International Criminal Police Commission 11 rue des Saussaies, Paris, France ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT The question of cooperation among national law enforcement agencies to aid in the repression of activities of international criminals was the subject of discussion at a number of international conferences held prior to World War I, notably at Buenos Aires in 1905, Madrid in 1909, São Paulo in 1912, Washington in 1913, and Monaco in 1914. The idea of establishing an international identification bureau was first advanced at the latter conference. On the occasion of the Congress of Criminal Police held at Vienna in 1923, it was decided, under the sponsorship of Vienna's police president, Dr. Schrober, to establish the International Criminal Police Commission, with headquarters at Vienna, as the continuing organization of periodic international police congresses. The Commission, which called 14 General Assemblies during the years between 1923 and 1939, ceased to function during World War II. It was re-established in June 1946, with headquarters at Paris (on the basis of new statutes) by 19 members from countries not allies of Germany, acting on the initiative of the Inspector General of the Belgian Ministry of Justice. Since the end of World War II, the Commission has held three General Assemblies, the last in Praha in 1948. The next is scheduled to be held in Bern in October 1949. MEMBERSHIP Membership in the Commission consists of (a) active members— the representatives delegated by the respective national police authorities and (b) extraordinary members-those elected by a majority of two-thirds of the votes of a plenary assembly, who are selected for technical knowledge or for services rendered to the Commission. The foundation members elected by the International Police Conference in 1923 are still considered as Commission members, as far as their Governments approve. As of January 1, 1949, representatives of the national police organizations of the following countries were members of the Commission: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Tangier, Trieste (Free Territory), Turkey, Union of South Africa, United States of America, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia. PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS The Commission promotes cooperation between national police authorities, develops institutions designed to repress crime, and centralizes and exchanges technical information. Its interests include the suppression of drug traffic, counterfeiting, forgery, traffic in women and children, and such matters as extradition and the unification of penal and criminal law. STRUCTURE The ICPC functions through a General Assembly, a permanent International Central Bureau, headed by a Secretary General; a Board, which includes a President and 7 vice presidents (the delegate of the country having the next meeting also may be appointed a vice president); an Executive Committee; a body of 10 rapporteurs, set up to examine specific questions; and a number of subcommissions. The decisions involving the authority of the organization, the general directives, and the methods to be followed in international police cooperation are adopted in the General Assemblies by means of resolutions. These resolutions are generally put into execution by the Secretary General under the supervision of the Executive Committee. The General Assemblies are held periodically, normally every year. Each national police organization which is a member of the Commission is entitled to one vote. Decisions are generally reached by a simple majority of the votes. The languages of the Commission are French and English and documents are printed in both languages. The present Secretary General is L. Ducloux. FINANCES Each country whose national police organization is represented on the Commission agrees to pay a contribution proportional to its population. Members' quotas for the year 1949 range from 5 Swiss francs for each 10,000 inhabitants for countries having less than 10 million inhabitants to 5 Swiss francs for each 25,000 inhabitants for countries whose population exceeds 50 million. UNITED STATES RELATIONS Authorization. By an act of Congress approved June 10, 1938, the Attorney General was authorized to accept and maintain, on behalf of the United States, membership in the Commission and to incur the necessary expenses therefor not to exceed $1,500 per annum.8 Payments. The United States contribution is paid from funds appropriated to the Department of Justice. An amount not to exceed 8 See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 226. $1,500 was included in the Department of Justice appropriation acts for each of the fiscal years 1946 through 1948 for United States membership in the Commission. The appropriation for each of the fiscal years 1949 and 1950 included an amount not to exceed $3,000 for this purpose. Agencies Chiefly Concerned. Responsibility for relations with the Commission rests with the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice. The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the United States member of the Commission; but in this capacity he represents the Bureau rather than the United States Government in view of the fact that the Commission is a nongovernmental international organization. RELATIONS WITH OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (U.N.) decided on February 16, 1949, in resolution 214, that the Commission should be given consultative status as a category B nongovernmental organization under article 71 of the United Nations Charter. This decision was made on the basis of the Commission's statement that the organization was based on the adhesion of state police systems undertaken with the approval of governments but without direct agreement of governments. On October 16, 1948, the Commission, together with other nongovernmental organizations concerned with the prevention