The second part of the eleventh ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly was opened on September 14, 1959. Mr. John Edwards, President of the Assembly, opened the sitting with a tribute to two retiring representatives, following which the report of the Bureau and Standing Committee was presented; it noted that both the head of the Political Department of the Swiss Federal Council and the Portuguese Foreign Minister had been invited to participate in the Assembly debates on the Organization of European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) reports and on economic questions. Mr. Franz Gschnitzer, Austrian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, then presented the supplementary report to the tenth report of the Committee of Ministers. Replying to questions from representatives, he stated, inter alia, that the Committee had decided to re-examine its recommendation on the forestry situation in Europe after the results of the studies launched by the European Economic Community (EEC) were known; that the Council of Europe did not intend to advance a loan to the Resettlement Fund for Refugees and Over-Population; that the Committee had not yet examined the third report on the European civil service; and that the present arrangements between die Commission of EEC and the Council would in no way prejudge any over-all agreement which might be concluded in the future.

The agenda of the Arab League Council meeting in Cairo during the last three weeks of February i960 reportedly centered around consideration of “the whole Palestine case in all its aspects,” comprising such problems as organization of the Palestinian people, formation of a Palestine defense army, use of the waters of the Jordan River for irrigation purposes, representation of the Palestine people by a legitimate body to speak in their name, and proposals for reactivization of the UN Arab-Israeli conciliation commission.’ The agenda also included discussion of the Algerian question, with representatives of the self-proclaimed Algerian provisional government expected to ask the League to support proposals put forward by the recent All African Peoples' Conference in Tunis for the organization of a force of Arab-African volunteers to help the Algerian nationalists. The first debate of the meeting was said to have occurred over the absence of two League members, Iraq and Tunisia, the leaders of which were at odds with President Nasser of the United Arab Republic. Cablegrams stressing the importance of their participation in the Cairo discussions were dispatched to the two countries at the suggestion of the foreign minister of Jordan.

The first part of the twelfth ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly opened on April 25, 1960, with the election of Mr. Per Federspiel (Danish Moderate Liberal) to the Presidency, replacing the late Mr. John Edwards. After the closure of the first sitting, Mr. Jacob Javits, Republican Senator from New York, addressed the group; he emphasized the necessity for the two European economic organizations—the “Six” (European Economic Community) and the “Seven” (European Free Trade Association)—to pursue policies in conformity with the spirit and objectives of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GAIT), adding that the United States was ready to accept participation in the reorganized Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC). Mr. J. O. Krag, Danish Foreign Minister, then presented the report of the Committee of Ministers. He informed the Assembly of the valuable contacts which had been made by the Special Assembly Group with the Group of Four entrusted with the task of drawing up the reorganization of OEEC; that the transfer of the health activities of the Western European Union to the Council had taken place; and that the Assembly's recommendations regarding economic policies had been transmitted to OEEC and other responsible organizations. Other reports were heard, among them one from the Chairman of the Cultural Committee, which drew attention to the proposal to create a European University and a Council for Higher Education and Research; his recommendation secured the Assembly's unanimous approval.

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.

The third part of the eleventh ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly was opened on January 18, 1960, with a tribute to its President, Mr. John Edward, who had died at Strasbourg on November 23, 1959. At the onset, the Assembly unanimously adopted a motion against anti Semitic outbreaks presented by the Political Committee, which a delegation from the Israeli parliament gratefully acknowledged. A motion to adjourn the election of the President until the opening of the next session was also adopted. Following presentation of a report on the activities of the Bureau and Standing Committee, the second supplementary report to the tenth report of the Committee of Ministers was presented by its chairman, Mr. Pierre Wigny, Belgian Foreign Minister. He noted that the Assembly had been disturbed over the fact that the Council of Europe was no longer fulfilling an adequate role, and stressed the importance of the exchanges of views which the Committee of Ministers had decided could take place at the request of any member state. In the economic sphere he called attention to recent moves toward economic coordination, and, before concluding, asked the Assembly to examine further both the question of Eurafrican relations and that of rationalization of European institutions.

