The arms control and disarmament issues on which there is no agreement are numerous and important. The purpose of this article is not to go over what is by now too familiar ground, but rather to examine the little considered question of the relationship contemplated between the United Nations and agencies that may be created to administer arms control or disarmament arrangements.

The United Nations has patendy not fulfilled the high hopes which some of its sponsors had for it. A major share of responsibility for this failure has commonly been assigned to the Soviet Union, and not widiout reason. Yet the Soviet view and Soviet conduct have not been products of perversity or malice. They follow logically, first, from the world view held by the communist leadership, which sees the United Nations as another arena in the struggle between the two “world systems” of our age, and, second, from the Soviet experience as a minority power seeking to frustrate the efforts of the hostile majority “in control” of the UN.

Colonialism, at least as it is generally defined in the United Nations as Western rule of non-metropolitan areas, is rapidly being brought to a close. As a consequence, within a few years some of the activities of the United Nations will be reduced to almost insignificant proportions. Seven of the eleven territories that were once included within the trusteeship system have already achieved self-government or independence, and another, Ruanda-Urundi, will soon attain that goal. Unless new territories are added, only Nauru, New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands will remain under trusteeship. The list of territories which according to the General Assembly are subject to the provisions of Chapter XI of the Charter has not been cut as drastically, but in terms of the number of people involved, the reduction is equally impressive. Even with the high rate of population growth and the addition of the Spanish and Portuguese dependencies, the number of people living in such areas is about one-fifth of the 1946 figure of 215,000,000. With a few important exceptions such as Kenya, Uganda, Nyasaland and the Rhodesias, and Angola and Mozambique, the territories which in the UN's view “have not yet attained a full measure of self-government” are small and have populations of less than one million. It has already been recommended that the future of the Department of Trusteeship and Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories and the possibility of allocating its duties to other departments be reviewed in the light of these developments.

Listed below is the membership of UN bodies for 1961. Unless otherwise noted, membership expires on December 31 of the year indicated.

The first part of the sixteenth session of the General Assembly met at UN Headquarters from September 19 through December 20, 1961, when it was adjourned. The second part of the session was to begin on January 15, 1962. At the opening plenary meeting a moment of silence was observed as a tribute to the memory of the late Secretary-General and of the devoted officers of the UN who died with him. At the 1046th meeting, upon recommendation of the Security Council, the Assembly appointed U Thant as acting Secretary-General for a term of office ending on April 10, 1963.

At the 973d meeting the situation in the Congo was once again brought to the attention of the President of the Security Council, in a letter from the permanent representatives of Ethiopia, Nigeria, and the Sudan delineating conditions in Katanga caused by the lawless acts of mercenaries. Following communications from these respective delegations, representatives of Ethiopia, Belgium, India, and the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) were invited, at their request, to participate in the debate.

The thirty-second session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), comprising the 1150th to the 1182d meetings inclusive, was held in Geneva from July 4 to August 4, 1961. In opening the session, Mr. Foss Shanahan (New Zealand), President for 1961, drew attention to the important role of the Council as the body primarily responsible for the work of the UN and its related agencies in promoting economic and social development.

Case concerning the Northern Cameroons (Cameroun v. United Kingdom): In an order of July 6, 1961, the International Court of Justice fixed the time limits for the filing of pleadings in the case concerning the Northern Cameroons as follows: for the memorial of the Republic of Cameroun, November 1, 1961; and for the countermemorial of the United Kingdom, March 1, 1962. Subsequently, in an order of November 2, 1961, the Court, in accordance with a request from the agent of the government of the Republic of Cameroun, extended to January 3, 1962, the time limit for the filing of the memorial of the Republic of Cameroun and to May 2, 1962, the time limit for the filing of the countermemorial of the United Kingdom.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced on September 6, 1961, a loan equivalent to $3 million to the Central Bank of Costa Rica to assist in a program for the importation of equipment for the development of private industry. The loan was guaranteed by the government of Costa Rica and was for a twelve-year term; the six private banks participating in the loan for a total of $314,000 were to receive the first two maturities falling due in October 1964 and April 1965. On October 13, 1961, the Bank announced three loans. The first, amounting to $34 million, was to the National Power Corporation of the Philippines to assist in financing a large hydroelectric project on the island of Luzon. Twelve United States commercial banks participated in the loan to the amount of $1,217,000 covering the first three maturities of the 25-year term of the loan that was scheduled for semi-annual amortization payments beginning June 1, 1965. On the same day a loan of $50 million to India to assist in railway development under the Third Five-Year Plan was made known. Five United States commercial banks participated for a total of $1,075,000 in the twenty-year term loan with repayment scheduled to begin inFebruary 1965. The final loan announced on October 13 was to Costa Rica for the improvement of its highway system; the International Bank and the International Development Association (IDA) joined in making $11 million available for that purpose, each offering $5.5 million for the financing of the reconstruction and construction of about 420 miles of national and regional highways and for the import of equipment for highway construction and maintenance. Three commercial banks participated to the extent of $150,000 in the fifteen-year term loan; amortization was to begin on May 1, 1965.

