Introduction U. N. CHARTER AMENDMENT PLAN A 1. The recommendations involve substantial amendment of the U. N. Charter designed to produce a genuine, and, we believe, workable scheme of world government to replace the present international anarchy. We do not claim to have produced a perfect scheme. We have had regard to present international stresses, suspicions and prejudices. We have sought to avoid such proposals as would be likely to prevent the adherence of any nation, even though they might be inherently desirable in the ideal world. Membership Recommendation: Membership should be open to all states of the world, and all must be urged to join. Once membership has been accepted, continued membership must be compulsory. There must be no right of secession. NOTE. We have rejected the idea of compulsory initial adherence, since this might well involve war. On the other hand, to allow a right of secession would be to permit states to be judges in their own disputes. Voluntary universality of membership would resolve the present disputes and vetoes on entry. Disarmament 3. Recommendation: The charter should provide for complete, simultaneous, universal and enforceable disarmament, carried out by rapid stages. It should be subject to inspection, supervision and enforcement by the U. N. Police. Details of the disarmament plan should be set out in an annex to the charter. NOTE. The disarmament must be complete in its application to all national arms and armed forces, except the strictly and lightly armed forces needed for the maintenance of internal security within states. 4. Recommendation: Production of atomic weapons should be prohibited. Atomic energy should otherwise remain under the control of the individual nations, subject to strict U. N. supervision. 5. Recommendation: The charter should provide for a U. N. Police to enforce the provisions of the charter and the decisions of the International Courts. Details of its composition, organization and control should be set out in an annex to the charter. NOTE. An important function of the U. N. Police would be to act as inspectorate to insure that the disarmament provisions were not being violated. The U. N. Police should be strategically placed, i. e., it would not be open to a state to refuse the presence of members of the U. N. Police on its soil. Its members should owe exclusive allegiance to the U. N. Judiciary 6. Recommendation: The International Court of Justice should be given jurisdiction to decide disputes which are capable of decision by recognized principles, provided that they are (a) disputes between two or more states; (b) disputes between a state and citizens of another state; (c) disputes involving members of the U. N. O., and in particular, its police; (d) any matter concerning the interpretation of the U. N. Charter, including the validity of laws passed by the world legislature. The jurisdiction under (a), (b), (c) should be an original and exclusive jurisdiction; that under (d) an appelate jurisdiction. 7. Recommendation: A World Arbitral Tribunal should be created with jurisdiction to hear and report on all disputes which are incapable of decision by recognized legal principles, and therefore not subject to the jurisdiction of the International Court, but without jurisdiction (except by the disputants' prior consent) to give enforceable judgments. The details of the organization and powers of the World Arbitral Tribunal should be set out in an annex to the charter. NOTE. We have been concerned to insure that a scheme of world government does not merely freeze the status quo ante pacem, irrespective of natural justice and irrespective of future international development. The letter of the law does not in all cases suffice. Nor is it sufficient to remove war as a means of settling international disputes without providing some alternative means. And it is disagreeable to contemplate a state refusing with impunity to accept the recommendation of the World Arbitral Tribunal. On the other hand to establish a tribunal administering a system of equity or natural justice, and to make its jurisdiction compulsory and its decisions enforceable, would be subjecting the states to a derogation from their sovereignty to which it would be impossible to set any limit or envisage any bound. We are convinced that to attempt to do so would preclude the adherence of many important states. We have therefore reluctantly recommended that although the jurisdiction of the World Arbitral Tribunal should be compulsive, its decisions should be advisory only and not enforceable. (It is possible that enforceability might come later, with amendment.) (If the decisions of the Tribunal were made enforceable, we would recommend that they should be subject to appeal, possibly to the U. N. Legislature or a committee thereof.) We would further point out that the fact that the judgments of the World Arbitral Tribunal were not enforceable by the U. N. Police would not mean that they were wholly without effect. Public opinion has its force, and alternative remedies in the way of boycott or economic sanction might be available by diplomatic agreement. The world legislature 8. Recommendation. A world legislature should be constituted with the following powers: (a) Unlimited power of debate on all matters in which any organ of world government, whether voluntary