From June 16 to July 21, 1953, at United Nations headquarters, the Trusteeship Council convened in its twelfth session. At the opening meeting Leslie K. Munro (New Zealand) was elected president and Miguel R. Urquia (El Salvador) vice-president. After a United States proposal to postpone discussion for the duration of the session of a Soviet resolution to invite a representative of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China to participate in the work of the session was adopted by 10 votes to 1 with 1 abstention, the Council adopted an agenda of eighteen items. The greater part of the session was devoted to the examination of annual reports on the administration of the trust territories of Somaliland under Italian administration, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Nauru, New Guinea, and Western Samoa. The reports submitted by the administering authorities on the Pacific trust territories were considered in conjunction with the reports on these territories submitted by the Visiting Mission to Trust Territories in the Pacific, 1953, which visited the area from February to May, the Council incorporating many of the mission's findings in its own conclusions. Also before the Council were observations submitted by UNESCO on all these annual reports except that on the administration of Western Samoa for the year ending December 31, 1952. After a French proposal to hold the next regular session of the Council in January 1954, in Geneva was rejected with successive tie votes of 5 in favor, 5 against and 2 abstentions, the Council adopted, by a vote of 7 to 4 with 1 abstention, a Belgian proposal that the General Assembly be asked to reconsider its previous decision on meeting schedules, to provide for alternate summer sessions in Geneva of the Trusteeship Council and the Economic and Social Council.

This issue covers the work of the Security Council from the 593d meeting on August 26, 1952, through the 604th meeting on September 19, 1952. During August, the representative of the United States (Austin) acted as President of the Council; he was followed in September by the representative of Brazil (Muniz). Only two meetings were held during August, both private, during which the Council considered its draft to the General Assembly.

Amhatielos Case: On May 19, 1953, the Court, by a vote of 10 to 4 decided that the United Kingdom was “under an obligation to co-operate with Greece in constituting a Commission of Arbitration, in accordance with the Protocol of 1886, as provided in the Declaration of 1926”. After reviewing the submissions of the two parties, and recalling that the Court had previously held that it had no jurisdiction to decide of the merits of the Ambatielos claim, the Court stated that the question at issue was whether the United Kingdom government was under an obligation to accept arbitration of the difference between that government and Greece concerning the validity of the claim presented by Greece “in so far as this claim is based on the Treaty of 1886”. The majority of the Court felt that, for the purpose of determining the obligation of the United Kingdom, the words “claims … based on the provisions of the … Treaty of 1886” could not be understood as meaning claims actually supportable under that Treaty. The Court believed that these words could only mean “claims depending for support on the provisions of the Treaty of 1886, so that the claims will eventually stand or fall according as the provisions of the Treaty are construed one way or another”. In its argument, the Greek government had invoked Articles I, X, XII and XV of the Treaty of 1886 and, relying on the most-favored-nation clause in Article X therein, invoked Article 16 of a treaty of peace and commerce between the United Kingdom and Denmark signed in 1661 as well as additional treaties between the United Kingdom and third states. The Hellenic government argued that these provisions supported their claim that the Ambatielos claim for denial of justice in British courts was based on the provisions of the 1886 treaty. The Court agreed that the difference between the parties was “the kind of difference which, according to the Declaration of 1926, should be submitted to arbitration”.

Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labor: Following the practice adopted at its first session, the second and third sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labor were held in private; Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar (India) served as chairman and rapporteur for both sessions. The principal item on the agenda of the second session – New York, June 2–July 1, 1952 – was the study of replies of governments to the questionnaire submitted after the first session and of documentation submitted by the Secretariat and non-governmental organizations. Replies had been received from 42 states and 16 non-governmental organizations. The committee decided to extend from March 31, 1952, to June 15, 1952 the time limit for reception of material or requests for hearings and later decided to interpret this limitation flexibly, especially if the evidence offered aimed at rebutting other evidence before the committee. Requests for hearings were granted to the Association of Former Political Prisoners of Soviet Labour Camps, Council of Free Czechoslovakia, Estonian Consultative Panel, Hungarian National Council, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, International League for the Rights of Man, Latvian Consultative Panel, Lithuanian Consultative Panel, National Committee for a Free Europe, and the Rumanian National Committee. The committee authorized its chairman to prepare letters, for consideration at a later session, informing individual governments of the allegations made against them.

