It is now three years since the United Nations General Assembly first convened in London, and over five years since the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and China announced at the first Moscow Conference their recognition of “the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization … for the maintenance of international peace and security.”

Referring to “domestic jurisdiction” as used in the League Covenant, Professor J. L. Brierly characterized it as “a new catchword,” capable of proving as great a hindrance to the orderly development of international law as “sovereignty” and “state equality” had been in the past, and about which “little seems to be known except its extreme sanctity.” Since these words were written, the Covenant of the League of Nations has been replaced by the Charter of the United Nations as the basic law of the organization of the world community. The concept of a reserved domestic jurisdiction is still with us. In fact, Article 2, paragraph 7, of the Charter gives it a broader definition and a wider range of application than did Article 15, paragraph 8, of the Covenant. What is the meaning of the domestic jurisdiction principle as set forth in the Charter? What effect has it had in practice on the working and development of the United Nations?

The postwar increase in the number and scope of intergovernmental organizations has meant that many fields hitherto subject to national regulation, or to bilateral agreements, are now regulated by a multilateral convention. There are other fields, however, which appear to be as yet unready, for international control. The economic regulation of international air transport is a case in point. Although air navigation principles have been internationalized since 1919, and a respectable amount of technical co-operation on safety rules has been achieved, rights to engage in air commerce between the territories of two or more states continue to be determined largely by bilateral agreements

The third regular session of the General Assembly met at the Palais de Chaillotin Paris from September 21 to December 12, 1948, to consider an agenda of 7 items.

By a vote of 31 to 20, Herbert V. Evatt (Australia) was elected president of the Assembly on the second ballot over Dr. Juan Bramuglia (Argentina); and the following were elected chairmen of the main committees: political and security committee, Paul-Henri Spaak (Belgium); economic and financial committee, Hernan Santa Cruz (Chile); social, humanitarian and cultural committee, Charles Malik (Lebanon); trusteeship committee, Nasrollah Entezam (Iran); administrative and budgetary committee, Dana Wilgress (Canada); and legal committee, Ricardo Alfaro (Panama).

On July 29, 1948, the Security Council devoted two sessions to a further consideration of the Indonesian question. The occasion for the discussion was the receipt from the Committee of Good Offices of a previously requested report on restrictions of trade in Indonesia and the reason for the delay in the implementation of Article 6 of the Renville Truce Agreement. The committee reported that, six months after the Truce Agreement, Republican controlled areas of Java and Sumatra suffered from “grave deficiencies” of transportation equipment and supplies which acted to cause local dislocations and shortages of all categories of materials needed for rehabilitation reconstruction. Factors creating these shortages were listed by the committee as 1) the division of Indonesia into two separate administrative compartments; 2) the damage of World War II followed by political dispute, military conflict and scorched earth policies; 3) the inadequate implementation of Article 6 of the Truce Agreement arising, primarily, from the “regulations governing domestic and international trade promulgated by Netherlands Indies civil and military authorities between January 1947 and the signing of the Truce Agreement and which have been continued in effect to date.”3 After summarizing Dutch and Indonesian positions on these regulations, the committee, after declining to allocate responsibility as between the two parties, concluded that it was “indisputable” that pending an agreement restoring economic and political unity to Indonesia the economic plight of Republican controlled areas could not be substantially ameliorated “until a way is found to relax existing regulations,” and that this development would require a basic improvement in the attitude of the parties.

The seventh session of the Economic and Social Council was held in Geneva from July 19 to August 29, 1948, with the President of the Council, Charles Malik of Lebanon, presiding. The Council originally had an agenda of some 50 items before it for consideration, but following the report of the Council's Agenda Committee eleven of these topics were postponed until the eighth session. To deal with its work the Council created three committees of the whole, on economic and social matters and on human rights, and two committees of smaller membership, on procedures and organization and on matters relating to coordination.

The Council decided not to follow procedure adopted at the second session whereby four informal groups were appointed to study the major functional fields covered by the reports, but to examine the annual reports in full session with close examination of the four broad functional fields of political, economic, social and educational advancement. A drafting committee would then be appointed to formulate comments and recommendations on conditions in the territory concerned for inclusion in the report of the Council to the General Assembly. In accordance with this decision, the Council considered three annual reports submitted by the administering authorities – reports on the administration of Ruanda-Urundi and Tanganyika for the calendar year 1947, and the continuation of the consideration of the report on the administration of New Guinea for the period from July 1, 1946, to June 30,1947.

Progress in the field of organization and structure of the Secretariat was itemized in the annual report of the Secretary-General, submitted on July 5, 1948. Noting tightening of budgetary and administrative controls and simplification of personnel procedures, the report also took cognizance of the comprehensive review of administrative questions concerning the United Nations and the specialized agencies which had been undertaken by the Consultative Committee on Administrative Questions of the Coordination Committee, problems which had arisen in connection with special United Nations missions, and organizational changes brought about as a result of a management survey by the Bureau of Administrative Management and Budget. Major changes had taken place in several departments, particularly the Department of Public Information and the Department of Conference and General Services.

On November 5, 1948, the International Court of Justice began oral hearings on the merits of the Corfu Channel case between Albania and the United Kingdom. By a decision on March 25, 1948, the Court had affirmed its competence in the case, and the following day had fixed time-limits for the subsequent pleadings; the last document of the written procedure, the Albanian rejoinder, had been filed with the Court on September 20, 1948. For the oral pleadings Professor B. Ecer of Czechoslovakia acted as judge ad hoc chosen by the Albanian government, replacing Judge Igor Daxner who was ill. Counsel for the United Kingdom were Sir Hartley Shawcross, Sir Eric Beckett, and Sir Frank Soskice, while Kahreman Ylli, Pierre Cot, and Joë Nordmann represented the Albanian government.

