may also make recommendations to the Members of the United Nations or to the Security Council on any such matters (Article 10). The General Assembly will probably not have extended sessions such as the Congress of the United States or the Parliamentary bodies of other countries. It will meet annually and in special session when called (Article 20) and it seems likely that its sessions will not ordinarily run for more than five or six weeks, since the responsible officials who attend its meetings usually cannot be away from their national responsibilities for a greater length of time. Its deliberative character, however, will normally result in the passing of resolutions on the subjects brought before it and it will usually be the duty of the various councils and of the Secretariat to give such effect to these resolutions as they may require. The term "deliberative" therefore is characteristic of its general functions. The administrative functions with which the General Assembly will be endowed include making recommendations for the coordination of policies of the various international economic and social agencies which operate directly under its authority or which are brought into relation with the Organization. (Articles 57, 58, 60). It will establish regulations governing the Secretariat (Article 101). It will have important duties of supervision over areas under trusteeship (Articles 87, 88). Moreover, it will be the organ primarily responsible for the smooth functioning of the entire Organization and for seeing that provision is made for the establishment of such subsidiary organs as will be necessary to carry out its duties (Article 22). The electoral function attributed to the General Assembly places it in a central position in the entire Organization, since most of the other organs will partially or wholly depend upon the election of members by the General Assembly. For example, six of the eleven states members of the Security Council will be periodically elected by the General Assembly (Article 23), as well as the eighteen states members of the Economic and Social Council (Article 61) and some of the members of the Trusteeship Council (Article 86, Paragraph c). In addition, the judges of the International Court of Justice will be elected by the General Assembly concurrently with the Security Council. The Secretary-General will be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council (Article 97). Also on the recommendation of the Security Council, the General Assembly will admit new members to the United Nations (Article 4). The budgetary function of the General Assembly empowers that body to consider and approve the budget of the Organization as well as any financial and budgetary arrangements with specialized intergovernmental agencies brought into relationship with it, and to apportion overall expenses of the Organization among its Members (Article 17). The allocation to the General Assembly of the task of apportioning the expenses and approving the budgets of the Organization is an extension to the international field of the fundamental principle of democratic government that the purse strings should be held by the most widely representative organ. At the Conference there was some discussion of the desirability of specifying in detail the budgetary procedures and methods of apportioning expenses, but all such suggestions were in the end rejected on the ground that the Charter should be held as much as possible to the description of fundamental powers and functions, and that the General Assembly could safely be left to take care of details through its own subsequent regulations. The amending or constituent function of the General Assembly gives that body power by a two-thirds vote to recommend the adoption of amendments to the Charter itself and to initiate the calling of a general conference for revision of the Charter. Amendments would, however, require ratification by two-thirds of the Members of the United Nations including all the permanent members of the Security Council in order to become effective (Articles 108, 109). The General Assembly will also have a special sanctioning power with respect to Members which fail to carry out their obligations under the Charter. The Assembly is empowered, upon the recommendation of the Security Council, to suspend from the exercise of rights and privileges of membership any Member against which preventive or enforcement action has been taken, and to expel from the Organization any Member which has gravely or persistently violated the principles of the Organization (Articles 5, 6). It is not necessary, however, for the General Assembly to participate in the decision to restore the rights and privileges of a suspended Member. The last point was made, not to detract from the powers of the General Assembly, but rather as a means of facilitating the operation of security measures and to speed the return to full participation in the Organization of a Member which alters its behavior for the better as a consequence of enforcement measures taken against it. For assistance in the discharge of any of its functions, the General Assembly may ask the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on any legal question (Article 96). Peaceful Adjustment of Situations Likely to Impair the General Welfare The part which the General Assembly plays in the peaceful adjustment of situations likely to impair the general welfare can not be completely understood except in connection with its relationship to the Security Council, but the main lines of its activities in this field may be sketched first. The General Assembly, in being empowered by Article 14 to recommend measures "for the peaceful settlement of any situations, regardless of origin, which it deems likely to impair the general welfare or friendly relations," possesses an additional grant of authority which gives the widest possible latitude to its initiative