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mittee for three full meetings, we all believed that the question would not be raised again.

Now then, at a later meeting, owning to a slight allusion made in the excellent report of Mr. Franco, a long discussion again ensued during which we had to give the floor to all the previous speakers in order to set things aright again, because then, as now, an attempt was made to extend the meaning of the proceedings beyond its scope. As a result of this discussion it was agreed to eliminate even from the report that highly provocative sentence so that not even the report should contain an allusion to the possibility that the General Assembly might have the right to recommend the revision of treaties.

After this we once more thought that the matter would be closed forever and never imagined that the Chairman of the Committee himself would open it before this Commission.

Events having thus occurred contrary to our expectation and desire, I, as a Representative of Chile, cannot help joining in the discussion and expressing our point of view clearly.

Immediately, I must state that Chile, as well as Belgium and Egypt, rightly believes that its opinion should be considered impartial since it has no pending question which might affect it. In fact, questions which came up in the past were amicably settled by means of treaties entered into freely and long after the termination of the conflicts.

On the other hand, when it is a question of revision of treaties there are two types which are excluded beforehand: one referring to the end of a war, when there are no treaties in force and questions arising from the war must be settled, and another relating to treaties which define boundaries-the latter being the situation in which all the Spanish American countries find themselves-because boundary treaties, once executed, cease to be such and pass into the category of historic facts of the past. For the rest, the Egyptian Delegate saw it exactly this way in his speech to the Committee.

This antecedent of impartiality having been established, I should like to state that our assertion that the General Assembly shall not have any authority to recommend the revision of treaties is based not only on the merit of the antecedents which I have mentioned and which may be deemed as a one-sided view. Our assurance, moreover, is based on three positive facts which no one would dare deny or question:

First, the fact, already mentioned, that the only time that a vote was taken on this matter, the Committee declared itself on the negative side by a vote of 40 to 6;

Second, the very clear fact that the Charter will expressly contain the honest principle of high respect for treaties now in force; and Third, the fact that yesterday the formula, negotiated by Minister Evatt, the Australian Delegate, was approved, according to which the powers of the General Assembly are extended to all the subjects contained within the scope of the Charter, and since the revision of treaties does not appear in the Charter, it means that the Assembly will not be able to deal with this matter.

Mr. President, there are noble and lofty expressions which are employed for purposes of conjecture. This happens with the concepts of justice and democracy.

Nations like the United States and Chile, which have a century-old

tradition of democracy, are capable of understanding these concepts, but those who keep their people under disgraceful dictatorships cannot speak of democracy, nor can those who keep their jails full of political prisoners speak of justice.

It is not democracy to accumulate all-embracing functions in a single organ. Democracy means to spread these functions among those who have the impartial and discerning capacity to handle them, on the basis of respecting the sacred principles of man as well as the honest fulfilment of pledges freely given in existing treaties.

God has given men speech and intelligence to understand one another. The statesmen of the people are obligated to utilize these powers for better understanding and in order to have the right to be called good neighbors. But speech and intelligence, when utilized to spread the weed of unrest throughout the world, are not being nobly used.

We have come to San Francisco and are in San Francisco to establish the basis for future peace and security. Before the greatness of this work, the small and selfish problem of the revision of treaties seems like a diabolical obstacle placed in the path of peace and security. Let us, therefore, eradicate the root of evil and approve the report which has been submitted to us, and let us discard this insignificant and hateful question.

The Chilean Delegation will vote in favor of the report with the understanding that the General Assembly will not directly or indirectly have the power of recommending the revision of existing treaties.

Mr. President, we are almost at the end of our task. All the peoples of the world trust in our good-will and good faith. Let us try to earn such trust and let us approve a Charter free from blemishes and in which there are no seeds of discord.

Let us open the path through which humanity may advance free from anxiety.

PRESIDENT: You will be glad to hear, Ladies and Gentlemen, that there is only one more speaker and he has promised to be brief. I call on the Delegate of Mexico, Señor Nervo.