The first extraordinary session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly was convened at headquarters in Montreal from June 19 to 21, 1961, at the request of twelve of the contracting states, to consider increasing the size of the ICAO Council. The delegate of the United Kingdom proposed a change in article 50(a) of the ICAO convention to provide for 27 members of the ICAO Council instead of 21, and delegates of Venezuela, Cameroun, and South Africa immediately supported the increase. Among arguments advanced for expanding the Council were the following: 1) a Council of 21 no longer adequately represented the membership of the organization, which had reached 86; 2) adequate geographic representation was of paramount importance since international routes covered most of the world; 3) the increase would facilitate the participation in the Council's work of the more than twenty states that had achieved independence in the past few years; 4) the practice of holding an Assembly session only every three years placed greater responsibilities on the Council; and 5) all the specialized agencies except ICAO and the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization had increased the size of their executive bodies. Although there was some debate as to whether the increase ought to be to 25 or 27 members, the United Kingdom motion for the latter number prevailed, along with a proposal sponsored by the Italian and Venezuelan delegations stating that it was highly desirable for the amendment to the convention to come into force before the next Assembly session. Consequently, all contracting states to the convention were urged to ratify the amendment as soon as possible.

The 45th session of the International Labor Conference was held in Geneva from June 7 to 29, 1961, under the presidency of Mr. M. A. Raschid (government delegate and Minister of Industry, Mines, and Labor, Burma). The Conference was attended by over a thousand delegates, observers, and advisers from 94 member countries and four territories, including the ministers of labor from 42 of these countries.

On October 2, 1961, it was announced that the International Monetary Fund had entered into a stand-by arrangement with the government of Haiti under which that government could draw the equivalent of $6 million from the Fund during the following twelve months. The arrangement with the Fund was considered as a useful supplement to the country's reserves to assist the government in maintaining the convertibility of its currency. The Haitian government had not drawn on its previous stand-by arrangement with the Fund, which had expired on September 30, 1961; in earlier years it had drawn $5.4 million, of which $2.6 million had already been repaid.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held its eleventh General Conference in Paris from November 14 to December 15, 1960, under the presidency of Mr. Akale-Work Abte-Wold (Ethiopia). Ninety-eight member states of UNESCO participated in the Conference compared with the 75 that were members in 1958 at the time of the tenth General Conference. The General Conference approved the program of activities for 1961–1962 and unanimously voted a budget of $32,513,228 to finance it; to this amount was added over $12 million provided by the United Nations Technical Assistance Fund to enable UNESCO to carry out many additional educational and scientific projects. UNESCO was also to act as executing agency for seventeen projects concerning higher technical education, for which the UN Special Fund was to provide more than $11 million in 1961–1962. Also allocated by the Conference was $915,000 for the construction of an additional building in Paris, the total cost of which was to be $3,535,000.

The fourteenth session of the Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) was held in New Delhi from February 7 through 24, 1961. In his address the President of the Assembly, Dr. Arcot Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar, stated that among the many international organizations set up by the UN, WHO occupied a foremost place in its efforts to improve the conditions of millions of people in all parts of the globe. Dr. Mudaliar pointed to the contributions of the WHO regional offices in bringing the work of the organization more directly into contact with the countries concerned. WHO had achieved its most spectacular successes in programs designed not merely to control but to eradicate diseases of which the causative organisms were well known and with respect to which effective steps could be taken—in this regard Dr. Mudaliar mentioned the malaria eradication campaign. Other diseases of a communicable nature—smallpox, cholera, several of the water-borne diseases, and many others carried by insects—could hopefully lend themselves to similar eradication programs. Dr. Mudaliar also referred to the work of WHO in areas of the world stricken by natural or man-made disaster, and in particular to the organization's emergency work in the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville). As for the future tasks of WHO, the President of the Assembly observed that although tuberculosis had been one of the four diseases that had been given priority by the first WHO Assembly, much still remained to be done to control it; the results of domiciliary treatment carried out in the city of Madras, India, he continued, gave some promise of success in the control and treatment of the disease. Dr. Mudaliar also singled out leprosy as a disease the organization should try to eradicate, and mentioned the problems of mental illness stemming from the stress and strain of modern society as being worthy of attention.

