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The Specialized Agencies and the United Nations: Progress Report I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Walter R. Sharp
Walter R. Sharp
Affiliation:
DR. Walter R. Sharp, Professor of Government at the College of the City of New York, is Administrative Consultant for the Interim Commission of the World Health Organization. A former advisor with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, he attended the San Francisco Conference, and was Secretary-General of the first annual conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization. Opinions expressed in this article are the author's and not necessarily those of any United Nations agency with which he is or has been connected. A second part of this report on the specialized agencies by Dr. Sharp will appear in the February, 1948, issue of International Organisation.
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Extract

The pattern of relations between the United Nations and the specialized agencies has now been developed to a point where some comparison of the theory of the Character with emerging practice may be useful. By midsummer 1947 the Economic and Social Council had held four sessions. Its structure of commissions and subcommissions had been substantially established and the first round or so of meetings completed. Formal agreements, as envisaged by Articles 57 and 63 of the Character, had been concluded with four specialized agencies — ILO, FAO, UNESCO, and ICAO — all of which were going concerns. Negotiations to this end were slowly progressing with the Bank and the Fund. A seventh agency (WHO), although still in the preparatory stage, had begun negotiations with a view to the eventual conclusion of an agreement, while the constituent instrument of the International Trade Organization, then in the final drafting phase at Geneva, was certain to call for the establishment of a formal connection between ITO and the United Nations. The IRO, though a United Nations creation and declared by its basic instrument to be a “specialized agency” within the meaning of Article 57, belongs in a different category because of its temporary character.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , September 1947 , pp. 460 - 474
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1947

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References

1 The Twelfth Congress of the Postal Union, meeting in Paris (May 1947), approved the affliation of the Union with the United Nations, and it was anticipated that the Telecommunications Union, meeting in Atlantic City, would shortly take similar action.

2 In the “Observations on Relationships with Specialized Agencies” contained in the Report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, a distinction was made between “specialized agencies” in the sense of Article 57, and other “intergovermental agencies,” whether brought into relationship with United Nations or not. The Preparatory Commission neverthless admitted that cases might arise in which it would be desirable to formalize the relationship of the latter type of agency with the United Nations.

3 In the case of UNESCO and ICAO, the process was slightly different in that the preliminary negotiations were carried on by the Preparatory Commission and Interim Council, respectively. Each of these two bodies registered its approval of the draft agreement before action by the General Assembly. Following the Assembly's action, the two agreements were formally approved by the First Conference of UNESCO and the First Assembly of ICAO, respectively.

4 Document E/NSA/13, June 10, 1946. The observations here expressed on the spirit of the negotiations are based upon a study of the summary records of the meeting of the negotiating groups.

5 The ILO agreement uses the verb “co-operate” in lieu of “consult.”

6 This question did not arise with respect to ILO and FAO because neither agency's constitution contains any restriction on the right of its Conference to admit new members.

7 Document A/61/Add. 1. p. 78.

8 This amendment will not become effective until it is ratified by two-thirds of the ICAO member states, but the Secretary-General of the United Nations declared that the ICAO Assembly's action would be construed by him as fulfilling the condition laid down by the United Nations Assembly.

9 This provision stems directly from Article 96, paragraph 2, of the Character, which gives the General Assembly the right to authorize specialized agencies to request advisory opinions of this nature.

10 Resolution of March 28, 1947, Document E/431.

11 Resolution of September 21, 1946, Document E/231.

12 Important examples of this are the World Statistical Congress (to meet in Washington on September 1947), the Scientific Conference on Resource Conservation and Utilization to be held early in 1948), the Conference on Freedom of Information (to take place in Europe next spring), the conference to consider the advisability of establishing an intergovernmental maritime organization (scheduled to convene during the autumn of 1947), and the meeting of Experts on Passport and Frontier Formalities (which was held in Geneva during April 1947).

13 Rule 13 of the Rules of Procedure for the Trusteeship Council approved at its 22nd meeting, April 23, 1947.

14 Of the 3,000 meetings included in the above estimate, 811 during 1947, and 599, during 1948, were scheduled for Geneva, where the Palais des Nations, now serving as the European regional center for the United Nations, will be taxed to the limit of its facilities.