of crime and treatment of offenders, as well as the International Penal and Penitentiary Commission, concurred in a resolution defining the special aspects of the general field which concerned each of the participating organizations and establishing a permanent committee of these organizations. The meeting at which the resolution was adopted had been called by the secretariat of the United Nations in order to establish procedures and fields of consultation on this gereral problem. (See United Nations document E/CN.5/104.) BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS United States Participation: 52 Stat. 640; 22 U.S.C. 263a. International Criminal Police Commission. La Commission Internationale de Counterfeits and Forgeries. International Labor Organization rue de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland, and North Hills, Long Island, New York ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT The establishment of the International Labor Organization (ILO) was provided for in the treaties of peace negotiated at the end of World War I. The constitution of the Organization formed part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, of the Treaty of St. Germain of September 10, 1919, of the Treaty of Trianon of June 4, 1920, and part XII of the treaty of Neuilly of November 27, 1919. The establishment of the Organization represented the successful culmination of proposals, dating from 1818, for improving the conditions and standards of labor by international action. In 1897 interested parties from the chief industrial nations of Europe formed the International Association for Labor Legislation which, being composed of individuals, was an unofficial body. This Association founded an International Labor Office in Basel, Switzerland, in 1901, and in 1905 it held official conferences of government representatives in Bern. Conventions drawn up at these conferences were ratified by a sufficient number of governments to demonstrate the practicability of international action in this field. The Association continued its work until World War I. Although workers' organizations had held aloof from the Association, resolutions were adopted by the General Federation of Trade Unions of Great Britain in 1916 and at workers' congresses in allied and neutral states in 1917 proposing an international commission for supervising the labor clauses of the peace treaty and asking that the labor office created by the International Association for Labor Legislation be made into an official organization. Accordingly, at the Peace Conference in Paris in 1919, a commission, composed of representatives of employers and workers as well as of governments, drafted the ILO's constitution for inclusion in the peace treaties. The constitution, when the treaties were ratified, established the ILO as an official intergovernmental agency, an autonomous associate of the League of Nations. The dissolution of the League of Nations and the creation of the United Nations necessitated the revision of the ILO's constitution. The International Labor Conference, therefore, meeting in Montreal in October 1946,9 adopted an instrument of amendment which severed the ILO's connection with the League and anticipated its new relation 9 See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 235. ship with the United Nations. On April 20, 1948 a sufficient number of ratifications and acceptances had been registered to bring the amended constitution into effect. The ILO is recognized as a specialized agency of the United Nations by virtue of an agreement approved by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations in June and December 1946, respectively, and by the Montreal session of the ILO in October of the same year.10 MEMBERSHIP Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles provided that the original members of the League of Nations should be the original members of the International Labor Organization and that membership in the League should carry with it membership in the Organization. Some states, notably the United States, joined the ILO without joining the League; and others, in withdrawing from the League, maintained their membership in the ILO. The revised constitution of the ILO provides that those states which were members of the ILO on November 1, 1945 shall retain their membership. In addition any original member of the United Nations and any state admitted to membership in the United Nations may become a member of the ILO by communicating to the Director General of the International Labor Office its formal acceptance of the obligations of the Organization's constitution. The General Conference of the ILO may also admit members to the Organization by a vote concurred in by two-thirds of the delegates attending the session, including two-thirds of the government delegates present and voting. The table on page 231 lists the members as of January 1, 1949. Since this table was prepared, Israel and Lebanon have joined the ILO, and Yugoslavia has withdrawn, bringing the total membership to 60 as of September 15, 1949. PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS The basic purpose of the ILO is to further among nations programs designed to achieve the raising of living standards, full employment, recognition of the right of collective bargaining, and the extension of social security and welfare legislation. To realize this purpose the ILO brings together representatives of labor, management, and governments to set minimum labor standards suitable for international application. These standards are formulated by the General Conference and are embodied in international labor treaties, called conventions, and in recommendations which are drafted as guides for national action. Each member state is required to submit the texts of conventions for action to the appropriate government authority. If the convention is See Basic Texts and Publications, p. 235. 10 |