Tangier, a seaport in the northwestern corner of Africa totalling 225 square miles with a population of 60,000 inhabitants, was internationalized by a Convention signed on December 18, 1923, by Great Britain, France, and Spain, who agreed on its permanent neutrality. Spain occupied the area in 1940, removed British employees, and in 1941 deposed the Moroccan native ruler.

The twelfth session of the Economic and Social Council met in Santiago, Chile from February 20 to March 21, 1951. Hernan Santa Cruz (Chile) was re-elected President of the Council and Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar (India) was elected first vice-president following an unsuccessful attempt by the Soviet delegate (Chernyshev) to unseat the nationalist Chinese delegate.

The surrender of Japan led to the problem of determining the kind of administration which should be set up for the occupied country. This problem led in turn to a conflict of view and of policy between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States was willing, and intended, to consult the other Allied states in regard to the policies to be adopted during the occupation, but wished to have the controlling voice in the determination of these policies, and wished the implementation of these policies and the control of Japan to remain solely with General MacArthur who, as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, had already been authorized by the Allied Powers to take such steps as he deemed proper to effectuate the terms of surrender. The Soviet Union, while willing to recognize the leadership of the United States in the occupation of Japan, claimed the right of responsible participation in the control of Japan and in both formulating and implementing the policies for the occupation. During four months the United States and the Soviet Union carried on negotiations in regard to the administration to be established for occupied Japan. Both governments made substantial concessions. They finally reached an agreement, acceptable also to the United Kingdom and China, the two other major Powers chiefly concerned, which was expressed in the Terms of Reference of the Far Eastern Commission and of the Allied Council for Japan.

Commission on Human Rights: The sixteenth session of the Commission on Human Rights was held in Geneva from February 29 to March 18, 1960, under the chairmanship of Mr. Mario Amadeo (Argentina). The agenda adopted by the Commission included discussion of advisory services in the field of human rights, the right of everyone to be free from arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile, a declaration on the right of asylum, freedom of information, national advisory committees on human rights, the prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities, communications concerning human rights, and a review of the human rights program along with consideration of the control and limitation of documentation.

The International Wheat Council held its twenty-eighth session in London on October 19 and 20, 1959, under the chairmanship of Sir Edwin McCarthy. Twenty-eight countries were represented by delegates and advisers, with observers representing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the European Economic Community.

The Trusteeship Council held its 26th session at UN Headquarters in New York from April 14 to June 30, 1960. At its opening meeting, the 1051st, the Council adopted its provisional agenda, which included consideration of the most recent annual reports of the administering authorities on the trust territories of Ruanda-Urundi, Tanganyika, the Cameroons under United Kingdom administration, New Guinea, Nauru, the Pacific Islands, Somaliland under Italian administration, and Western Samoa, as well as examination of petitions, reports of UN visiting missions to Ruanda-Urundi and Tanganyika in 1960, matters referred to the Council by the General Assembly and the Secretary General, the report of the UN Advisory Council for Somaliland under Italian administration, and reports of various committees of the Council.

Article 21 of the Charter of the United Nations provides that the General Assembly shall adopt its own rules of procedure and shall elect its President for each session. No other mention of the President of the General Assembly is to be found in the Charter and, as in the British fashion, his role is more a reflection of evolution than definition in the rules of procedure. It is perhaps for this reason that the highest office of the General Assembly has not been described at any length in the literature about the United Nations.

During the period March 22, 1963–June 12, 1963, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) made agreements with the governments of five countries establishing the initial par values of their currencies. The agreements were as follows: 1) one Liberian dollar per United States dollar; 2) 0.347543 Nigerian pounds per United States dollar; 3) one Somali shilling equivalent to 0.14 United States dollars; and 4) 45 Afghanistan afghanis per United States dollar.

At Managua, Nicaragua, on December 13, 1960, the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua signed the General Treaty, the basic treaty of the Central American Program of Economic Integration (CAPEI), often referred to as the Central American Common Market (CACM). Also signed at the same time were the Agreement establishing the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the Protocol to the Central American Agreement on the Equalization of Import Duties and Charges. Sixteen months later the government of Costa Rica acceded to the three agreements.

The Council of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) held its twentieth session on October 14–18, 1963, under the chairmanship of Mr. D. Ramon Huidobro, permanent Chilean representative to the European Office of the UN. ICEM Director B. W. Haveman keynoted a discussion of ICEM's proper role with his request that fuller use be made of ICEM's migration machinery which, he pointed out, had aided in the resettlement of some one and one-quarter million people during the past eleven years. Mr. Haveman's proposals for future action included: 1) making the good offices and machinery of ICEM available in areas in which ICEM did not at present operate; 2) establishing improved reception and placement services, especially in Latin America; 3) exploring the possibilities of making the fullest use of ICEM in carrying out governmental migration policies and programs; and 4) encouraging the settlement of European farmers in Latin America.