The eleventh session of the Trusteeship Council was resumed on November 19, 1952, and ended on December 3, 1952. Two items remained on the agenda for consideration during this period: the problem of Ewe and Togoland unification, and arrangements for a periodic visiting mission to trust territories in the Pacific during 1953.

The annual report of the Food and Agriculture Organization to the sixteenth session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council included the report of the sixteenth session of the FAO Council, a brief summary of the main features of the FAO program of work and budget for 1954 and 1955, an indication of the contents of The State of Food and Agriculture 1953, and reference to issues on which the United Nations General Assembly and Economic and Social Council passed resolutions during the preceding year. Respecting the world food situation the report stated that a recent assessment of the trend of food requirements had been made by FAO on the basis of population estimates supplied by the Population Division of the United Nations for countries other than the USSR, eastern Europe, and China. FAO found that the annual increase in world population was about 30 millions; that the situation was at least as critical as was reported to ECOSOC last year; and that world food production, aided by favorable weather in a majority of countries in the last two crop years, was increasing in most countries, but in general less rapidly than the growth of population. In the previous twelve months FAO had made intensive preparation for three regional meetings on food and agricultural programs and outlook which, in accordance with the request of the sixth session of the FAO conference, were to be held during mid-1953 in the far east, Latin America, and the near east. These meetings, complementary to the whole of the organization's work in the field of technical assistance, would be similar to those held in Latin America and the near east prior to the sixth FAO conference.

Net income of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the six months ending December 31, 1952, was $7,639,743, compared with $8,071,486 for the same period of 1951; gross income, exclusive of loan commissions, was $20,696,715. Loan commissions totaling $4,536,682 were credited to the Special Reserve, increasing it to $32,221,336; the addition of net income to the Supplemental Reserve Against Losses on Loans and Guarantees brought the total of that reserve to $65,667,843. On December 31, 1952, total reserves of the Bank were $97,889,179.

Annual Report of the Secretary-General:In his introduction to the eighth annual report of the Secretary-General on the work of the United Nations, which covered the period of July 1, 1952-June 30, 1953, Dag Hammarskjold urged Member governments to take a long-range vantage-point in judging the success and maturity of the organization. The United Nations, he pointed out, was “a positive response by the world community to the fundamental needs of our time” and, while efforts to control and moderate conflicts offering an immediate danger to world peace (especially the “East-West” conflict) of necessity occupied the first attention of Members in their day-to-day decisions, the ultimate success of the organization would be determined by its contribution to furthering basic trends in current human society. Mr. Hammarskjold felt that, side-by-side with the immediate issues, lay the fundamental trends toward wider social justice and equality for the individual and toward wider political, economic and social equality and justice between nations. Previous efforts for world peace were directed toward objectives which had received even fuller recognition in the United Nations: 1) an international instrument for peace and justice based on a system of mediation, conciliation and collective security; 2) orderly progress of nations toward a state of full economic development, self-government and independence; and 3) recognition of international cooperation as an essential instrument for development toward greater social justice within nations. The Secretary-General observed a tendency among Members to regard political and economic equality as technical and special problems subordinate to the more urgent one of collective security. In a shortterm perspective, he added, this was probably true; however, international equality and justice were prerequisite to domestic social development of all the peoples of the world and were decisive factors in building a world of peace and freedom.

For the nine-month period ending March 31, 1953, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development reported a net income of $12,947,735, compared with $12,507,639 for the similar period in 1952. Exclusive of loan; commissions gross income was $31,682,273, compared with $25,744,168 in 1952. Placed in the supplemental reserve against losses on loans and guarantees, the net income increased this reserve to $70,975,835. Loan commissions, which amounted to $6,985,416 were credited to the Bank's special reserve, increasing it to $34,670,000, while total reserves on March 31 were $105,645,905.

A special session of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization opened in Montreal, January 13, 1953, to give further consideration to the dispute between India and Pakistan over air routes between India and Afghanistan. The working group composed of representatives of Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark and Mexico which had been appointed at the seventh session of the Council, began meeting on November 19 and recommended that negotiations between the disputants be continued. On January 19, 1953, the President of the Council (Warner) announced the amicable settlement of the dispute by an agreement which would permit Indian civil aircraft to fly over Pakistani territory to Kabul, Afghanistan, through two 20-mile wide corridors without having to follow the lengthy detour previously necessary. The government of Pakistan also agreed to permit the export of sufficient fuel to Afghanistan by overland routes through Pakistan to permit Indian aircraft to refuel there.

