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The First Meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2017

Walter H. C. Laves  and
Francis O. Wilcox
Walter H. C. Laves
Affiliation:
U. S. Bureau of the Budget. On leave from the University of Chicago
Francis O. Wilcox
Affiliation:
Library of Congress. On leave from the University of Louisville
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Extract

The First Part of the First General Assembly of the United Nations was in session in London from January 10 to February 14, 1946. Meeting intermittently during this period also were the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , April 1946 , pp. 346 - 373
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1946

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References

3 Report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, London, 1945. Cited hereafter as Report of P. C.

4 Paul Henri Spaak (Belgium): Journal of the General Assembly, No. 2. Cited hereafter as Journal.

5 The first delegates of the following countries: China, France, Union of South Africa, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela: Journal, No. 3.

6 Journal, No. 3. Main Committees: I. Political and Security, II. Economic and Financial, III. Social, Humanitarian and Cultural, IV. Trusteeship, V. Administrative and Budgetary, VI. Legal. Procedural Committees: General Committee and Credentials Committee. Standing Committees: Advisory Committee for Administrative and Budgetary Questions and Committee on Contributions. Ad Hoc Committees: League of Nations Committee and Permanent Headquarters Committee.

7 Journal, No. 3.

8 See Arts. 23, 61, 86, 97. Also Art. 8 of the Court Statute.

9 United Nations, General Assembly, Document A. C. 6/7.

10 Doc. A/14. This provision was adopted in Committee 6 by a 22–21 vote. Journal, No. 3, No. 16, pp. 317–337.

11 Australia, Brazil, and Poland were elected for two year terms, the other states for one year. See Journal, No. 4, pp. 61–75.

12 Seventeen of the eighteen members were elected on the first ballot: Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, France, and Peru were elected for three years; Cuba, Czechoslovakia, India, Norway, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom for two years; Colombia, Greece, Lebanon, the Ukraine, the United States, and Yugoslavia for one year. Apart from the Great Powers, four members are from Latin America, one from the Arab League, three from Eastern Europe, two from Western Europe, one from Southern Europe, and two from the British Dominions. Journal, No. 3–4.

13 Arts. 23, 61 and 86.

14 Art. 78.

15 Journal, No. 29, pp. 498–517; Docs. A/14, A/15, A/53. Journal, No. 31, pp. 576–581. Journal, No. 32.

16 Article 9 of the Statute. See Doc. A/25; Journal, No. 24, p. 429; No. 25. Following are the judges elected: Mo Hsu (China), Charles de Visscher (Belgium), Jules Basdevant (France), Jose Gustabo Guerrero (El Salvador), Sergei Erylov (U.S.S.R.), Arnold McNair (U.K.), Fabela Alfaro (Mexico), Green Hackworth (U.S.A.), Alejandro Alvarez (Chile), J. Philadelpho de Barros Azevedo (Brazil), Badawi Pasha (Egypt), J. E. Read (Canada), Milovan Zoricic (Yugoslavia), Helge Klaestad (Norway), Bohdan Winiarski (Poland).

17 Report of P. C, p. 21.

18 See Docs. A/C. 1/6; A/C. 1/2; A/12.

19 Journal, No. 11, p. 3. For the debates in the Committee and the Assembly see Journal, No. 11, 1st Supplement, p. 2; No. 12, 1st Supplement, p. 9; No. 14, p. 290.

20 Article 47.

21 The only reference made to languages in the Charter is found in Article 111: “The present charter, of which the Chinese, French, Russian, English, and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America.”

22 See Report of P. C, pp. 119–123.

23 Article 39 of the Court Statute provides that English and French shall be the official languages of the Court.

24 See Docs. A/C. 1/8; A/20; also Journal, No. 18, 1st Supplement, p. 12; No, 21, p. 379.

25 See Docs. A/Bur/8; A/Bur/9; A/Bur/11; A/Bur/12; A/Bur/19.

26 Article 69 provides that the Council “shall invite any member of the United Nations to participate, without vote, in its deliberations on any matter of particular concern to that member.”