and statesmanship. The provision resulted from an amendment proposed by the Sponsoring Powers which was approved by the Conference. Several amendments were submitted to the Conference to provide explicitly that the General Assembly should have the right to recommend the revision of treaties. The able debate on these amendments revolved around the meaning of the phrase "any situations, regardless of origin," as used in Article 14. The United States Delegation took the position that explicit reference to the revision of treaties would throw the weight of the Organization too heavily on the side of revision and encourage change beyond the needs of situations requiring it. It was argued that it is not possible to launch an international organization based on international integrity and at the same time intimate any lack of respect for treaties, which are the principal instruments through which international integrity functions. Indeed, a consideration of the general welfare and friendly relations might call for a recommendation that a treaty should be respected by its signatories rather than that it should be revised. The thousands of treaties in operation as the bond of orderly relations among the nations of the world, should not be weakened by raising doubts about their value or permanence. On the other hand, if situations exist under treaties which are alleged to impair the general welfare or to threaten friendly relations between nations, or to conflict with the purposes and the principles of the Charter, such situations shall be open to discussion or recommendation by the General Assembly. It was the view of the United States Delegation, therefore, that the General Assembly should not interest itself in a treaty per se, but rather in the conditions and relations among nations which may impair the general welfare or friendly relations among nations. These threats to the general welfare may arise from treaties or from situations having no relation to treaties. In any case, as soon as situations emerge as a threat to the general welfare, they should become a matter of concern to the General Assembly. Thus the broad powers entrusted to the General Assembly will enable it to render effective aid in the difficult process of "peaceful change". Representatives of many other delegations participated in the debate and there was a wide measure of agreement that the Charter should not contain a specific reference to a power to recommend the revision of treaties. Accordingly, the amendments providing for such a power were not approved. Another and more specialized function of the General Assembly will enable it to make long range contributions to the peaceful settlement of disputes. Under Article 13 it is given the duty of initiating studies and making recommendations for the encouragement of the progressive development and codification of international law. This clause was inserted in the Charter in response to a general demand that the rule of law among nations should be strengthened. As that law is strengthened, the role of another organ of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, which is also designed to aid in the cause of pacific settlement, will increase in effectiveness. REPRESENTATION AND VOTING The provisions of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals that the General Assembly is to consist of representatives of all Members and that each is entitled to one vote, are incorporated in the Charter. Following the suggestion in the Proposals that a maximum number of delegates for each country be stated in the basic instrument, the figure has been set at five. This was considered adequate to provide for representation of all the Members on the principal committees of the General Assembly (Articles 9, 18). The provision in the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals for a two-thirds majority in voting on "important questions" (which are listed in the text) and a simple majority for all other questions, was written into the Charter (Article 18). It is significant that no one seriously considered perpetuating the unanimity rule which operated in the League of Nations and in many other international bodies. The Conference made only one change of substance in the portions of the Dumbarton Oaks text relating to the structure and proceedings of the General Assembly itself. This was to add a provision depriving a Member of the right to vote if it is two years or more in arrears in the payment of its financial contributions. This amendment, which was submitted in various forms by five different Delegations, was adopted with the overwhelming support of the representatives of nations large and small. In order to prevent undue hardship, it has been provided that the General Assembly should have the power to waive the penalty if the non-payment of contributions is due to causes beyond the control of the Member in question (Article 19). THE RELATION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY Perhaps the basic difference between the constitutional arrangement of the United Nations and that of the League of Nations, is that instead of the Assembly and the Council having identical functions, as was the case under the League, the General Assembly and the Security Council will each have different functions assigned to it. The General Assembly is primarily a body for deliberation and recommendation, while the Security Council is given powers to act in the maintenance of international peace and security whenever it deems necessary (Article 11). A certain inter-action is provided in the relations between the General Assembly and the Security Council. For example, the former may make recommendations to the Security Council in any matters affecting the maintenance of peace and security, provided these matters are not actively being dealt with at the time by the Security Council, but in the latter case the Security Council may ask the assist |