The thirteenth session of the Executive Committee of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was held in Geneva from May 11 to 30, 1961, under the chairmanship of Mr. A. Viaut, President of the organization. As usual two working committees were set up on: administrative and financial questions, and technical questions. Discussions in plenary were based mainly on the reports of these committees. Following the presentation of reports on the meetings of regional associations and commissions, the report of the working group set up to study the revision of the WMO convention was heard and discussed. General agreement was reached on the substance of amendments proposed for some articles, and a provisional text was submitted to a legal expert for study and report. With regard to the WMO general regulations, it was decided that modifications arising from the proposed amendments to the convention should be studied after the amendments had been approved. The Executive Committee considered reports on the WMO field programs under the UN Expanded Program of Technical Assistance (EPTA) for 1960 and for the period 1961–1962. The need was stressed for field visits, in particular to the newly independent countries, to help them in the assessment of their requirements for technical assistance. Plans for future training seminars under EPTA were discussed and the Committee recognized in particular, in view of the increasing interest in water resources development, the importance of holding training seminars on hydrological forecasting. The Executive Committee also took note of the training seminars—organized in Cairo, Bangkok, and Nicosia and carried out under joint International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)-WMO auspices—on forecasting for operations of turbine-engined aircraft.

The first part of the thirteenth ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly was held from April 24 to 28, 1961, under the chairmanship of Mr. Per Federspiel (Danish Moderate Liberal) who was unanimously re-elected to that position. Mr. Emile Liquard (French U.N.R.), rapporteur df the Bureau and Standing Committee, announced to the Assembly that pursuant to discussions at the twelfth ordinary session the Turkish Foreign Minister had been invited to participate at the thirteenth session; however, in view of the present political activity in that country the Foreign Minister had stated that he would be unable to attend. Mr. Liquard also noted that the Swiss and Israeli observers were subsequently to be seated in the Assembly hall. The Bureau and Standing Committee recommended that a draft resolution presented by Mr. Peter Kirk (British Conservative) on the situation in Spain should be referred to the Political Committee for report and to the Committee on Non-Represented Nations for an opinion; the Assembly adopted the proposal and also unanimously approved another proposal, suggested by the Committee of Ministers, that Cyprus be invited to become a full member of the Council of Europe.

On March 23, 1961, it was announced that the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) had formally taken over its main joint research center when the Italian government's nuclear research center at Ispra was handed over to Euratom President Etienne Hirsch. By the end of 1962 the staff at the center, which was to be not only the main Euratom research center but also its only general-purpose one, was expected to number 1,500. Other joint research centers were being set up at Mol, Belgium; Karlsruhe, Germany; and Patten, the Netherlands. It was also announced that a plan had been set up to build the European Transuranium Institute alongside the Nuclear Research Institute at Karlsruhe, Germany.

The Council of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) met at ministerial level in London on June 27 and 28, 1961. The Ministers stressed EFTA's wish ultimately toform a single European market for 300 million consumers which would follow liberal policies toward the outside world. They stated that a new effort to bring an end to European division would necessitate a readiness to make some modification of policy on all sides, but that the Stockholm Convention. In regard to approaching che six of EEC, the Council of Ministers agreed that EETA should coordingate its policies in order to remain united throughout negotitations

According to the press, the Ministerial Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held its twelfth annual ministerial review at NATO headquarters in Paris from December 13 to 15, 1961. It was reported that diplomatic soundings of the Soviet Union's intentions on Berlin would be undertaken by the United States and the United Kingdom, Berwith the approval of thirteen other NATO partners and the acquiescence of France, The French Foreign Minister, Mr. Maurice Couve de Murville, was reported to have expressed the view that the Soviet offensive on Berlin was aimed ultimately at the neutralization of Germany and the detachment of Germany and the Scandinavian counganization tries from the NATO alliance, and to have urged that the West strengthen its military forces.

The press reported that on September 30, 1961, the new Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) formally came into being with seventeen out of a possible twenty member nations having. deposited their instruments of ratification of the OECD convention. At the time of the entry into force of the convention, the following nations had deposited their ratifications: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and West Germany. Italy, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg shortly afterwards joined the organization. The OECD convention required members to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, nondiscriminatory basis in accord with international obligations. At the first meeting of the organization in Paris on September 30, 1961, Mr. Donald Fleming, Canadian Finance Minister, was elected chairman of the Ministerial Council, and Mr. Gunnar Lange, Swedish Commerce Minister, and Mr. Charles Arliotis, Greek Minister of Coordination, vice-chairmen. Mr. Thorkil Kristensen, the former Secretary-General of OEEC, was named Secretary-General of the new organization, and Mr. Charles Adair (United States) and Mr. Jean Cottier (France) were designated deputy Secretaries-General.