or constituted by the charter, is concerned. (b) Power to raise revenue for U. N. purposes. (c) Power to enact legislation strictly confined to matters directly concerned with and necessary for the preservation of peace. (d) Power to elect and dismiss the executive council or individual members thereof. NOTE. We attach particular importance to the right to debate in view of our recommendation that the judgments of the World Arbitral Tribunal should be advisory only; it is a method of bringing to bear the pressure of public opinion. The power to raise revenue is discussed in the ensuing paragraph. So far as legislation is concerned there are strong considerations in favor of giving legislative power to deal with the development of under-developed areas. But we have been impressed by the argument that to give initially wider powers than are concerned with and are strictly necessary for the preservation of peace is to invite the refusal to participate of many important countries. We have envisaged that the voluntary inter-governmental organizations connected with the U. N. will continue on a voluntary basis; but if our proposals for disarmament were adopted large funds would be released which might be made available. The relations between the legislature and the executive are dealt with in paragraph 14. 9. Recommendation: The maximum proportions of national revenue which can be raised for U. N. purposes must be defined in the charter. It should be levied proportionately to national income in a manner to be determined by each state for itself. NOTE. We have been strongly attracted by a suggestion that taxation should be levied by the U. N. on individual citizens. We have rejected it only because the incidence and methods of taxation are peculiarly a domestic matter. 10. Recommendation: The legislature should consist of two chambers. NOTE. There are strong arguments in favor of a single chamber. We are, however, on balance in favor of a bicameral system. First, because it gives additional constitutional weight to the individual states, and thus makes entry into the federation more attractive; and Secondly, because subsequent amendment may give greater legislature power. 11. Recommendation: The upper chamber should consist of one representative of each nation state appointed in a manner to be determined by that state. NOTE. This provides continuity with the present General Assembly. It would also tend to secure the representation of some valuable men and women who were not willing to submit themselves to popular suffrages. 12. Recommendation: The lower chamber should consist of representatives of the member states in numbers proportionate to population. The method of election should be determined by the individual states. NOTE. It must be frankly faced that the recommendation as phrased gives enormous voting power to certain countries with large populations. It might well be necessary to put an upper limit on the number of representatives from any one country. We have reluctantly come to the conclusion that a U. N. electoral law would be impracticable, not only because the national conditions and traditions vary so widely, but also because politically it would invite rejection. In some countries universal suffrage might be thought desirable; in others, election by the national legislature acting as an electoral college. The 13. Recommendation: All legislation must be passed by both houses. charter should lay down provisions for resolving disagreement between them. The executive 14. Recommendation: The legislative chambers sitting together or the lower chamber sitting alone should appoint an executive council, who would be responsible for carrying out the directives of the legislature. They should be elected for a fixed term, but dismissible by the legislature. NOTE. It is open to discussion whether the executive council should be chosen from members of the legislature, whether the citizens of certain nations should always be represented, and whether they should be collectively responsible. They would be subject to the legislature, having no power to dissolve it and no power of veto. World citizenship 15. Recommendation: Every person in the world should be a citizen of the United Nations as well as of his own country, and the charter and the laws enacted should bind each individual. NOTE. This provision is designed to ensure that international law can be enforced by the organs of the United Nations against individuals who would be precluded from sheltering behind national allegiance. Personal and political rights 16. Recommendation: A Bill of Rights must safeguard all persons against violation of certain basic liberties by the United Nations. No attempt should be made to safeguard individuals against action by the respective nations. The Bill of Rights should be set out in an annex in the charter. NOTE. There is necessarily a danger of abuse of power by members of organs of the United Nations, particularly the World Police. If individual rights were enshrined in a Bill of Rights they would be enforced by the World Court. We have recommended against any attempt to safeguard individual rights against action by national governments. To attempt to do otherwise would merely invite rejection on the ground of potential interference with the domestic affairs of the nation. 