Attainment of self-government or independence by trust territories: At its 1052 meeting the Council decided that it should take note of the relevant General Assembly resolution and that the drafting committees on conditions in the various trust territories should take it into account. Furthermore, in accordance with past practice and with the terms of that resolution, a chapter would be devoted to the subject in the Council's report to the General Assembly.

The convention of the newest European economic organization, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), was initialed in Stockholm, Sweden, on November 20, 1959, by cabinet ministers of Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Under terms of the Stockholm agreement, according to the press, the seven nations were to eliminate trade barriers toward each other on a gradual basis designed to bring full free trade by 1970. Import tariffs in force on January 1, 1960, were due to be reduced 20 percent as of July 1, with subsequent tariff cuts at the rate of 10 percent a year. In addition to gradual mutual freedom of trade, the seven nations agreed to economic integration and harmonization of wages, social benefits, and other production cost factors. However, unlike the six members of the European Economic Community (EEC), the seven planned to retain their national tariff systems toward the exports of non-members.

The press reported that the European Parliamentary Assembly, meeting on March 28–April 1, 1960, began its session with the election of Prof. Hans Furler, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the West German Bundestag, to the presidency, succeeding Robert Schuman of France. The voting reflected party alignment that ignored the nationalities of the members, Dr. Furler, candidate of the Democratic Christian group, having defeated Gaetano Martino of Italy, candidate of the Liberal group. The Socialists, the third party in the Parliament, had not presented a candidate. Prior to a debate on economic policy, Dr. Furler took the rostrum to thank Mr. Schuman for his efforts on behalf of the European Communities, as it was he who had started the six-nation federation with his proposal for the combination of French and West German coal and steel production. Dr. Furler then asked the Parliament to establish the common market at a faster pace than that specified in the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which had brought the market into existence. In this he was aided by Walter Hallstein, president of the Administrative Commission of the European Economic Community (EEC), who explained the proposals for acceleration of the common market and urged their support as a defense against any Soviet trade war against the West. The proposals centered around a 30-percent reduction in the internal customs of the six member states by July 1, 1960, as well as a start toward the establishment of a common exterior tariff. The members had reservations against the plan, but expressed general support for it in a resolution which received near-unanimous approval (the exceptions being one negative vote and two abstentions).

At a meeting of senior officials of the seven-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) held in London, February 12–13, 1960, the organization was reported to have chosen Geneva as the site of its headquarters, after the French government had informed it that it could not accept the proposal that Paris be the site, since France was not a member of EFTA. Although EFTA did not officially come into being until May 3, 1960, with the deposition of the seven instruments of ratification with the Swedish government, the preparatory meeting of its Ministerial Council was held in Vienna on March 11–12, devoting itself principally to an examination of the most important problem facing this new organization—namely, its relations with third countries, especially those of the European Economic Community (EEC). The member states declared their readiness to discuss with the EEC members the possible extension to the Six and to other countries, subject to reciprocity, of the 20-percent tariff reduction effective among themselves on July 1, 1960, and reaffirmed the importance of a continuation of European economic cooperation within the framework of the Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), of which they would like to see the United States and Canada become full members. Also in March, EFTA members reportedly received the assurance of the United States government that its approval of a recent decision of EEC, concerning the reduction of its external tariff on July 1, 1960, did not reflect any animosity toward the Association.

Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, in the introduction1 to his fifteenth annual report on the work of the UN, June 16, 1959, to June 15, 1960, observed that the year had been characterized by 1) the development into independence of a number of African states, and 2) the importance of this development for the international community, (a) in the new UN membership of these states, and (b) in developments in the Republic of the Congo, which had provided the UN with the greatest single task thus far confronting it. These developments, he continued, had created for the Organization a responsibility to further and support the independence of the new nations, and were a test both of its parliamentary institutions and of the efficiency and strength of its executive. Negative aspects of these developments were an intense anti-colonialism, which had overflowed in a strong resistance to any suspected attempt of interference from outside and in elements of racism, and, in the parliamentary sphere, the new problem of longer debates and more cumbersome proceedings, although it was the conviction of the Secretary-General that the addition of new members to the UN would result in increased democratization of proceedings by lessening the influence of firm groupings with firm engagements

