One of the major premises of United States policy in Southeast Asia, as it has evolved during the past few years, appears to be that effective regional organization is a practical political possibility. To an increasing extent we have sought to implement policy objectives in the area through the development of regional institutions. Thus the United States took the lead in the negotiation of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty (the Manila Pact), which is a mutual security arrangement for the defense of Southeast Asia against aggression by means of armed attack or subversion. In the economic field we joined, after an initial period of hesitation, in the British Commonwealth-sponsored Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia. While American economic assistance to Asian countries has always been, and still is, extended primarily on a bilateral basis, the government let it be known early in 1955 that it would be prepared to establish a special regional fund of about $200 million to be used for projects benefiting more than one country, if the nations concerned could themselves devise a satisfactory program. The fact that the Simla Conference, called soon thereafter by India to discuss the American proposal, failed to reach agreement on regional use of the fund does not negate the general impression of American concern for a regional approach.

It has become so common to refer to the domestic jurisdiction clause as one of the most controversial provisions of the UN Charter that it may reasonably be expected that a revision conference will be confronted with proposals for its amendment.

Ten years have passed since the initial publication of Emery Reves's international best-seller, The Anatomy of Peace, and the rapid growth of numerous organizations which took up the cry for world government at the dawn of the Atomic Era. Open conflict in Korea in 1950, following several years of severe international tension, seemed to lend some grim support to early world federalist warnings that the world would either “federate or disintegrate” within the span of a few years. But the international atmosphere has improved somewhat in recent years, and the world has not conformed with the early federalist prediction. Indeed, world federalists themselves are still very much alive and active on this still unfederated planet—not only in the United States, but in more than a score of other non-communist countries as well.

Report of the Committee on South West Africa: The report of the Committee on South West Africa to the tenth session of the General Assembly stated that the Committee had again invited the government of the Union of South Africa to confer with it, but that the Union government had refused the invitation, stating that it still maintained that the mandate in respect of South West Africa had lapsed and that the government had no other international commitments as a result of the demise of the League of Nations. Provisional rules of procedure for the Committee had been adopted on February 11, 1954; at its meeting on June 1, 1955, the Committee, having received no comment from South Africa, decided that these provisional rules of procedure should become its rules of procedure. In 1955, the Union government had again refused to submit an annual report in regard to the Territory of South West Africa to the Committee; therefore, the Committee decided to apply the alternate procedure contained in its rules of procedure with respect to examination of reports.

At its 700th meeting on September 8, 1955, the Council considered a report of the Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine, General E. L. M. Burns, on an outbreak of violence in the Gaza area which had begun with an incident on August 22 in which an Egyptian post near the demarcation line was occupied by Israel forces; according to General Burns, this incident, in which one Egyptian officer and two soldiers had been killed and three others wounded, had started a chain of violence. While it was not possible to affix responsibility for the episode of August 22, he stated, it had been followed by an organized series of attacks on vehicles, installations and persons, carried out by gangs of marauders in Israel territory and resulting in the deaths of eleven military and civilian personnel and the injury of nine. The number and nature of these attacks, in the view of General Burns, suggested that they were the work of organized and well trained groups, and he stated that investigations by the United Nations military observers tended to support this view. There had also been numerous incidents of firing across the demarcation line, accompanied in some instances by incursions of small parties of troops of either side, and sometimes resulting in heavy casualties. In view of the deterioration in the situation, General Burns reported, he had requested on August 26 that responsible Israel authorities in the area be instructed to act with restraint, and had informed the Egyptians that in his view it would be advisable to post United Nations military observers on the Egyptian side in accordance with arrangements previously in force, but subsequently discontinued.

The Disarmament Commission held its 44th meeting in New York on November 19, 1954, under the chairmanship of Mr. A. Vyshinsky (Soviet Union) and considered the re-establishment of the Sub-Committee of the Disarmament Commission, in conformity with a resolution of the ninth session of the General Assembly. The United Kingdom delegate (Dixon) stated that in his opinion the Sub-Committee was already in existence, and it would be more accurate to speak of reconvening than of re-establishing it. He further proposed that the Sub-Committee should hold a procedural meeting in New York during December, 1954, so that the first substantive meeting might be held at about the end of January. Mr. Moch (France) expressed approval of the United Kingdom proposals, and added that the procedural meeting should be held at the beginning of December. At the suggestion of the chairman, who also favored the United Kingdom proposal, the Commission without a formal vote agreed to request the Sub-Committee to resume its work during December, and, taking the Commission's wishes into account, to decide itself on the subsequent order of its work.

