mandate does not belong to my country or any other country. It is held in trust for the world. The work immediately ahead is how those mandates that were previously supervised by the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations can now be supervised by the Trusteeship Council with every mandatory authority pledging itself in the first instance as the test of sincerity demands, whatever may happen to the territory afterwards, to acknowledge the authority and the supervision of this Trusteeship Council that has been helped toward its formation this evening.

The Committee is an excellent one. The method in which the delegates conducted their debates is exemplary and would have done credit to any representative chamber in the world. The document is a creditable one. The question now is how soon and how fully and how sincerely we can implement that document.

PRESIDENT: This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the end of the debate. It has been a long debate, but I think you would all agree with me that it has been most interesting, most instructive, and, in many ways, most inspiring. The talking has ended and we now go into action. May I take it that this report is adopted? Any objection? None. Adopted. This meeting, Ladies and Gentlemen, is adjourned until tomorrow at half past ten, when we shall take the two items that stand over from the agenda of today.

Verbatim Minutes of Fourth Meeting of Commission II, June 21

Docs. 1151 and 1207, June 22 and 27

PRESIDENT (Field Marshal Smuts, Union of South Africa): The meeting is duly opened, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Our agenda today begins with the second report of the first Committee. We have already dealt with the first report of the first Committee; but there is a supplementary report with a number of small points which we are concerned with today, and we start with them. I shall ask the officers of the first Committee to take their places here on the rostrum. The Chairman, Mr. Hasan Saka, the Foreign Minister of Turkey, is unfortunately indisposed and won't be here, but the Rapporteur, Mr. Kiselev (Byelorussian S.S.R.), and the Secretary, Mr. Brown, may come up here and join us. The second report of the first Committee is before you. I do not think it necessary to read it. It raises a small number of supplementary points which we are to dispose of, and which appear in the report. You will see what these points are from the report.

There is first the question of the meetings of the General Assembly being open. In the Committee there was a discussion of that matter. Some took the view that meetings should be public. That was the general view, but objection was taken that this was a procedural matter for the General Assembly itself to deal with, and the Committee therefore came to the conclusion that the best way was to leave it to the General Assembly, but to pass a declaration affirming that open meetings, as far as possible, should be held. You have the declaration before you, which was unanimous, to the following effect:

That the Rapporteur of this Committee be instructed to state in his report this Committee is of the opinion that regulations to be adopted by the first

session of the General Assembly should provide that, save in exceptional cases, sessions of the General Assembly shall be open to the public and to the press. This declaration has to be confirmed by us, and I should like to know whether there is any delegate who wishes to express an opinion on the subject. I notice that the Delegate of Peru has given notice to speak. I call on him.

(The Delegate of Peru delivered his speech in Spanish.)

PRESIDENT: Will the Delegate from Peru mind if his speech is translated only into English?

DELEGATE OF PERU: No.

Mr. AGLION (France, speaking in French; translation follows): The French Delegation wishes that the statement of the Delegate of Peru be translated also into French.

PRESIDENT: It is for the speaker to claim whether it will be translated into both languages or one of them and he is satisfied with one. Mr. AGLION (Speaking in French; translation follows): Mr. President, the French Delegation protests. It was agreed from the beginning, by a decision of the Steering Committee, that speeches would be delivered in two languages and that, upon request of the delegations, they would be translated into the two languages.

PRESIDENT: Well, I don't want to have any difficulty about this and in view of the strong opinion expressed by the French Delegate I think we might have a translation into both languages.

Mr. AGLION (Speaking in French; translation follows): Thank you, Mr. President.