Mr. NERVO: Mr. President, Fellow Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I asked to speak here just to add the voice of the Mexican Delegation to the others congratulating the Chairman of the Committee and the Rapporteur for their work, and in expressing the gratification of the Mexican Delegation at having shared in the agreement on one of the most important questions that was before the Conference.

We are absolutely satisfied, not only with the spirit that prevailed in our discussions within the Committee and subcommittees too, but also with the result achieved by our debates. We want to add that if at times it was said in the sessions of our Committee that the position of the sponsoring powers was very difficult, and that there appeared to be a monologue of the sponsoring powers confronting the smaller powers and another monologue of the small powers confronting the big ones, it was not true; and that the result achieved is really the result of a formula and a dialogue.

I wanted to express our gratitude and a vote of thanks for the attitude of the delegates of the sponsoring powers within our Committee. I believe that the way they worked, not against the small powers but with the purpose of making a real and practical Organization, capable of succeeding in its purposes, is really a good omen of what is going

to happen in the future. They fought all the time in the more difficult situations to keep always the unity among them that is necessary for the peace and security of the world. We believe therefore that the trend of the discussion, their consistent attitude in our Committee and in all the committees, is really a hope and an assurance that in the future that unity will prevail, and therefore we will have what we want, peace and security. The Mexican Delegation is very satisfied also with the final formula arrived at in one of the most important paragraphs of our Charter on the power of discussion and recommendation of the Assembly. We in fact believe that the new formula is much better than the other one-that we have now a real criterion and an organ to decide which are the matters that the Assembly is going to discuss, which before was perhaps not so clear. When one defines those powers as matters that affect peace and security or as matters that are within the sphere of international relations, it is hard to say which organs and what criterion is going to be used in an Assembly composed of all the United Nations to decide if a particular problem is within or without that category.

By the new formula, the situation is defined by the Charter itself, and we are perfectly sure that when the time comes no difficulties will arise.

I only want to say one more word, that I consider it unfortunate that this question of free discussion was brought up here. One other thing is clear: that that question should not have been mentioned in this meeting. We had a Charter to discuss; we had a report to discuss in this Commission, and nowhere in that report is the question mentioned.

I oppose, in the name of the Mexican Delegation, any move to try to interpret paragraph 6. Paragraph 6 is the result of very hard work by the sponsoring powers. It has been discussed for two months by all the delegations. This Commission, at this stage, should not interpret or try to interpret it. Moreover, this Commission is not empowered to make any interpretation of the Charter, and when the time comes there are proper organs and times provided by the same Charter to make interpretations. I would, therefore, respectfully suggest that no more be said about that matter. Whatever is in the Charter is already approved. The interpretation of those articles is the job of the Assembly itself, or of the appropriate organ of the Organization, not of this Commission.

I therefore hope this meeting will close in the same spirit of harmony that prevailed in the last session of that Committee, despite that it had, at times, its difficult moments.

PRESIDENT: Mr. Aglion has requested to reply briefly to a point. I think he should have the right to proceed.

Mr. AGLION (Speaking in French; English version as delivered by interpreter follows): Mr. President, I don't want to reopen the discussion. I am just as hungry as you all are.

I would just like to say to M. Rolin that in connection with the question as to whether Hitler used Article 19 of the Covenant or not, I will leave that to the historians. As to the arguments of the Egyptian Delegation, I am sorry that he doesn't see me at the meetings; I always have great pleasure in seeing him there. When he says that states that have lost the war cannot invoke the Charter I would like to remind him that in Chapter VIII, page 36, there is a provision

according to which a non-member state, as well as a member state, can draw the attention of the Assembly to any such situation.

The Egyptian Delegate said that the motion had not been rejected. Actually everything had been condensed into questions and all the questions were rejected, and then one delegate asked that the matter should be referred to a subcommittee. That proposal was voted against by a great majority of the members. In any case, whatever the situation, it is a fact that texts on revision were not adopted.