The fourth session of the Conference of FAO was held in Washington, D.C. from November 15 through November 29, 1948. In addition to representatives from 58 member nations, observers from 16 non-member countries, more than 60 non-governmental groups, and various intergovernmental and international organizations attended.

The twelve-nation Preparatory Committee of IMCO met at Lake Success on November 30, 1948. The session was devoted essentially to preparatory work, since the organization would not become a fully operative agency of the United Nations until twenty-one nations ratified its convention. The Committee voted unanimously that the future agency should keep its activities within a budget of $80,500 yearly for the first two years of operation, since it was pointed out that during that time its work would be largely of an organizational nature. This budget was to be laid before a Maritime Assembly, which would be summoned within three months after twenty-one nations had signed the agency's convention; the Assembly would also review work accomplished by the Preparatory Committee. The Committee agreed to recommend to the Assembly that all nations contribute equal shares to the agency's budget, although it coupled the recommendation with a compromise formula. The Committee also agreed that the budget estimates should be made in pounds rather than at the dollar exchange since permanent headquarters of the organization would be in London.

Forty-seven nations were represented at the third annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was held in Washington from September 27 to October 1, 1948. Yun-wu Wang, Minister of Finance of China, acted as chairman of the joint sessions with the International Monetary Fund and also presided at other Bank meetings.

The fourth session of the ICAO Council met in Geneva during the week immediately following the adjournment of the Second Assembly. Action was taken upon arrangements for the financing of air navigation services in Iceland; the Council approved the recommendations and final act of the Conference on Air Navigation Services in Iceland. An agreement to this effect was signed on September 16, the first formal agreement between ICAO and one of the contracting states to provide for financial and technical assistance in the maintenance of facilities for trans-oceanic air navigation. Under the terms of the agreement, the Icelandic government would operate and maintain the needed services and the ICAO Council would pay specified sums received from the contributing states to finance these facilities, would exercise general supervision over the operation and the services and would furnish such advice as might be required for the effective discharge of obligations by Iceland under the agreement. Before adjourning its fourth session, the Council notified the states signatory to the Final Act of the Conference on Air Navigation Services in Iceland of their assessments for expenses in accordance with the decisions of the Conference.

Further Decisions of the ILO San Francisco Meetings: The Governing Body approved in principle the establishment of consultative relationships with the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions and the Inter-American Confederation of Labor, and accepted for the ILO the United Nations convention on the privileges and immunities of the specialized agencies as modified by an annex relating to the ILO. As a result of the decisions of the Conference the total number of international labor conventions adopted by the Organization was brought to 90 and the total number of recommendations to 83. The Governing Body decided that the next session of the conference would be held in Geneva, Switzerland, June 8, 1949.

The third annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund was held in Washington from September 27 to October 1, 1948 with Yun-wu-Wang, Minister of Finance of China, presiding. The opening and closing session were joint meetings with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Ratification by the fifteenth nation, Denmark, of the IRO Constitution on August 20, 1948 brought the Organization into official existence by fulfilling the constitutional requirement stipulating that fifteen nations contributing 75 percent of the operational funds needed by IRO must ratify the Constitution before the Organization could undertake autonomous operations. Following this ratification, the Preparatory Commission of IRO began its seventh and last meeting in Geneva on September 10, 1948, to complete arrangements for the convening of the IRO General Council. The commission 1) decided to convene the first session of the General Council on September 13, 1948; 2) requested the Executive Secretary to submit to the General Council for its consideration an amended text of the staff regulations and the draft financial regulations for IRO; 3) took note of the allocation of funds for the quarter from 1 July to 30 September, 1948; 4) noted with satisfaction the report of the Review Board for Eligibility Appeals; 5) decided not to establish a “date line” for the admission of new cases; and 6) adopted the provisional agenda for the first session of the General Council. On September 11 the chairman declared the final session of the Preparatory Commission for the International Refugee Organization closed, noting that it had fulfilled the duties assigned to it under the Agreement on Interim Measures.

At its seventh session the Economic and Social Council took note of the report submitted by the ITU, and the Soviet representative (Arutiunian) raised a question concerning the fact that ITU had not admitted to membership the Baltic States and the Mongolian People's Republic. By a vote of 14 to 3 the Council rejected a Soviet proposal to ask the ITU to review the question.

Pursuant to a decision taken at the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the Interim Commission for the International Trade Organization, the second session met in Geneva from August 25 to September 15, 1948. The committee reached agreement on several organizational and procedural questions to be submitted to the first session of the ITO conference and established several subcommittees to work on substantive matters including relations with the International Court of Justice, economic development, administrative questions and technical matters.

The third session of the General Conference of UNESCO met in Beirut, Lebanon from November 17 through December 11, 1948, with 36 member nations represented and official observers from eight other countries. Jaime Torres Bodet, Julian Huxley. Paris was selected for the site of the fourth session in September 1949, and a budget of $7,780,000 was approved. During the session, Switzerland completed the requirements to become the 45th member nation and the application of Monaco was approved. Ceylon's application was referred to the Economic and Social Council for advice, while Israel withdrew its application.