27 Doc. A/Bur/16; A/21. Journal, No. 12, pp. 279–80; No. 15, p. 307; No. 19, p. 361.

28 For arguments see Journal, Nos. 12,15,19, cited above. Also No. 23,1st Supplement, pp. 14–17; No. 25, 1st Supplement, pp. 18–20; No. 30, 1st, p. 23; No. 31, 1st, pp. 26–28; No. 32.

29 See Articles 10, 11, 13.

30 See Doc. A/54.

31 Journal, No. 11, Supplement No. 2, p. 2 and Supplement No. 3, p. 2.

32 Journal, No. 13, Supplement No. 3, p. 1.

33 Report of P. C, p. 39.

34 Journal, No. 13, Supplement 3, p. 2–3.

35 Report of P. C, Ch. VIII, Section 1 B. Journal, No. 13, Supplements 2 and 3, p. 4.

36 Document A/23. For discussion of this issue see Journal, No. 12, page 4; No. 16, p. 9; No. 18, p. 13; and No. 19, p. 17.

37 See the discussion of this issue in Journal, No. 18, p. 8; No. 19, p. 12; No. 21, p. 15; No. 23, p. 18; No. 25, p. 22; No. 28, p. 26; No. 29, p. 31 (discussions in Committee 3); and General Assembly debate in Journal, No. 31, p. 544.

38 Journal, No. 31, p. 547.

39 Document A/45.

40 See Report of the Preparatory Commission, pp. 49–56; alao United Nations Preparatory Commission, Committee 4: Trusteeship, London, 1945.

41 Journal, No. 8, p. 176.

42 See Doc. A/34; A/C. 4/10; A.C. 4/19; A/.C. 4/21.

43 See also Journal, No. 28, p. 483; also A/C. 4/11.

44 For discussion of the Committee report see Journal, No. 28, pp. 482–490; also Committee summaries in Nos. 11–15, 17, 19, 25, 26.

45 Rule 24 making public meetings the general rule for the Trusteeship Council, and rule 42 concerning the handling of petitions directed to the Council, are cases in point. See Report of P. C. pp. 49–50.

46 Report by the Executive Committee to the Preparatory Commission, Chs. VI and VII. Preparatory Commission, Summary Record of Meetings, Committee 6: Administrative and Budgetary. See Report of P. C, Chs. VIII and IX.

47 Journal, No. 18, suppl. No. 5, p. 23.

48 Discussions of the tax question in Committee 5 will be found: Supplement 5 to the following Journal, Nos. 11,13,15,16,17,23,25. The Rapporteur’s Report is found in Docs. A/41, A/44, A/47, A/48. The Assembly action on these reports: Journal, No. 31, pp. 564–69.

49 Journal, No. 21, Suppl. 5, pp. 30/31.

50 League Covenant, Art. 7.

51 See Report of P. C, pp. 60–80; also Preparatory Commission, Committee 5: Legal Questions, Summary Record of Meetings, London, 1945.

52 See the preceding section in which the tax exemption problem is discussed at length.

53 Doc. A/43. See also Journal, Nos. 14, 18, 26, 27 for committee discussion.

54 Public Law 291—79th Congress; see also Federal Register, February 20,1946.

55 Report of P. C, pp. 60 ff. A/43, p. 38.

56 Doc. A/31; A/C. 6/1; Journal, No. 23 for committee discussion.

57 Mention should be made also of resolutions on the privileges and immunities of the International Court of Justice, on the coordination of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations with those of the specialized agencies, and on the Committee structure of the General Assembly. See Journal, No. 31, pp. 575.

58 See the following references: Preparatory Commission Summary Record of Meetings, Committee 7 (League of Nations); Preparatory Commission Report, Chapter XI; Journal, No. 19, Supplement No. 7; Journal, No. 22, Supplement No. 7; Documents A/18, A/18 Add 1, A/18 Add 2, A/18 Corr 1, A/28.

59 Preparatory Commission Report, Chapter X, p. 114.

60 Journal, No. 33; Document A/58 Rev. 1 (final resolution); Document A/Site 2 (report of the Inspection Group).