17. Recommendation: Minority groups should have a right of petition to the World Arbitral Tribunal and the world legislature for redress of grievances: NOTE. It will be recollected that the Arbitral Tribunal would be empowered to give advisory judgments only; and that the world legislature would have the right of debate only on such an issue. Even in this limited form we make our recommendation with some diffidence lest it might deter certain countries from joining the federation. Amendment 18. Recommendation: The procedure for amending the revised charter should be made sufficiently difficult to insure that future amendments will not be imposed on nonassenting nations unless they embody the views of a substantial majority of the nations and people of the world. NOTE.-Nations are unlikely to adhere to the world federation unless they can be assured that the rights which they wish to reserve are embodied in the constitution, and not likely to be swept away by bare majorities. U. N. CHARTER AMENDMENT PLAN B It was the object of this plan to make proposals which would remove the more evident imperfections of the charter as it has been found to work out in practice, and to introduce into the United Nations Organization elements which could be developed by practice and by progressive amendments into a world federation of states subject to universal laws. At the same time the scheme was restricted so as to include only those elements which were judged to be politically acceptable to the governments of those states represented by members of their national legislature at the Conference, in the hope that some or all of these governments might make a joint proposal at the 10th session of the General Assembly along the lines suggested. The members of this subcommission stress that the adoption of such a proposal, though falling far short of what is needed to establish and maintain law and order in the world, is yet a politically possible step in that direction, and could, and probably would, lead to the eventual acceptance of a world constitution which is the subject dealt with by the report on plan A. No redrafting of the charter has been attempted. The proposals merely state five principles designed to extend the operations of the United Nations so that it may evolve into a universal organization representative of all peoples and possessing certain lawmaking powers which must ultimately be precisely defined and which may be increased from time to time. We recommend the maintenance of the existing conciliatory and administrative machinery of the United Nations which should be improved and clarified along the lines indicated. Plan B therefore is that the government of member states of the United Nations take action as follows: A. To amend article 4 of the charter, with the necessary consequential amendments as follows: 1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all states which accept the obligations contained in the charter. Having become a member no state may secede. 2. A state shall then be defined in a second clause. Interpretation of this clause shall be the function of the International Court of Justice. B. To improve the representative character of the Assembly, by, for example, introducing the principle of weighted voting possibly by establishing a bicameral Assembly and relating representation in one of the chambers to economic and/or population factors. C. To extend the activities of the United Nations, e. g.: 1. Power shall be given by the charter to the Assembly to legislate in order that states shall be governed by international law more nearly as individuals are governed by the law of their states. (a) The Assembly shall appoint 31 persons as a lawmaking body to be known as the Codifying Council who shall be charged with the duty of preparing and initiating a code of international law in a series of statutes and amending the same from time to time. (b) The individual members of the Codifying Council shall not be answerable to their own states. They shall prepare statutes in the interests of fairness as between states and mankind as a whole. (c) Statutes prepared by the Codifying Council shall not become operative until approved by not less than three-quarters of the representatives present and voting at a meeting of the Assembly called for the purpose of approving each statute. (d) When operative a statute shall be binding on all members of the United Nations. (e) In the event of dispute as to the meaning of any statute, or as to whether the same has been observed and complied with such dispute shall be referred to the International Court for decision. 2. To tighten up the obligation of member states to report periodically on action taken by them to carry out the resolution of the General Assembly. 3. To strengthen the Economic and Social Council by increasing its responsibility for the work of the specialized agencies and by giving it wider powers and ampler means for the development of backward areas. 4. To improve the present unsatisfactory provisions regarding non-self-governing and trust territories contained in chapters XI, XII and XIII of the charter; e. g., by empowering the United Nations, to examine and determine the fitness or claim of a non-self-governing territory to independent status at its own request, by clarifying. D. 1. To entrust the interpretation of the charter to the International Court of Justice and to provide that any member of the United Nations may refer for the decision of the Court any provisions which may be considered by that member to be disputed or doubtful. 