The 19th session of the Economic and Social Council was held in New York in two parts, the first from March 29 to April 7, and the second from May 16 to 27, 1955. Sir Douglas Copland (Australia) was elected president of the Council for 1955, and. Dr. Santiago Perez Perez (Venezuela) and Dr. Joza Brilej (Yugoslavia) first and second vice-presidents, respectively. An agenda of 26 items for the 19th session had been proposed, of which 10 were to be taken up at the first part. The Council approved the agenda for the first part of the session after deciding) to consider the provisional agenda for the 20th session and its opening date during the first part of the 19th session, instead of the second part, and) to defer consideration of forced labor, originally scheduled for the first part of the 19th session, to the 21st session, when the report on the subject of the Secretary-General and the Director-General of the International Labor Organization would be ready for examination. At the second part of its 19th session, the Council considered the remaining agenda items, with the exception of world calendar reform, which was deferred until the 21st session, and in addition concurred in the proposal of the United States representative that the question “reorganization of the sessions of the Council” should be considered at the 19th session.

Annual Report of the Secretary-General: In the introduction to the tenth annual report of the Secretary-General on the work of the United Nations, which covered the period of July I, 1954, to June 15, 1955, Dag Hammarskjold stated that the tenth year of the existence of the United Nations, unlike the previous nine, had seen a lessening of tension in world affairs; he cited the Austrian Treaty, the meeting of the Big Four at Geneva, and the Bandung Conference as examples of developments which “… give reason for hope that they may be followed by others in the same direction.

Applications

Aerial Incident of October y, 1952 (United States v. Soviet Union): On June 2, 1955, the United States filed with the International Court of Justice an application instituting proceedings against the Soviet Union, on the grounds of certain willful acts said to have been committed by Soviet fighter aircraft against a United States Air Force B-29 aircraft andits crew off Hokkaido, Japan, on October 7, 1952. The United States claimed that a Soviet fighter aircraft, unlawfully overflying the territory of Japan at the instigation of the Soviet government, had without any provocation attacked and destroyed the United States Air Force B-29, causing it to crashinto the sea at a point between Yuri Island and Akiyuri Island in territory rightfully belonging to Japan; that the crew of eight, all members of the United States Air Force and nationals ofthe United States, had failed to return, and that the Soviet government had concealed from the United States government information as to the fate of the crew, and had notmade provision for the prompt return of any crew members whom it might still be holding or of whose whereabouts itwas informed. The United States application stated that the Court's jurisdiction for the purposes of this case was accepted by the United States. The damages the United States claimed to have suffered and for which it claimed the Soviet Union to beliable were specified in a note annexed to the application; the United States claimed that the actions withwhich it charged the Soviet government constituted serious violations of international obligation for which it demanded monetary and other reparation.

The State of Food and Agriculture, 1955

In his annual report on the state of food and agriculture for 1955, the Director- General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (Cardon) noted that 1955 marked the tenth year of the organization; unlike previous annual reports, which had dealt mainly with the current situation and short-term outlook, the 1955 report was to be devoted to a review of the progress and experience of the whole preceding decade.

Tenth Annual Report

The tenth annual report of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development which was transmitted to the Board of Governors on September 12, 1955, covered the activities of the Bank from July 1, 1954 to June 30, 1955. During this period the Bank had made 20 loans in 14 countries and territories, at a total of $410 million, the largest figure for a fiscal year in the Bank's history. The report noted that since the Bank had begun operations, it had made 124 loans amounting to $2,324 million in 37 countries. Two of the year's loans had been linked with a simultaneous public offering of the borrower's bonds to private international investment. The Bank reported that, as in earlier years, the greater part of the loans had been for improvement in basic services; $160 million had been lent for the expansion and improvement of transportation facilities and $110.3 million for power projects. Net income of $24.7 million was added to the supplemental reserve against losses on loans and guarantees, increasing that reserve to $122 million; the Special Reserve had been increased by $13 million, giving it a total of S62 million. The year's gross income, excluding loan commissions, had been $59 million, compared with $50 million for the preceding year. Gross expenses had amounted to $34 million, as compared with $30 million for the preceding year. The Bank attributed the rise in expenses as mainly due to increased payments of interest and other charges on the larger volume of Bank borrowings outstanding.