Meeting from September 22 to 25, 1959, the European Parliamentary Assembly discussed the principles and problems involved in the establishment of a multilateral European trading association. Opening the debate, Mr. M. P. A. Blaisse (Dutch Popular Catholic) stated that experience had shown that the common market could be considered the driving force of European economic integration. Although at present involving only a part of Europe, it could expand and develop in several ways—by the accession of new members, by the creation of a multilateral association, or by the conclusion of bilateral agreements. Whatever the form of its evolution, the obligations undertaken by member states within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) could not be ignored; similarly, it was imperative to take into account the interests of the United States and Canada. Thus he suggested that special agreements could be concluded with these two countries, to minimize the effects of trade discrimination, along with continued negotiations with members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). He warned against compromise on the final aim, namely, the establishment of a multilateral association. The President of the European Economic Commission, Mr. W. Hallstein, thereupon presented the Commission's recommendations for a trade program on which the six nations could agree. He stated that such a program had to be pragmatic and realistic, and fulfill several conditions: improvement of economic conditions of the nations both inside and outside the European Economic Community (EEC), taking into account Europe's relations with the rest of the world, in particular with the United States; strengthening of the feelings of solidarity between the Community and all those affected by its external commercial policy; and general improvement of trade relations. He urged that care be taken to avoid giving the impression that EEC practiced a policy of discrimination and asked therefore that every effort be made to prove that its aim was the liberalization of trade throughout the world. Specifically, after the next GATT conference, EEC should, in his opinion, forthwith give its agreement to further tariff reductions and, in addition, promote the granting of aid to underdeveloped countries. At the European level, he proposed the creation of a “contact committee, comprised of representatives of the Community and other countries or groups to study the question of the development of external commercial relations. Mr. Hallstein concluded by pointing out that the proposals of his Commission were neither complete nor final. The speakers that followed agreed, on the whole, with the above-mentioned suggestions, but no resolution was adopted and it was decided to re-examine the whole matter at future sessions.

The fifteenth regular session of the contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was held in Tokyo from October 26 to November 20, 1959. The first three days of the session were devoted to an exchange of views between ministerial representatives of the contracting parties, at the conclusion of which a communiqué was published, whereby the ministers: 1) agreed that, as a result of the action taken in recent months by certain countries to make their currencies convertible for non-residents, there was no longer any justification on balance-of-payments grounds for discriminatory restrictions by countries with export earnings largely in convertible currencies; 2) considered that rapid progress could thenceforth be made in elimination of all quantitative restrictions on imports by countries no longer experiencing balance-of-payments difficulties; 3) laid great emphasis on the importance of making every effort to help less developed countries which had not shared fully in the improvement of economic conditions; 4) made frequent reference to the possibly disruptive effect of a sharp increase in exports of manufactured goods from countries where the cost of production was substantially lower than that prevailing in importing countries; and 5) agreed that regional economic arrangements such as the European Economic Community (EEC) or the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) were required to take full account of the trade interests of other countries and to pursue outward-looking policies in accordance with principles and objectives of GATT.

Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand): In an order of June 10, 1960, the International Court of Justice, having received the preliminary objections of the government of Thailand to its jurisdiction within the timelimit fixed for the filing of the countermemorial, set July 22, 1960, as the timelimit within which the government of Cambodia might present a written statement of its observations and submissionson the objections.

Following an investigation resulting from the request by the government of Venezuela that the Council of the Organizationof American States (OAS) ask the Inter-American Peace Committee to look into the flagrant and widespread violations of human rights by the government of the Dominican Republic, the Committee, in a special report, allegedly concurred with the charges, stressing its opinion that international tensions in the Caribbean had increased and would continue to increase, so long as the Dominican Republic persisted in its repressive policies. On the basis of evidence collected during its four-month investigation, the Committee condemned such practices as the denial of free assembly and free speech, arbitrary arrest, cruel and inhuman treatment of political prisoners, and the use of intimidation and terror as political weapons. Despite reports of 1,000 arrests for subversive activities, the Dominican Republic had accounted for only 222 such arrests and had pointed to acts of elemency granted to many of these people; the Committee had, however, been barred from visiting the country. Desirous nevertheless of avoiding any step which might adversely affect the fate of the political prisoners, and in the hope that the Dominican Republic would decree an amnesty on Easter, April 17, the Committee postponed making a pronouncement on the case; instead, it merely issued a general report on April 14 on the relationship between violations of human rights and the political tensions affecting the peace of the Hemisphere. In the later special report the Committee noted that the hope of an amnesty had turned out to be unfounded, and that it had therefore decided to examine all the information available to it, mosdy in the form either of testimony from exiles and other nationals who had recently been in the Dominican Republic or of extensive and reliable press material.

