The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is in the paradoxical position of performing most useful and necessary functions in the nascent world community but of giving very implausible reasons for the performance of its functions. Assistant Secretary of State George V. Allen, who was until recently responsible for the United States government's UNESCO policy, reported after the Paris UNESCO conference in 1949 that the organization “had a wider public support” and yet was “more widely criticized” than any other international agency. He rightly suggested that the criticisms were prompted by UNESCO enthusiasts who claimed too much for its functions and thus aroused the opposition of realists who did not believe that its contributions to peace were as important as the organization claimed.

UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — has completed its first three years of activity. Its General Conference has resolved that its fifth session, to be held in Florence in May 1950, shall state with greater precision the long-term program of the organization, to be distinguished from its more transitory undertakings. It may be useful at this time to trace some forces in the development of UNESCO's plan of work.

The nations of the modern world community have been working together on international health problems for a century and a half. They have collaborated because they have realized that disease does not respect national boundaries. In doing so, these states have learned that their selfinterests are best served by world-wide collective action to eradicate communicable disease and to promote positive health conditions everywhere.

The United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees presents a challenging example of the world's response to a new and sudden human tragedy at a time when its sympathies had almost been drained away by recent appeals. The need for relief measures in the Middle East was created by the flight of at least 750,000 Arabs from their homes in Palestine during 1948. The problem was first brought to the attention of the United Nations by the late Count Folke Bemadotte and the Arab League in July of that year, and there was set in motion an ad hoc relief organization, the direct descendant of which is functioning at the present time. A brief survey of the operation to date provides a study in the manner in which international organizations, governmental and nongovernmental, have met human needs in an area seething with tension and tragedy.

For the convenience of readers, we are listing here membership of United Nations organs for 1950. Dates in parentheses represent ends of the terms; the states serve through December 31st of the year listed.

The fourth session of the General Assembly met at Lake Success and Flushing Meadows from September 20 to December 10, 1949. General Carlos P. Romulo (Philippines) was elected president for the session on the Assembly's first ballot, receiving 53 votes to 5 for Vladimir Clementis (Czechoslovakia). The heads of delegations of Brazil, China, France, Pakistan, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States were elected as vice presidents, and the following chairmen of the six main committees were chosen: political and security committee, Lester Pearson (Canada); economic and financial committee, Hernan Santa Cruz (Chile); social, cultural and humanitarian committee, Carlos Eduardo Stolk (Venezuela); trusteeship committee, Hermod Lanning (Denmark); administrative and budgetary committee, Alexei Kyrou (Greece); and legal committee, Manfred Lachs (Poland)

With the signature on November 2, 1949, of a comprehensive Covering Resolution, the Round Table Conference on the Indonesian question reached an “eminently successful” conclusion, the United Nations Commission for Indonesia reported to the Security Council on November 8. Agreement had been reached by representatives of the Netherlands, the Republic of Indonesia, and the Federal Consultative Assembly on transfer of sovereignty over Indonesia, the statute of the Netherlands-Indonesian Union, and a series of related problems. The commission's report, to which Conference agreements were appended, noted that the commission had taken part in the conference in accordance with its terms of reference, and had played a substantial role in the successful outcome.

Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East: The fifth session of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East opened at Singapore on October 20,1949. Among the items considered at the session were the reports of ECAFE's various subordinate and technical bodies; the question of admission of Viet-Nam and Korea to associate membership; reports on continued cooperation with the specialized agencies and on the United Nations program of technical assistance for economic development; and the plan for an economic survey of Asia and the Far East for 1949. Under the chairmanship of Malik Sir Firoz Khan Noon (Pakistan) the commission turned first to the question of the admission of associate members. Applications were before the commission from both the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the French-supported State of Viet-Nam, as well as from both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. The commission heard discussion by the representatives of France (Maux) and the Soviet Union (Nemtchina) on the legality of the respective Vietnamese applications and, by a vote of 8 to 1, admitted the State of Viet-Nam to associate membership. After comment by the representatives of the United States (Cowen) and the Soviet Union (Nemtchina) in support of the two Korean applications, the commission by a vote of 11 to 1 approved admission of the Republic of Korea and rejected the application of the Korean People's Republic by a vote of 9 to 2.