The second Air Navigation Conference sponsored by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) opened in Montreal on August 30, 1955. Technicians representing 26 countries members of ICAO, three non-member countries and five international organizations attended the Conference, which had on its agenda radio aids to final approach and landing, long-distance navigational aids, aircraft separation in high density traffic areas, visual flight rules, and minimum height rules. The Conference requested ICAO members to set up a system of reporting “near-misses” between aircraft in flight, with the purpose not of enforcing existing rules of the air by taking disciplinary action against the pilots concerned but, by a systematic analysis of near-misses and the determination of their causes, to find a way of avoiding them. The Conference noted that research was being carried on in regard to anti-collision lights, and recommended that member states forward to ICAO information on the results of their trials and experiments. The Conference also recommended that ICAO revise its international standards to prohibit all flights in controlled airspace between sunset and sunrise unless such flights were carried out under air traffic control from the ground, with specific permission from the appropriate authorities. After considering complications resulting from aircraft flying under Visual Flight Rules (not under ground control) in controlled airspace, the Conference proposed an amendment to the international standards on rules of the air which would bring under traffic control a number of such flights, and made several other recommendations designed to minimize the traffic complications resulting from flights not under ground control.

International Labor Conference

The 38th session of the Conference of the International Labor Organization (ILOs) was held in Geneva from June 1 to 23, 1955, under the presidency of Mr. García Odini (Chile). The Conference had before it the annual report of the Director-General (Morse), the main theme of which was labor-management relations in the developing industrial society. After the selection committee had submitted its proposals on the composition of committees, a spokesman for the employers' delegations of Albania, Bulgaria, Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, the Ukraine, and the Soviet Union stated that the majority of the employers' group had discriminated against them and violated their rights as delegates by not including them in the lists of prospective members of committees which the employers' group had furnished the selection committee. On the request of the spokesman, a vote was taken on the lists in question; the lists were adopted by votes ranging from 124 to 139 in favor, 26 to 31 opposed, and 25 to 37 abstentions. It was later proposed by the selection committee that the eight employers' delegates who had not been chosen to sit on committees be given seats as deputy members. However, Mr. Chajn (government delegate, Poland) moved that the selection committee's proposals be amended so as to give the delegates seats as full members. Mr. McGrath (employers' delegate, United States) stated “…that no member of the United States Employers' delegation would sit on any committee with a so-called Employers' delegate or adviser from an Iron Curtain country.

The seventeenth Plenary Assembly of the International Telephone Consultative Committee (CCIF) was held in Geneva from October 4 to 12, 1954, under the chairmanship of Mr. Wettstein (Switzerland). Delegates from 36 countries attended the Assembly, which in pursuance of a resolution of the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) held at Buenos Aires in 1952, considered the possible amalgamation of the CCIF and the International Telegraph Consultative Committee (CCIT). After considerable debate, the Assembly by a vote of 21 to 13 with 1 abstention expressed the view that such an amalgamation would be in the interests of the ITU. Among the technical matters dealt with at the seventeenth Plenary Assembly were 1) the general switching program, 2) protection of telecommunication lines from danger and disturbances due to neighboring power lines, 3) protection of telecommunication cables from corrosion, 4) transmission, including telephone transmission in the international service, general characteristics of telephone circuits, the use of telephone circuits for telegraphy or phototelegraphy, broadcast and television relays over metallic lines, specification of carrier systems on metallic lines, radio relay links, links between mobile radiotelephone stations and international telephone lines, the maintenance and regulation of circuits and transmission systems, international operation and rates, and international signalling and switching; and 5) graphic and letter symbols, telephone vocabulary.

Executive Board

37th Session: The 37th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Executive Board was held in Paris from March 10 to April 9, 1954, under the chairmanship of Sir Ronald Adam. At its opening meeting, the Board heard oral reports from the chairman, Professor Oscar Secco Ellauri and the Director-General on a visit they had made to member states in Asia. The report of the Director-General on the activities of UNESCO in 1953 was considered by the Board in conjunction with the draft program of work and budget estimates for 1955–1956 prepared by the Director-General and the preparation of recommendations to the General Conference. The Board approved comments to be made in communicating the report of the Director-General to member states, and also a report on its own work during 1953. Various modifications in the Director-General's draft program and budget estimates for 1955–1956 were recommended by the Board, which decided to prepare its recommendations to the eighdi session of the General Conference at its 38th session, on the basis of the revised draft to be presented at that time by the Director-General. The Board approved reports from the Program Commission on Fundamental Education Centers and the special committee set up to study questions relating to subventions to non-governmental organizations.