The tenth session of the Council of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) was held in Geneva, April 7–10, 1959. Ambassador Alberto Berio, chief of the permanent delegation of Italy to the European Office of the UN, was elected to succeed Ambassador H. de Souza-Gomes (Brazil) as Council Chairman, following which Mr. A. Yerocostopoulos, chief of the Greek delegation, asked immigration countries to increase the numbers of Greek workers admitted as migrants. Citing the facts that his country had the highest net annual birth rate in Europe and that the Greek economy could absorb barely half the 50,000 new workers entering the labor market each year, he expressed the hope that the level of ICEM-assisted migrants might be raised and maintained at 10,000 per year, that is, almost double the current intake.

A short meeting of the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), devoted exclusively to East-West relations, was held on September 4, 1959, following a visit by United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower. United States Secretary of State Christian Herter, opening the session, explained to the Council why Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had been invited to the United States and reviewed the general world situation since the Geneva Conference, including the current state of disarmament negotiations.

The January 14, 1960, meeting of the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) was preceded by a meeting of representatives of the organization's eighteen members and of the United States and Canada to examine the resolutions adopted by a special economic conference. At this meeting, which ended with approval of a move sponsored by the United States that was designed to reorganize economic cooperation and transform the organization, it was decided, and subsequently approved by the OEEC Council and the United States and Canada, that: 1) four experts, representing respectively North America, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the European Economic Community (EEC) and other European nations, would prepare a report on the transformation of OEEC for consideration by senior officials of twenty countries, namely, the OEEC nations and the United States and Canada, at a meeting scheduled for April 19, 1960; 2) a preparatory meeting of representatives of the same twenty nations would be held in a month's time, when decisions would be taken to appoint a permanent chairman, a secretariat, and working parties to look into outstanding trade problems; and 3) a group, consisting of Canada, France, West Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the United States, the United Kingdom, and a representative of EEC, would be informally set up to coordinate aid policies to underdeveloped countries. The outcome of the discussions was regarded as paving the way for a new Atlantic economic grouping, composed of the members of OEEC plus the United States and Canada, which would give priority to consideration of the problems between the two rival European economic groups, EEC and EFTA. Other matters discussed by the Council were the removal of discriminatory measures against imports from the dollar zone and the increase in assistance to underdeveloped countries.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced on June 17, 1960, a twenty-year term loan of $15.5 million, bearing 6 percent interest per annum, with amortization beginning in 1963, to the Republic of the Sudan, to finance most of the remaining foreign exchange costs of the Managil Irrigation Scheme, local currency requirements to be provided by the government of the Sudan. The project was an extension of, and patterned on, the Gezira Scheme, one of the most successful irrigation projects in the world, and a 10 percent annual increase in the value of Sudan's agricultural output was expected to result from its development. Three United States banks participated in the loan.

According to the press, the four experts appointed by the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) in January 1960 for the purpose of drawing up plans for a body to succeed OEEC recommended, in a report published on April 20, 1960, the establishment of a new economic organization linking Europe with North America, to be called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The principal difference between the proposed organization and OEEC, apart from the full membership of the United States and Canada, was to be its emphasis on the promotion of economic growth and development in Asia and Africa. The supreme body of the organization was to be a council of ministers with powers identical to those of the parallel OEEC body; that is, member governments would be expected to conform to its decisions, which were to be taken unanimously. However, any country was to have the right to abstain by disclaiming interest in the subject under discussion, thereby freeing itself of the obligation to carry out the resulting decisions. The daily operations of the organization were to be directed by a secretary-general of wide political prestige, appointed for a five-year term. The report also envisaged the establishment of a preparatory committee to decide which of OEEC's tasks should be continued by the new organization.

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.