Special Sessions: On September 27, 1949 a special session of the Trusteeship Council met at Lake Success to appoint a member to replace Abelardo Ponce Sotelo (Mexico) on the visiting mission to West African trust territories. Antonio Ramos Pedrueza (Mexico) was appointed to the mission to replace Sr. Sotelo.

Establishment of an Administrative Tribunal: On November 8, 1949, the administrative and budgetary committee of the General Assembly recommended establishment of an administrative tribunal for the Secretariat to come into force on January 1, 1950. Discussion in the committee was based on a report of the Secretary-General proposing the discontinuance of the Appeals Board. The representative of Belgium (Lebeau) favored creation of the tribunal but urged the continuance of the Appeals Board to handle disciplinary measures. Iran, Poland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, and Yugoslavia supported this view; the United Kingdom and the United States suggested postponing the question of an administrative tribunal. The chairman of the Staff Committee (Epstein) expressed the view that the joint disciplinary committee proposed by the Secretary-General to replace the Appeals Board did not fulfill the rights guaranteed by the provisional staff regulations. After consultation the Secretary-General and the Staff Committee agreed upon a revised draft statute, subsequently approved by the administrative committee, which provided for internal appeals machinery to advise the Secretary-General in disciplinary as well as contractual cases, and on administrative practices. The administrative tribunal was not to have jurisdiction in disciplinary cases but was to pass judgment upon applications from staff members alleging non-observance of contracts on terms of appointment.

Corfu Channel Case: On November 17, 1949 a public hearing was held on the Corfu Channel Case on the assessment of compensation due by Albania to the United Kingdom. After oral pleadings, the acting president (Guerrero) declared that the Court had decided to appoint two experts to decide whether the figures presented by the United Kingdom were correct. The experts designated were Rear Admiral Berck and M. de Rooy, both of the Netherlands.

The fifth annual Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization met at Washington from November 21 to December 6, 1949. Five additional countries were admitted to FAO bringing the total membership to 63: Afghanistan, Indonesia, Israel, Korea and Sweden. No action was taken on the application of Spain. It was decided that the permanent headquarters of the organization should be established in Rome, after a final ballot in which 30 votes were cast for Rome and 28 for the United States. The Conference directed the FAO Council to appoint a headquarters advisory committee to which were named the representatives of China, France, India, Mexico, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Pakistan, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Burma, and Belgium were elected to the Council replacing China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands and the Philippines. The United Kingdom was re-elected.

A net profit of $3,162,980 was reported by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the quarter ending September 30, 1949. This compared with a net profit of $2,317,723 for the first quarter of the preceding fiscal year. The net profit brought the total net excess of income over expenses since the Bank began operations to $16,804,074, exclusive of $9,409,734 accumulated in the Special Reserve Fund. Disbursements on loans during the quarter amounted to $15,149,903, making a total of loan disbursements to September 30, 1949 of $541,440,917 and there remained $136,159,083 to be disbursed on loans then in effect. During this time Denmark became the fourth country to make available for lending purposes a part of its 18 per cent currency subscription.

The Council, meeting on September 6, 1949 for its eighth session, elected members and chairmen of committees, and approved the Council work program for the session. ICAO's program of meetings for 1950 was discussed briefly and referred to the Air Navigation Commission, the Air Transport Committee and the Joint Support Committee for consideration and report. The Council noted that no part of Annex 9 of the Chicago Convention (Facilitation of Air Transport) had been disapproved by a majority of contracting states and therefore declared Annex 9 to be in force. Annexes 6 and 7 (Operation of Aircraft Scheduled International Air Services and Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks) were also accepted.