(English version of speech of Delegate of Peru as delivered by interpreter): Mr. President, Fellow Delegates, international peace is incompatible with organized secrecy. We must begin resolutely with the systematic publicity of deliberations. In democracies the publicity of deliberations on the national destinies is a right of public opinion. All representative assemblies respect this obligation. It is not an optional formula that allows assemblies to close or open their doors at their pleasure, still less at the will of a president or a general secretary. And this being so in democratic parliaments, all the more reason that it should be so in the world assembly, which is to be the international culmination of governments and congresses, even more heavily weighted by responsibility and transcendency than any other assembly; to which each delegation would go, not as representing an electoral group, but as a representative of an entire people and its flag, watching all the others zealously in regard to the fulfilment of their mandate, which may concern the life, the integrity, the honor, the proper political personality, and the juridical personality of peoples. This is an argument of great importance and I think that it needs no great discussion at this time. Sacrifice has led to victory through the heroism of the peoples, conscious that in the struggle their own destiny was at stake. But this sacrifice has brought us to extraordinary straits, to straits so tragic and unknown in history as to give to these peoples the immediate right, clearer and more justified than ever before, to follow very closely the actions of those who lead and to listen very closely, without hindrance, to the voices of those who speak in their name. We must open and maintain a wide road toward peace for the tranquillity of all, because there is no justice, there is no humanity, there is no logic in disposing of peoples' lives without

allowing them to follow the whole course of events which may later lead them to bloodshed.

PRESIDENT: The next speaker is Dr. Evatt.

Mr. EVATT (Australia): Mr. President, Fellow Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Honorable Delegate of Peru has asked me to say a few words in support of his attitude, and it is a great honor to do so. Australia would have preferred, like Peru and many other countries, the actual incorporation in the Charter of the principle that the meetings of the General Assembly shall, except in the rarest type of case where security considerations might be involved, be open to the public of the world; and in practice that, of course, would mean that the press of the world would be represented at these conferences.

But another course was taken through lack of the necessary majority. However, the principle recommended to the Commission is an excellent one, and I think it will be followed by the Assembly when it is duly constituted.

Mr. President, in this connection it should be emphasized that one of the expressly stated purposes of the world Organization is the encouragement of respect for fundamental freedoms, and one of the fundamental freedoms is clearly the freedom of expression. That freedom cannot be made actual except in public debate.

Senator Vandenberg, who has taken so prominent a part in the consideration of matters pertaining to the powers of the Assembly, stated at a very early stage in the Conference that he looked forward to the Assembly of the United Nations becoming the town meeting of the world. It is an essential part of such a conception that its meetings should be given the fullest possible publicity and made open to the press. This Conference itself has shown both the need and the desirability for having as much discussion in public as is possible, and some of these debates in the open Commission, as Senator Rolin of Belgium has pointed out, have contributed greatly to solving the tasks we have before us.

I don't think anything need be added to the splendid address of the Delegate of Peru. After all, the fundamental principle which lies behind his recommendation and his initiative was stated a very long time ago by that great thinker, poet, and scholar, Milton, when he made his famous defense for the right of unlicensed printing. What he said was this: "Let Truth and Falsehood grapple: whoever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?" And we want the Assembly of the United Nations to have its deliberations, as far as possible, in public-in almost every case in public-so that Truth and Falsehood may grapple there and so that Truth may prevail.

PRESIDENT: There are no further speakers on this point, Ladies and Gentlemen, and we may now dispose of the matter. I am sure we are all very much impressed by what has been stated by the two distinguished Delegates of Peru and Australia; and, in fact, the recommendation which is here made in our declaration entirely supports the view which they have expressed.

I think we may now proceed to deal with the matter and finish it. Shall we adopt this resolution? Any objection? Adopted.

The next point that arises in this report is a very small one of clarification. Committee 1 passed a resolution which was adopted by the Commission providing that the General Assembly should be empowered to apportion the expenses of members among them. The

Coordination Committee, looking at this recommendation passed by us, thought that it should be explicitly stated that members should bear their share of the expenses so apportioned. It is this small clarification that is required and recommended. Any objection? Adopted. The next point, the admission of new members, does not call for any action. The matter to be clarified was whether the text as adopted weakened the position of the Assembly, and the Committee of Jurists advised that it did not. Committee 1 therefore recommends that the Jurists' opinion should be included in the minutes. That will be done, so that no action need be taken by us.

The next point refers to some recommendations made by the Committee dealing with Trusteeship, Committee 4. Certain action has to be taken by the Assembly in regard to the election of members of the Trusteeship Council and also with regard to the functions to be fulfilled by the Trusteeship Council. Committee 4 dealt with these points, but they have to be included by us among the functions of the Assembly, and you will therefore see that they have passed a recommendation that there be added to the list of the important questions to be decided by the General Assembly by two-thirds majority three matters: the election of elected members of the Trusteeship Council; questions relating to the operations and functions of the trusteeship system; and the expulsion of members from the Organization.