2. To amend the statute of the International Court of Justice so as to empower it to exercise criminal jurisdiction over any individuals accused of offenses against international law. E. Nothing contained in the charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters, which in accordance with a decision of the International Court of Justice are solely within the domestic jurisdiction of any state, or shall require the members to submit such matters to settlement under the charter. This document was received from the Parliamentary Group for World Government, House of Commons, London, SW. 1, January 28, 1953. I quote from the letter which accompanied the material and signed by Patrick Armstrong, clerk to the group. "The British Parliamentary Group is intending to merge its plans on U. N. Charter revision with the United World Federalists. These two organizations work very closely together and at the recent Second Parliamentary Conference on World Government, several leading members of UWF were present, including Mr. Harry Hollins, Dean Paul Shipman Andrews, and the Rev. Donald Harrington. Other American representation included Mr. Perkins Bass, Mr. Dudley Orr, and Mr. Robert Reno, who were acting on behalf of Mr. Grenville Clark. "I have pleasure in enclosing copies of the resolutions adopted at the conference. If you would like any further information I would suggest that you get in touch with UWF's executive director, Miss Helen Shuford, at 125 Broad Street, New York 4. She has only this week returned from a visit to England and would be glad to give you the latest information concerning our activities." Julian Snow, M. P., a member of the committee of the Parliamentary Group for World Government, published the following article in the European and Atlantic Digest: "Nothing less than world government will make the abolition of war possible. In the more developed parts of the world, war is loathed and feared as the major evil of the century and anything that will make it impossible should, therefore, gain support. Until war, or the preparation for and threat of war on the scale we have at present is abolished, there can be small ground for believing that famine and disease, which are the major evils in the less developed parts of the world, will be substantially alleviated. "I mention these first principles, within which I think few would disagree, because they show that world government supporters are interested in remedies and not palliatives. And, let us not make a mistake about it, the remedy is world government. "It would appear that there are already some people in the world who are thinking in global terms. Can it be that we in the West are being rather provincial? This brings me to the final question: What about Russia? MarxistLeninist doctrine holds that the movement for the abolition or weakening of national sovereignty is a device to aid American economic expansion. Nothing is likely to alter that theory until there is a concrete fact to disprove it. If Russia will not come into a world federation-and there is no reason to believe that it will at the present time-then we in the rest of the world have got to federate and show that democracy means what it says. We have got to show that such a federation would not necessarily be dominated by the United States of America, that standards of living in the underdeveloped areas would, indeed, rise. In short, that the nucleus world federation is a bona fide proposition and one which the Kremlin would find it difficult to convince its subject peoples that they would do well to keep out of. Nothing less than this will enable us to win the cold war." As we become cognizant of the pitfalls to our sovereignty in the United Nations, let us be ever aware of any similar scheme for world domination such as Atlantic Union, Union Now, or any plan of the internationalists that means putting the irrevocable authority to control the world in the hands of a few. Then we will have total and permanent peace and slavery in place of our freedom under God. Please read: The U. N. Covenant of Human Rights and the United States Constitution, by Paul Wilder, Tampa Tribune. The Menace in UNESCO, by Florence Fowler Lyons, C. 1. Frank Brezina, Post 5431, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Encinitas, Calif. The Sell-out in Korea, by Frank Kirkpatrick, Milwaukee 15, Wis. You? In a Foreign Prison?, by Bryson Reinhardt. Understandable Books, 4145 Arcade Building, Seattle, Wash. Shall the United Nations Make Our Laws?, by Senator John W. Bricker. The American Mercury, October 1953. Is War Inevitable?, by Walter M. Haushalter, LL. D., rector, Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany (Episcopal), Philadelphia. The American Mercury, October 1953. Charter of the United Nations. The Constitution of the United States. The Turning of the Tides, by Paul W. Shafer and John Howland Snow. Post Office Box 4192, St. Petersburg, Fla. Human Events, 1835 K Street, NW., Washington, D. C. Listen to Paul Harvey, 1 p. m., ABC; John Flynn, America's Future, Inc.; Three Star Extra, 6: 45 p. m., NBC; Fulton Lewis, Jr., 7 p. m., MBS. 42435-55-pt. 8- -5 |