General to continue consultations with the IPPC with a view toward the integration of the IPPC within the the United Nations. Member governments of both organizations were asked to transmit comments on the subject by December 31, 1949.

BASIC TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS

United States Participation: 37 Stat. 688, 692; 22 U.S.C. 263.

International Penal and Penitentiary Commission. "Constitutional Regulations," reprinted periodically in the Proceedings of the International Penal and Prison Congress. Staempfli & Cie, Bern.

Proceedings of the International Penal and Prison Congress. Staempfli & Cie, 1872

Recueil de Documents en Matiere Penale et Penitentiaire. Staempfli & Cie, Bern. Technical Documents. 1931-. (English title beginning with vol. 14 (1949), Select Papers on Penal and Penitentiary Affairs).

Bulletin de la Commission Internationale Penale et Penitentiaire. Staempfli & Cie, Bern. Issued periodically 1880-1910; new series 1925-30. Predecessor to Recueil.

Actes des Congres Penitentiaires Internationaux. Bern. 45 vols. (covering 11 congresses), 1872-1935.

International Refugee Organization

rue des Paquis, Geneva, Switzerland

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

The question of refugees and displaced persons was placed upon the agenda of the first part of the First Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations by the United Kingdom in January 1946. After protracted debate through the year 1946, not only in the General Assembly but also in the Economic and Social Council and special committees established by the Council, the Constitution of the International Refugee Organization (IRO) was adopted as part of resolution 62 (I) of the General Assembly, on December 15, 1946, and opened for signature on the same date. The General Assembly adopted simultaneously, in the same resolution, an Agreement on Interim Measures To Be Taken in Respect of Refugees and Displaced Persons, pursuant to which there was established a Preparatory Commission for the IRO. This agreement came into force on December 31, 1946.14

On July 1, 1947, the Preparatory Commission took over the functions, activities, assets, and personnel, so far as refugees and displaced persons were concerned, of the United Nations Relief and Reha

bilitation Administration and the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees; and from that time on the Preparatory Commission performed in effect the functions of the IRO itself. Not until August 20, 1948, were sufficient adherences obtained to the IRO constitution to bring it into force. The Preparatory Commission officially ceased to exist on September 16, 1948, upon the election of the Director General of the IRO.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership in the IRO is open to members of the United Nations. It is also open to any other peace-loving states, upon recommendation of the Executive Committee of the IRO, by a two-thirds majority vote of the IRO General Council.

States eligible for membership become members of the IRO by becoming a party to the constitution, or by making certain commitments as to financial support which correspond to the normal obligations of membership. Members as of June 30, 1949, are Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela. PURPOSES, POWERS, AND FUNCTIONS

The functions of the IRO are the repatriation; identification, registration, and classification; care and assistance; legal and political protection; transport; and resettlement of refugees and displaced persons as defined in the constitution.

STRUCTURE

The policy-making body of the IRO is the General Council, in which each member has one representative and one vote. An Executive Committee, consisting of representatives of nine members of the IRO, performs interim functions between sessions of the General Council and makes recommendations to the General Council on special subjects, such as the annual budget. A Review Board of Eligibility Appeals of three persons serving as individuals makes decisions in particular cases of eligibility of refugees and displaced persons and recommends general regulations on this subject.

Sessions of the General Council are held semiannually for the first 3 years; thereafter, annually. Special sessions are provided for. The Executive Committee may be convened at the call of the chairman or the request of a member at any time; in practice, it meets about four times a year. Both bodies have met in Geneva (except for one session of the Executive Committee in Rome).

On August 1, 1949, John Donald Kingsley succeeded William Hallam Tuck as Director General of the IRO, following the latter's resignation.

The IRO constitution provides that its Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish texts are equally authentic. Documents are issued, however, only in French and English. English and French are also the working languages at meetings.

FINANCES

Budget. The constitution of the IRO provides that the Director General shall submit, through the Executive Committee, to the General Council an annual budget and from time to time such supplementary budgets as may be required. The Executive Committee transmits the budget to the General Council with recommendations and the General Council gives its final approval.

The budget of the organization is broken down into administrative and operational sections. The following scheduled budget expenditures were approved for the years indicated:

Actual expenditures have amounted to less than the authorized budgets, because the latter are based on the assumption of complete participation in the IRO by all members of the United Nations. Since not all members of the United Nations have become members of the IRO, actual income has fallen short of authorized expenditures.

In addition to member contributions, the IRO has received $3,603,839 from UNRRA residual assets.

Members' Quotas. Included in annex II of the IRO constitution are two scales of contributions, one governing contributions toward administrative expenses, the other toward operational expenses. The scale of contributions for the administrative budget is almost identical

with the United Nations scale, while the scale for the operational budget is based more completely on capacity to pay.

The scales of contributions set forth in annex II of the IRO constitution are as follows:

Authorization. The IRO constitution was signed, subject to approval, for the United States on December 16, 1946. The United States instrument of acceptance was deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations on July 3, 1947, pursuant to the authority given to the President by the Joint Resolution of the Congress, approved July 1, 1947.15

On August 22, 1947, the President designated the International Refugee Organization as a public international organization entitled to enjoy the benefits of the International Organizations Immunities Act. 15

Payments. The United States pays its contributions from funds appropriated to the Department of State for this purpose. Its contributions to the IRO have been as follows:

The United States has been assessed $70,447,729 for the fiscal year 1950. Of this amount, $1,795,050 represents the United States share