In a letter dated November 10, 1952, the Secretary-General (Lie) requested that the President of the General Assembly (Pearson) include on the agenda the item “Appointment of the Secretary-General of the United Nations”. Mr. Lie stated that it had been his intention to submit his resignation as Secretary-General and he had delayed until the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council were present in New York. The General Committee on November 12 recommended the inclusion of this additional item upon the agenda. The subject was not discussed prior to the adjournment of the first part of the seventh session.

“Société Électricité de Beyrouth” Case: On August 15, 1953, an application instituting proceedings on behalf of the government of France against the government of Lebanon was filed with the Registry of the International Court of Justice by André Gros, agent for the French government. The French government alleged that the Lebanese government, by a series of acts or omissions dating from the end of 1951 and culminating in placing the Société Électricité de Beyrouth under provisional state control by decrees of March 19 and April 4, 1953, had violated the Franco-Lebanese Treaty of January 24, 1948, and general principles of international law.

From January 13 to March 26, 1953, the eighteenth session of the Council of the International Civil AviationOrganization met in Montreal. Activities at this session were predominantly concerned with matters pertaining to the seventh session of the ICAO Assembly, which was scheduled to open in June in Brighton, England. It was decided that invitations to the Assembly should be extended to Japan and Libya, invitations were also approved for those international organizations which had been invited to the fourth session of the Assembly and to the Organization of American States and the Council of Europe, and supporting documentation for items on the Assembly agenda was approved. On the recommendation of the Finance Committee a total budget for the organization for the fiscal year 1954 of Canadian $3,289,606 was approved for submission to the Assembly. Assessments for 1953 were then fixed at two units each for Korea and Libya, the two newest members of the organization.

The Governing Body of the International Labor Organization held its 121st session in Geneva from March 3–6, 1953, and approved a net expenditure of $6,311,368 for 1954, $88,000 more than for 1953. Czechoslovakia was requested to agree that a complaint against that government be referred to the ILO Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association; Czechoslovakia was asked to reply before the next session of the Governing Body on May 29, 1953. Consideration of a report of a special sub-committee established in 1952 to review the activities of the industrial committee was postponed; however, the Governing Body did take note of the report of its Technical Assistance Committee and the several industrial committees.

In his report on the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1951–1952, the Director-General (Dodd) stated that one of the striking developments of the year ending in mid-1952 was the intensified interest in the food and population problem. He believed that during the past year FAO had made more progress in its work than in the previous five years of its existence, adding that this was mainly because nations were “moving ahead more rapidly in the program of technical assistance for economic development.” One of the ways by which FAO was trying to help meet the shortage of competent technical people in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and related fields, which he described as one of the biggest obstacles to economic development in countries where it was most needed, was through regional training and demonstration courses in which governments and organizations cooperated with FAO. Other principal “forward steps” in the work of the organization in 1951–1952 were: 1) increasing international cooperation in the form of regional action programs; 2) more attention was being paid by many governments to working out specific goals and programs for increasing production; 3) a movement to remedy un-satisfactory land tenure conditions was getting under way; 4) proposals for establishing international reserves to relieve acute food shortages and famine were under consideration; 5) expansion in the number of development projects in individual countries; and 6) continuance and improvement of basic technical services useful on a worldwide scale.

The seventeenth session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization, which met in Rome from June 15 to 24, 1953, under the chairmanship of Josue de Castro, was concerned primarily with preparations for the seventh FAO Conference scheduled to convene on November 23. Colombia, the Netherlands, the Philippines and Spain attended the Council for the first time since their election to that body at the sixth FAO Conference. In considering the budget and work program which had been prepared by the Director-General for the seventh Conference, the Council agreed that the program for the next two years would, of necessity, consist principally of continuations of existing projects. The budgets proposed by the Director-General (Dodd) of $6,040,000 and $6,200,000 for 1954 and 1955, respectively, were larger than the approved budget of $5,250,000 for 1953; the Council pointed out, however, that a large part of the increase was necessitated by normal salary increments, allowance costs and similar expenses. In view of the opinions which had been expressed by several FAO members opposing any increase in the organization's budget and tending to favor stable or even smaller budgets for the next two years, the Council asked the Director-General to prepare a report for the Conference showing the program implications of a budget at the 1953 level and also at a level of $5,500,000. Concerning the expanded technical assistance program, the Council noted with some concern that the actual funds expected to be available for FAO's share of the 1954 program were likely to be about half of the $12 million originally budgeted for the program on a suggestion of the Technical Assistance Board.

