THIS Introduction HIS compilation constitutes the first revision of International Agencies in which the United States Participates (Department of State publication 2699), which was issued in 1946 at the suggestion of the late Representative Sol Bloom, of New York, for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of Representatives and other members of Congress. The present publication follows the general pattern of its predecessor in presenting basic data with respect to the origin and development; membership; purposes, powers, and functions; structure; finances; United States relations; relations with other international organizations; and basic texts and publications of many multilateral international organizations. For the purposes of this presentation, the organizations have been classified into 10 broad functional groups: General (covering a wide field of responsibilities); Agriculture and Fisheries; Commodity; Economic and Financial; Educational, Scientific, and Cultural; Occupation and Peacemaking; Political and Legal; Regional; Social and Health; and Transport and Communications. Organizations established subsequent to June 30, 1949, are not included in this volume nor is information later than that date incorporated, unless otherwise indicated. The exceptions in most cases relate to membership, which has been brought to date as of September 15, 1949, whenever possible. In general, the criteria for the inclusion of an organization in the groups mentioned above require that it be active or in the process of being reactivated as of June 30, 1949, and that its membership be composed (at least in part) of representatives of governments or that it be financed (at least in part) by governments. United States participation may take one or more of the following forms: membership through ratification or acceptance of a treaty or agreement, or by other specific congressional action, or executive arrangement; the making of periodic financial contributions; the designation of an official delegate to represent this Government at meetings, as distinct from one designated as an observer or serving as an expert in his personal capacity. There will be noted certain departures from these criteria which permit the inclusion of information concerning organizations VII in which the United States has a vital and active interest, for example the Organization for European Economic Cooperation. The inclusion in membership lists of Germany and of Japan, with two exceptions, is based on their participation prior to the signing of the surrender instruments of May 8 and September 2, 1945, respectively. The two exceptions relate to Japanese membership in the International Telecommunication Union and the Universal Postal Union, which is based on recent Japanese accession to the respective conventions. Any reference to Indonesia relates to the Netherlands East Indies Government, which on September 15, 1949, was the Government acceding to the conventions concerned. An appendix contains brief synopses of organizations in which the United States has participated since December 1, 1945, and which have been terminated or become inactive subsequent to that date. No attempt has been made to set forth, in this volume, the accomplishments of the organizations covered, and the reader is referred to other publications for such information as well as for accounts of congresses, programs, and activities. Details concerning meetings, including the place, date, and composition of the United States Delegations may be found in the Conference Series volumes, published annually, the latest of which is Participation of the United States Government in International Conferences, July 1, 1947-June 30, 1948, Department of State publication 3443. This and other United States Government publications may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. The Department of State will supply on request lists of Department of State publications cumulative from October 1, 1929–January 1, 1948, and cumulative from January 1, 1948–January 1, 1950. United Nations publications pertaining to the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies may be obtained from the International Documents Service, Columbia University Press, New York. This volume was compiled in the Bureau of United Nations Affairs of the Department of State, with the assistance of various offices and divisions, in particular the Office of Public Affairs, Division of Historical Policy Research; the Office of Regional American Affairs; and Treaty Affairs, Office of the Legal Adviser. It is recognized that errors and omissions are likely in an effort of this character. Corrections, criticisms, or suggestions which would make future editions more useful will be welcomed. General United Nations Lake Success, New York, N. Y. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT At the Moscow conference the Foreign Ministers of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States agreed in the Declaration of Four Nations on General Security, released November 1, 1943, on "the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security." In the United States this Declaration was affirmed by the Connally Resolution, adopted November 5, 1943, and the President, on June 15, 1944, issued a statement on the postwar security organization program containing a general blueprint of the type of international organization contemplated. Preliminary conversations on international organization were held in Washington, at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, between representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China from August 21 to October 7, 1944, on which date there were issued by the four Governments the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals for the Establishment of a General International Organization. The four Governments further agreed to take as soon as possible the necessary steps for the preparation of complete proposals which could serve as a basis of discussion at a full conference of the United Nations. Pursuant to this agreement, Prime Minister Churchill, President Roosevelt, and Marshal Stalin met at Yalta in February 1945 and agreed upon the convocation of a United Nations conference on International Organization at San Francisco April 25, 1945. Accordingly, on April 25, representatives of 50 states met at San Francisco to draft the charter of the organization. On June 26, 1945 the Charter was signed by all 50 states, a place being reserved for Poland, which became 1 an original signatory October 15, 1945.1 The Charter came into force October 24, 1945 (now officially designated as United Nations Day), after 29 states, including the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and China, had deposited their ratifications with this Government. "Interim Arrangements Concluded by the Governments Represented at the United Nations Conference on International Organization" provided for the establishment in London of a United Nations Preparatory Commission, on which each Charter signatory would be represented. The Commission was instructed to make provisional arrangements for the first sessions of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Security Council, and the Trusteeship Council, for the establishment of the secretariat, and for the organization of the International Court of Justice. It was also charged with the formulation of recommendations respecting the possible transfer of certain functions, activities, and assets of the League of Nations to the new organization and the examination of the problems involved in the establishment of the relationship between specialized intergovernmental organizations and agencies, and the Organization. An Executive Committee of the Preparatory Commission, consisting of representatives of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czechoslovakia, France, Iran, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Yugoslavia, was set up under the provisions of the Interim Arrangement and met in London from August 16, 1945, to November 24, 1945, to outline the work of the Preparatory Commission. The Commission met November 24, 1945, in London and discharged its responsibilities, concluding its work December 23, 1945, with the groundwork laid for the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly at London, January 10, 1946. To work out a related international judicial system, the United Nations Committee of Jurists met at Washington, April 9-20, 1945. On the basis of the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice (established pursuant to article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations), it prepared a draft of the statute of the projected International Court for submission to the San Francisco Conference, which adopted it with certain modifications. The resulting International Court of Justice therefore replaces the previous Permanent Court and at the same time continues its functions as the principal international judicial organ. Like the Charter, the Statute of the International Court of Justice came into force October 24, 1945. The first election of judges was held February 6, 1946. The first meeting was held April 3, 1946 with a formal inaugural sitting on April 18, 1946. 1 See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 16. MEMBERSHIP The original members of the United Nations are the states which, having participated in the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco or having previously signed the Declaration by the United Nations of January 1, 1942, have also signed and ratified the Charter of the United Nations. All 51 original signatories of the Charter deposited their instruments of ratification by December 27, 1945: i. e. Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Union of South Africa, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia. Membership in the United Nations is open to all peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the Charter and, in the judgment of the organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations. Such a state is admitted to the organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. Afghanistan, Iceland, Sweden, and Thailand were admitted to the organization in November and December 1946; Yemen and Pakistan in September 1947; and Burma in April 1948. Israel was admitted in May 1949, bringing the total membership to 59. A number of other states 2 have applied for admission to the organization but have failed to receive a favorable recommendation from the Security Council. Nepal has also submitted an application which is before the Security Council. All United Nations members are parties to the Statute of the International Court of Justice ipso facto under article 93 (1) of the Charter. Switzerland, a nonmember of the United Nations, became a party to the Statute on July 28, 1948, pursuant to article 93 (2) of the Charter, which provides that a state not a member of the United Nations may become a party to the Statute on conditions to be determined in each case by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. The General Assembly at its fourth regular session, which convened September 20, 1949, is to act upon a recommendation of the Security Council, setting forth the conditions under which Liechtenstein might become a party to the Statute. * Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Ceylon, Eire, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Mongolian People's Republic, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Rumania, and Transjordan,......... |