Eighth World Health Assembly

The Eighth World Health Assembly met in University City, Mexico from May 10 to 27, 1955, and elected Dr. I. M. Prieto (Mexico) as its president. In presenting his annual report, Dr. Candau, the Director- General of the World Health Organization (WHO) noted the need for a change in strategy in WHO's malaria-control program, and emphasized the possible implications which the new field of the peaceful use of atomic energy might have for WHO. During the general discussion of the Director-General's report, the delegates noted with satisfaction that WHO was placing more emphasis on long-term programs which might be integrated in the public health services of the countries assisted by WHO. Delegates also made suggestions for future programs including such matters as malaria eradication, environmental sanitation, nutrition, and mental health.

Congress

The second Congress of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was held in Geneva from April 14 to May 13, 1955, under the presidency of Dr. F. W. Reichelderfer. Delegates from 83 member states and five non-member states, as well as representatives of several other specialized agencies attended the Congress. The Congress heard reports of the President of WMO, its Secretary- General and the Presidents of the constituent bodies; other agenda items were referred to the Technical Program Committee, the Administrative and Financial I Committee, and the Legal Committee.

The 23d regular session of the Council of the Arab League met in Cairo from March 27 to 31, 1955; it approved, among other matters, Yemen's request for discussion of its dispute with the United Kingdom. During the session, the League's Political Committee approved the Secretariat's report on the harsh treatment of Arabs living in Israel and recommended that the United Nations consider the matter.

Meetings of the Commission

The nineteenth meeting of the Caribbean Commission was held in Trinidad, instead of French Guiana as originally scheduled, from November 29 to December 4, 1954, under the chairmanship of H. R. van Houten (Netherlands). Because of the last minute change in the site, it was agreed to make the meeting a purely working session. The substantive work of the meeting took place in committees which studied the various items on the agenda and prepared reports for the plenary session; the principal items on the agenda concerned the proposed work program and budget for 1955. At the final session the report of the Central Secretariat's activities since the eighteenth meeting was approved by the Commission, which noted with satisfaction the increased number of requests for information received by the Secretariate. The Commission also approved the 1955 work program which included various conferences, meetings, and two cacao cultivation tours in Trinidad. The Secretary-General was directed by the Commission to request the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the following: 1) a fellowship to be given for the training of a Caribbean home economist who would be appointed to work with the Commission after she had finished her training; 2) a forestry expert and a fisheries expert to be assigned to the Caribbean area; and 3) a three-week training course in home economics in the French Caribbean Departments. The latter request was also to be presented to the United States Foreign Operations Administration. The Commission approved in principle the recommendation of the Joint Conference on Education and Small-Scale Farming that the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) assignan educational consultant to the area to beattached to the Central Secretariat. In accordance with a recommendation of the Trade PromotionConference, the Commission agreed that a trade promotion officer should be attached to its staff at the Central Secretariat. The Commission decided to convene in 1956 a Conference on Cooperatives in the Caribbean, jointly sponsored by the Commission and the FAO, and a Conference on Town and Country Development Planning.

Council

On July 16, the Council of the North Adantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held its seventeenth ministerial session in Paris under the chairmanship of Stephanos Stephanopolos, Foreign Minister of Greece. According to press reports, the session had been arranged to provide an opportunity for the foreign ministers of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States to exchange views with their NATO colleagues prior to the Geneva Conference. The one-day meeting agreed that the unification of Germany was the issue of primary importance to be discussed at Geneva. Nothing should be done to prejudice the ultimate uniting of Germany by free elections or its right to choose its own foreign policy when unified. Following the remarks of Mr. Spaak, it was agreed that the defense system built around the Adantic coalition was not negotiable, and that the NATO system should not be subject to discussion with die Soviet Union. Germany should remain in this system whatever new agreement on arms limitations might be reached, and a united Germany should have the right to adhere to the system if it so chose. Mr. Spaak urged that the two sides should agree at Geneva not to increase their forces rather than try to agree on immediate major reductions in armaments.