Report to the General Assembly: The sixth report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the UN General Assembly covered the period July 1 to October 1, 1962. The report stated that the character of the Agency's programs remained much the same in 1961 as in 1960, but there were some changes in their scope. Technical assistance activities, particularly, training, decreased in 1961 mainly because voluntary contributions again failed to meet the target set. The number of scientific meetings had remained at about twelve a year. There had been some growth in the research contract program, and member states were beginning to make substantial use of the services of the laboratory at Seibersdorf. In 1961, for the first time, member states had asked for the Agency's help in planning individual power reactor projects. It was expected that a number of nuclear power plants would come into operation in the developing areas in the late 1960's and that this would require a good deal of preparatory work in the next few years. In May 1962 the Special Fund approved for the first time a project for the peaceful uses of atomic energy; this decision might provide an important new source of finance for certain types of nuclear science projects in the developing countries.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held its twelfth General Conference in Paris from November 9 to December 12, 1962, under the presidency of Mr. Paulo de Berrêdo Carneiro (Brazil). One of the Conference's first actions was to elect for a six-year term as Director-General Mr. René Maheu (France), who had served as Acting Director-General since the resignation of Dr. Vittorino Veronese (Italy) in 1961.

The ANZUS Council met in Wellington, New Zealand, on June 5–6, 1963. In reviewing the course of East-West developments during the past year, particularly those affecting the Pacific area, the Ministers noted with concern the Communists Chinese aggression against India and the continuing threat against that country, the renewal of fighting in Laos, and the persisting communist assault in South Vietnam.

The General Assembly concluded its sixth session in Paris on February 5, 1952 having considered an agenda of more than seventy items. Major political questions before the Assembly included: disarmament and prohibition of the atomic bomb; collective measures; the establishment of a commission to investigate the possibility of German elections; termination of the United Nations Commission on the Balkans; and Palestine and related problems. The question of the independence of Korea was deferred pending the conclusion of armistice negotiations.

The eleventh session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly met in Montreal from May 20 to June 2, 1958. Represented at the meeting were 52 contracting states; two non-contracting states (the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia) sent observers, as did the UN, the International Labor Organization, and the International Air Transport Association. After statements by various delegations, the President of the ICAO Council reviewed the activities of the organization since the last Assembly meeting in 1956. He stated that the intervening period had been one of great activity in ICAO centering around preparations in all fields for the advent of turbine-powered aircraft. A specially created Jet Operations Requirements Panel had studied the requirements of the new long-range jet aircraft, and a Special Implementation Panel had been created by the Council. A preliminary study of the economic implications of long-range aircraft had been prepared by the Air Transport Committee and was being submitted to the Council. He stressed that while special attention was being given to the coming operations of jet aircraft, this emphasis should not cause the organization to disregard the continuous growth of aviation during 1956 and 1957. The technical assistance activity of ICAO had continued, during the period under review, to give important support to implementation through the assignment of experts and technicians and the training of students in countries where there were technical assistance missions, as also by granting fellowships and scholarships for study abroad.

On August 30, 1954, a close vote on a motion to prevent debate in the French National Assembly consigned to history a spectacular scheme for the unification; of western Europe. The defeat of the European Defense Community (EDC) precipitated a seven-week crisis in the western world that only adroit diplomacy, spurred by a sense of desperation, could overcome. In the ensuing conferences of London (September 28— October 3) and Paris (October 20–23), the foreign ministers accomplished two vital purposes. They salvaged the Atlantic alliance and they brought Adenauer's; Germany into the family of free nations.

In his Introduction to the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, 16 June 1966–15 June 1967 Secretary-General U Thant observed that during the period under review the international political situation had deteriorated considerably. The war in Vietnam had progressively intensified, there had been renewed warfare in the Middle East in June 1967, and the situation in Cyprus had not improved. Only limited progress had been made in such areas as disarmament, outer space, economic and social development, decolonization, and human rights. Frustrations in respect of South Africa, South West Africa, and Rhodesia continued, although in the cases of South West Africa and Rhodesia the General Assembly and the Security Council, respectively, had taken certain steps which might help in time to improve the situation

Executive Board

The fifteenth session of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) was held in Geneva from January 18 to February 4, 1955, under the chairmanship of Dr. H. Hyde (United States). The Director-General's proposals for the provisional agenda of the eighth World Health Assembly, as amended, were approved by the Board. The Board recommended that the Assembly adopt the revised rules of procedure, which the Board had re-examined and amended in the light of comments received from governments. The Board also noted that it had carried out a study of the procedure for consideration of the annual program and budget by the Assembly, in accordance with the Assembly's request, and that it believed it would be useful for the Assembly committee on program and budget to set up a working party at the beginning of each Assembly session to make a review of the financial and budgetary aspects of the proposed program and budget estimates. Proposals relating to the establishment of committees and their terms of reference were also made to the eighth Assembly.