the latter's balance of payments position. Progress toward convertibility had been made possible by a general improvement in economic conditions; however, problems would be involved in taking further steps toward convertibility. Among these were: 1) the problem of controlling international movements of capital, and 2) the importance of having countries whose balance of payments position was weak, as well as those with a stronger position, move concurrently towards convertibility.

During the latter part of 1953 two seminars were held under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and a third was sponsored by UNESCO. For the purpose of studying the principal public library problems and drafting plans and proposals for the development of public library services in Africa, particularly in connection with mass education, UNESCO held a seminar at Ibadan, Nigeria, from July 27 to August 21, 1953. The seminar recommended, among other things, that the UNESCO public libraries manifesto be accepted as a statement of the basic policy and purposes on which national public library services should be established in Africa; preparation of national or regional plans for public library service should be preceded by a survey conducted with the aid of experts in education, the social sciences and administration; the permanence and development of public library service should be assured by appropriate legislation; and an independent or state agency established by the government should control and direct the national service. The second seminar under UNESCO auspices studied the contribution of the teaching of modern languages towards education for living in a world community from August 3 to 28, 1953, in Nuwara Eliya, Ceylon. General topics discussed included the humanistic aspect of teaching modern languages, teaching modern languages as a key to the understanding of other civilizations and peoples, methodology of language teaching, audio-visual aids, psychological aspects of language teaching, and training modern language teachers. A resolution strongly urging that the mother tongue be used whenever possible at all levels as the medium of instruction and that the maximum facilities be created and maintained for the study of the widest possible range of foreign languages in all countries was adopted at the concluding session of the seminar.