In his report to the 36th session of the International Labor Conference the Director-General (Morse) selected the problem of productivity as a special theme for emphasis and debate. Mr. Morse wrote that since 1950 the need for higher productivity had become steadily more apparent, that a great deal of the work of the International Labor Organization had always impinged on the problem of productivity, and that during the last four years he had increasingly stressed the need to extend and intensify ILO's work on this problem. He urged the delegates to the conference to do what they could “to secure a wide-spread comprehension and acceptance of the need for higher productivity and of the ways in which it can be achieved.” Three main ways in which the resources needed to raise the living standards of the less well-to-do section of the community might be made available were: 1) a larger proportion of total output of wealth might be distributed to wages and social services at the expense of recipients of other income; 2) where there was less than full employment, an increase in wealth could be achieved by bringing all available resources into employment; and 3) total output might be increased by securing a larger output per unit of resources already in employment. Mr. Morse believed that the most essential conditions under which higher productivity would yield an increase in welfare were: a) that there should be the fullest possible consultation and cooperation between employers and workers in the application of measures to raise productivity, b) that the benefits of higher productivity should be fairly distributed, c) that effective action should be taken to ensure that higher productivity did not lead to unemployment, and d) that higher productivity should be sought by means which only required of workers a working speed and intensity which they could maintain without increased fatigue, strain, or risk to health or safety.

By the end of August 1952, the total exchange transactions of the International Monetary Fund were $892,408,380; repurchases in gold and United States dollars totaled $184,693,538. A repurchase payment of $27,121,500 was received from the Netherlands, subject to the receipt of further data on the Netherlands' monetary reserve. Brazil repurchased $25.5 million in August and $18.75 million in February, 1953, making its total repurchase since June 1952, $84.25 million.

The eighth annual report of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development revealed a net income for the fiscal year July 1, 1952–June 30, 1953, of $18,485,411 as compared with $15,872,883 for the preceding fiscal year. The net income was placed in the Supplemental Reserve against losses on loans and guarantees, increasing that reserve to $76,513,511. The Bank's Special Reserve was raised to $37,236,477 by the addition of loan commissions amounting to $9,551,822. Total reserves at the end of the fiscal year were $113,749,988; total subscribed capital was $9,036,500,000. Ten loans had been made during the year totaling $178,633,464; since it had begun operations, the Bank had made loans amounting to $1,590,766,464. Non-dollar loans were larger in relation to the year's total than ever before in the Bank's operations. Total disbursements on new and existing loans were $226,756,982, the highest rate in the Bank's history; 17 percent of the year's disbursements were in currencies other than the United States dollar, another record high. In addition to its lending operations, the Bank had continued its practice of sending, eitheralone or in conjunction with other organizations, general economic survey missions and specialized missions to member countries on request.

The seventh annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development took place in Mexico City, Mexico, from September 3 to 12, 1952, under the chairmanship of Horacio Lafer, Minister of Finance of Brazil. Two of the Boards seven plenary sessions were joint sessions with the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund. In presenting the seventh annual report of the Bank to the Board, the President (Black) indicated that private participation in Bank lending would become an increasingly important feature of its operations and that from then on European countries would have to rely more on their own savings and mobilize their own capital more effectively. Mr. Black said that “the Bank, should it be called on, would be glad to search for feasible ways to assist” the European Coal and Steel Community. At the opening session the Chairman (Lafer) stated that the International Monetary Fund “must take a more active role” in using its resources, helping its members find a practical solution to their ex-change problems, and providing greater facilities for meeting temporary un-balance in international payments. He said that “it would be preferable to establish a system which would not compel countries to resort to harmful regimes of severe restrictions”, and that without “an international mechanism capable of supplying credits to an extent corresponding to the general credit Worthiness of each country, it will be impossible to attain the kind of multilateral trade we all hope to restore.”