These matters, falling within the jurisdiction of the other Committee, are recommended to us for inclusion among the powers of the General Assembly. Our action, therefore, is quite formal and is simply to record what has been done by Committee 4. Are these recommendations of the Committee adopted? Any objection? Adopted.

There is one matter which is still open and is not mentioned by Committee 1 in its report. Delegates will remember that at our last Commission meeting the question of the election of the SecretaryGeneral of the Organization came up, and before we dealt with it the Soviet Delegate said that he wished the matter to stand over for consideration by the Steering Committee. Well, it duly went to the Steering Committee and the Executive Committee, and they referred the question to Committee III/1 because they thought that that was the proper authority to deal with this matter.

You will remember that the original recommendation of our Committee II/1 was that the Secretary-General of the Organization should be elected by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council, made by an affirmative vote of seven members. The Security Council was therefore involved in this vote. Committee III/1 dealt with the functions of the Security committee and therefore was the authority to settle how this voting should take place in the Security Council-whether it should be a qualified vote or an unqualified vote; and Committee III/1, dealing with this matter within their own jurisdiction, decided that these words in our recommendation should be deleted. These words are "made by an affirmative vote of seven members". Their decision was that this vote by the Security Council in recommending a particular Secretary-General should be made by a qualified vote and not by an unqualified vote. These words, therefore, were deleted by them from the recommendation as made by us. They have acted within their jurisdiction and we have no choice in the matter.

All that we now have to approve is the recommendation as so amended, and it will then read: "The Committee recommends that the Secretary-General of the Organization shall be elected by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Security Council". That is the matter before us, and we are now asked to adopt the resolution in this modified form, as amended by Committee III/1. Any objection to the adoption of this recommendation? Adopted.

That, Gentlemen, finishes the work in connection with the reports of the first Committee; we now pass on to the second Committee.

The officers of that Committee are as follows: the Chairman, Mr. Victor Andrade, the Bolivian Ambassador to the United States; the Rapporteur, Dr. Tulio Franco y Franco, Delegate of the Dominican Republic; and the Secretary, Mr. Eugene Staley, of the International Secretariat. I ask them to take their seats at the rostrum.

You have before you, Ladies and Gentlemen, the report of Committee 2 with the recommendations annexed. The report deals very fully, very adequately, and, I think, very ably with the history of the intricate studies which the second Committee made on the questions referred to it. It would be too long to read. Our time is short and under the circumstances I think we may accept the report as read, with the recommendations, and pass on to the general discussion thereof. The first speaker is the Chairman, Mr. Andrade, of Bolivia.

Mr. ANDRADE: Mr. Chairman and Honorable Delegates, in my double capacity as Chairman of the Committee of the second Commission responsible for considering that chapter of the Charter which contains the political and security powers of the Assembly, and as Delegate of the Republic of Bolivia, I feel I should make some remarks about the spirit which animated the discussions, about the results obtained, and, lastly, about the high importance and significance, in my opinion, of some of the principles we have approved for submission for the consideration of the Conference in plenary session. The strength of the future world Organization rests on perfect equilibrium between the functions of the Assembly and those of the Security Council. Neither of these two bodies should try to dominate the other nor trespass on the other's peculiar sphere of activities and responsibilities for the maintenance of future world peace, which is the essence and purpose of our work. At one time there seemed to be an idea that if the powers of one of these bodies were increased, the powers of the other would necessarily have to be diminished; and the rivalry produced by this friction might have sown the seeds of disharmony and despair.

However, if we view as a whole the results of our labors, two fundamental aspects appear: The Assembly, as the supreme representative body of the world, is to establish the principles on which world peace and the ideal of solidarity must rest; and, on the other hand, the Security Council is to act in accordance with those principles and with the speed necessary to prevent any attempted breach of international peace and security. In other words, the former is a creative body and the latter an organ of action.

It would be of no avail, Gentlemen, to have translated into words the theory of an institution for guaranteeing the peace of the world, if men and nations do not place their noblest feelings at the service of that Organization, and renounce any attempt to find in its deficiencies a loophole through which may filter in ambition, cupidity, and