PRESIDENT: The debate is closed now, Ladies and Gentlemen, and we proceed to finalize our work. Is there any objection to this report and the recommendations being adopted? No objection? Adopted. Thank you very much.

Report of Rapporteur of Commission II to Plenary Session

Doc. 1180, June 24

Commission II was charged by the Conference at its fifth plenary session with the responsibility of considering and recommending Conference action on those parts of the Charter of the United Nations relating primarily to the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and International Trusteeship.

The three technical committees of this Commission which were concerned with the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council took as the basis of their discussions the provisions of Chapters V and IX of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals and the comments and suggestions relevant thereto submitted by the governments of the participating nations. Its fourth technical committee, on Trusteeship, took as the basis of its discussions a working paper prepared on the general foundation of proposals submitted by the Delegations of Australia, China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Commission II, in the course of four meetings, received, considered, and approved reports submitted to it by the Rapporteurs of its four technical committees which constitute integral parts of this report. The principal recommendations of this Commission in regard to the matters within its competence are as follows:

General Assembly

The Assembly will be a body on which every member of the United Nations is represented and in which every member has one vote. A member which has fallen two years in arrears on its financial obligations to the Organization, however, will not be allowed to vote except by special decision of the Assembly. On important questions a twothirds majority will be required, but otherwise decisions will be made by a majority vote.

The Assembly will have the right, upon recommendation of the Security Council, to admit new members, to suspend the rights and privileges of members against which preventive or enforcement action is taken by the Security Council, and to expel members which persistently violate the principles contained in the Charter. It will have important functions in electing members of the Security Council and the Trusteeship Council and the members of the Economic and Social Council and the judges of the International Court of Justice. On

recommendation of the Security Council it will elect the SecretaryGeneral.

The Assembly will have authority in financial and budgetary matters and will consider and approve any financial and budgetary arrangements with specialized international agencies brought into relation with it. It will have the power to examine the administrative budgets of such agencies and to make recommendations concerning them.

The Assembly will meet in annual sessions and in special sessions at the request of the Security Council or of a majority of the member

states.

Commission II has not thought it wise to specify in the Charter that these sessions shall be public, but it has provided that the Assembly shall fix its own rules of procedure and it recommends that the following statement be made a part of the official record of this Conference:

The Conference is of the opinion that regulations to be adopted at the first session of the General Assembly shall provide that, save in exceptional cases, the sessions of the General Assembly shall be open to the public and the press of the world.

The General Assembly will have the right to discuss any questions or any matters within the scope of the Charter or relating to the powers and functions of any organs provided in the Charter. It will be authorized to call the attention of the Security Council to situations likely to endanger peace and security. When the Security Council. in the discharge of its special responsibilities is dealing with a dispute or situation which may endanger the peace, the General Assembly cannot make recommendations on any such dispute or situation. It is, however, laid down that the Secretary-General shall, with the consent of the Security Council, notify the Assembly-or the members of the Organization if the Assembly is not in session-immediately the Security Council ceases to deal with any such matters. In other respects, however, its right of recommendation to the Security Council, the member states, or both is as broad as its right of discussion. It includes the right to recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation, regardless of origin, which the Assembly deems likely to impair the general welfare or friendly relations among nations; the right to make recommendations on the general principles of cooperation in the maintenance of international peace and security, including those governing armaments and the regulation of armaments; and in addition wide powers of recommendation in economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian matters.

The Assembly will be empowered to "receive" and "consider" reports from other bodies of the Organization including the Security Council. The reports of the Security Council shall include an account of the measures which it has taken to maintain international peace and security.

Commission II calls particular attention to the word "consider" as used in the Charter in connection with reports of the Security Council and other organs. It is the intention of Commission II that this word shall be interpreted to encompass the right to discuss, and that the power of the Assembly to discuss and make recommendations as defined in Articles 10, 11, and 12 and 14 is not to be limited in any way with respect to its consideration of reports from the Security Council. Commission II recommends that this plenary session approve this

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