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ORGANS
(Chapter III)

The structure of international organizations has tended to follow a somewhat uniform pattern. Under this pattern, there is a general body in which all members of the organization are represented, and where they have an opportunity to participate in formulating and carrying out plans and purposes. At the same time, it has been recognized that the many members of such a body cannot efficiently conduct the details of the organization's affairs. Accordingly, there is usually a smaller group which can meet more frequently and apply in specific situations the organization's general rules and principles. It is also clearly necessary to have some kind of staff to arrange the meetings and to attend to the multitudinous details of a continuously functioning organization. Depending upon the type of organization, additional bodies or organs may be added.

The League of Nations was organized in general along the above lines. It has its Assembly, in which all members are represented, its smaller Council, and its Secretariat. In addition, there are in the general framework of the League system a variety of special bodies and committees of which the two most important are the International Labor Organization and the Permanent Court of International Justice.

Chapter IV of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals listed the principal organs of the proposed organization-a General Assembly, a Security Council, an international court of justice, and a Secretariat. They provided also that the Organization might establish such subsidiary agencies as might be found necessary. Chapter IX of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals also provided for the establishment of an Economic and Social Council, although this was not listed among the "principal organs".

ESTABLISHMENT OF ORGANS

At San Francisco the structure of the Organization was discussed in connection with the listing of the principal organs. There was no question of eliminating any of the organs mentioned in Chapter IV

of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals but it was seen that certain additions ought to be made. By reason of their importance, the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council were added to the original list of organs prescribed at Dumbarton Oaks.

Each of the principal organs is described in detail in other chapters of this Report. They are established by and listed in Chapter III of the Charter and are referred to here for the purpose of indicating the general structure of the Organization.

Article 7 of the Charter retains the provision which is found in Chapter IV of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals to the effect that the Organization may establish such subsidiary agencies as may be found necessary. Article 63 provides that the Economic and Social Council, subject to approval by the General Assembly, may enter into arrangements with various specialized intergovernmental agencies having wide international responsibilities in economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and related fields. This provision, in modified form, reproduces the suggestion made in Chapter IX, Section A, Paragraph 2, of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals. It will depend upon the nature of these organizations and of the agreements entered into with them whether they become agencies or organs of the United Nations or whether they retain their separate existence and special relationship to the United Nations.

EQUALITY FOR MEN AND WOMEN

Some consideration was given at Dumbarton Oaks to the possibility of providing that positions in the Secretariat be open equally to men and women. It was, however, decided that such a provision, if considered desirable, might be inserted by the Conference at San Francisco. The question of the desirability of this turned out to be the primary issue confronting the Committee of the Conference considering Chapter III of the Charter. While there was no objection to the insertion of an appropriate clause, there was difficulty in agreeing on the exact text. Some delegations felt that such a provision should apply only to the Secretariat. It was argued, however, that a broader provision including other organs and agencies of the Organization would be more desirable. The principal question arose over the wording of an amendment introduced by the Uruguayan Delegation to the effect that "Representation and participation in the

organs of the Organization shall be open both to men and women under the same conditions". This was open to the objection that it implied that Members of the Organization might be obligated to apply the principle in appointing their representatives on various organs of the Organization. It was argued that the Organization could not place restrictions upon Members in the appointment of their own representatives. Consequently, after considerable discussion, it was agreed that it would be more suitable if the Charter merely provided that the Organization should "place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs". This is the phraseology now found in Article 8.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

(Chapter IV)

In the contemporary world, public opinion plays a greater part internationally than it has ever played before. The inter-dependence and inter-relation of peoples and countries may make world problems of problems that develop in any part of the world. At the same time, modern instruments of communication, with the continuing interchange of expression among nations and peoples which they make possible, create a situation in which a true world opinion can form.

It is essential, therefore, that the United Nations, which is designed to play an effective part in the world of our time, should relate itself through appropriate instruments to public opinion. Whatever executive or legal or advisory organs it may possess, it must also provide a forum for discussion. Not to do so would be to deprive the organization of one of the most powerful means at its disposal for the accomplishment of its purpose.

The establishment of such a forum, however, creates obvious difficulties. In the present state, at least, of world opinion, an international legislative body is out of the question, since the several nations are not willing to sacrifice their sovereignty to the extent of permitting an international legislature to enact laws binding upon them or on their peoples. At the same time, an assembly with the power to discuss but without the power to reach conclusions, is not an effective forum for the discussion of real issues or for the focusing of opinion. It was doubtless for this reason, in part, that the Assembly of the League of Nations was given powers which duplicated to a considerable extent those of the Council of the League.

The problem is resolved in the Charter of the United Nations by creating a General Assembly having broad powers of discussion, but possessing at the same time the right to initiate studies and to make recommendations for the purpose of promoting international cooperation. Since the conclusions reached after full discussion and debate by the representatives of fifty or more nations will necessarily carry great influence, the Assembly seems assured of an important role in the formation of world opinion. The successful performance of this

role would require that the proceedings of the General Assembly should not be secret and the Conference took this view. Although the Charter leaves it to the General Assembly to fix its own procedure, Commission II of the Conference urged that the rules of procedure adopted at the first meeting should 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 position taken by the United States Delegation with reference to the General Assembly was clearly defined from the beginning of the Conference. From the first Conference question to the last-that is to say, from the question of the organization of the Conference itself to the question of the limits of discussion in the proposed General Assembly-the United States Delegation supported the general proposition that an effective international organization must be constructed on the most broadly democratic basis, if it is to operate effectively. It was a member of the United States Delegation who expressed the hope that the General Assembly would be "the town meeting of the world". It is believed that that hope has been realized in the Charter.

THE FUNCTIONS AND POWERS OF THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY

In its general structure and competence and in its relations with the other organs of the Organization, the General Assembly remains as it was basically conceived in Chapter V of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals. However, as a result of the San Francisco Conference the enumeration of the functions attributed to the General Assembly, has been expanded and made more specific. This has had the effect of broadening the range of activity and of making more precise the duties with which the General Assembly will be entrusted.

The functions of the General Assembly may be broadly described as being to deliberate, to administer, to elect, to approve budgets and

to initiate amendments.

The United Nations is not, of course, a super-state nor is the General Assembly a legislative or law-making body in the usual sense of that term. It is, however, a deliberative body which has the right to consider and discuss any subject within the scope of the Charter or relating to the powers and functions of any organs provided in the Charter. With one exception, which is noted later, it

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