The 110th meeting of the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization was scheduled to meet at Mysore, India from January 3 to 7, 1950. Among the twenty-six agenda items was a recommendation of the General Conference of ILO that the Governing Body consider instructing Director General David A. Morse to prepare a report on the problem of unemployment. The Governing Body was requested to consider at the same time the desirability of placing the question on the agenda of the International Labor Conference. Other matters calling for action by the Governing Body were proposals: 1) for the establishment of a special ILO committee on Asian affairs to ensure full development of ILO Asian activities; 2) for a program of ILO fellowships; and 3) that ILO create a fact-finding and conciliation commission on freedom of association which would provide impartial investigation of questions of infringement of trade union rights, as suggested by the Economic and Social Council.

Exchange Rates: It was announced on October 6, 1949 that the government of Uruguay had consulted with the Fund and proposed the following modifications in its exchange rates: 1) for the export of meat, wool, linseed and wheat, 1.519 pesos per dollar; 2) for the export of oils, dry and salted hides and skins, and packing house products, 1.78 pesos per dollar; 3) for the export of woolen yarns, its by-products, tanned leather and its manufacturers, 2.35 pesos per dollar; and 4) for general imports, 1.90 pesos per dollar and for imports of luxuries and non-essentials, 2.45 pesos per dollar. The Fund accepted these changes with the understanding that consultation with the Fund would continue in order to unify the rate and to agree on a par value.

The fourth session of the General Council of the International Refugee Organization met in Geneva from October 11 to 20, 1949. An agenda of thirteen items was adopted.

The annual report of the Director-General (Kingsley) on the activities of the organization during the year ended June 30, 1949 was adopted and the Director-General was invited to prepare a further document on the refugee problem and the contribution made to its solution by IRO. In presenting his report for the year July 1, 1948 to June 30, 1949, the chairman of the eligibility review board stated that more than 8,000 decisions had been taken. The Council expressed the desire that the second appeal procedure of the board be continued, and then adopted the report unanimously.

International Telegraph and Telephone Conference: The International Telegraph and Telephone Conference was held in Paris from May 23 to August 4, 1949 to amend the regulations drawn up at Cairo in 1938. In addition the conference considered questions referred to it by the International Telegraph Consultative Committee. Attention was concentrated on two items: unification of categories of telegrams; and tariff principles. The number of categories of telegrams was reduced from five to three, and all member countries were granted freedom to fix their own terminal and transit rates, as the conference abolished the Cairo regulation which had imposed restrictive rates for countries in the European system in their relations with countries in the extra-European system. The conference devised rules and a method of calculating rentals applicable to the joint use of circuits operated by start-stop apparatus in the European civil aviation system. The telephone regulations devised applied only to countries within the European system, whereas the telegraphy regulations were applicable throughout the world.

The conference which was concluded at Annecy August 13, 1949 consisted of two separate meetings: the third session of the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; and a series of tariff negotiations among the 23 contracting parties and eleven other governments which wished to accede to GATT.

In his report to the fourth session of the General Conference of UNESCO, the Director-General (Torres Bodet) set forth concrete proposals and principles by which UNESCO activities in 1950 should be governed. A code of eighteen directives, approved by the Executive Board, was submitted to the Conference for adoption as basic principles, designed to serve as bridges between the pur-poses and functions outlined in general form by the UNESCO constitution and the specific program resolutions adopted by the General Conference. As guided by the principles, UNESCO's future programs would be devoted to the maintenance of approved continuing services and the execution of a limited number of specific projects sanctioned by the General Conference from time to time, forming a coherent whole of matters of “evident importance and usefulness.” The organization would cooperate closely with the United Nations, the specialized agencies, and other national and international organizations assisting in the establishment and development of organizations and in the coordination of their activities. In education, the organization would serve as a center for the exchange of ideas and practices, and for the dissemination of knowledge promoting the growth of effective educational systems and the improvement of living conditions. Future programs would seek to make better known the results of research in the social sciences, encourage intellectual and artistic exchanges, and assist in the development of greater understanding through personal contacts. In a second phase of activity, UNESCO would broaden progressively “into a more general activity for the raising of standards in education, science and culture,” rather than reconstruction, and would direct “increasing attention” upon the needs of under-developed countries and upon the problems within its competence arising in trust and non-self-governing territories.