International organization is not a new concept in the minds of men, but the creation of most of the international organizations now in existence has occurred within the memory of many who are by no means our oldest citizens. Before the last war, it was not too difficult for the interested layman, the scholar, the government official, or the teacher to keep abreast of new ideas and new philosophies. He watched the League of Nations, the Pan American Union, and a handful of specialized organizations like the Postal Union or the International Institute of Agriculture, and felt reasonably safe in his conviction that he could qualify as an intelligent citizen or even, at times, a teacher.

On April 18, 1946, the League Assembly adjourned after taking the necessary steps to terminate the existence of the League of Nations and transfer its properties and assets to the United Nations. On August 1, this transfer took place at a simple ceremony in Geneva. Thus, an important and, at one time, promising experiment in international cooperation came formally to an end. Outside of Geneva, no important notice was taken of this fact. Within the counsels of the United Nations, there was an apparent readiness to write the old League off as a failure, and to regard the new organization as something unique, representing a fresh approach to the world problems of peace and security. Quite clearly there was a hesitancy in many quarters to call attention to the essential continuity of the old League and the new United Nations for fear of arousing latent hostilities or creating doubts which might seriously jeopardize the birth and early success of the new organization.

The first days of December, 1946, saw the completion of the first round of the peace treaties. Except for the verification of the texts and the final arrangements for signature, the treaties with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland were now ready, after fifteen months of back-breaking and often heart-breaking effort. The initial installment of peace-making had, in fact, taken more than fifteen months, for several of the thorniest questions—notably, the disposition of the Italian colonies, freedom of commercial navigation on the Danube, and Italian reparation—had received their preliminary going-over at Potsdam. And at least one question—the disposition of the Italian colonies—had been post-poned for later settlement.

Finding a satisfactory voting formula for an international organization of “sovereign” states, such as the Security Council of the United Nations, is a different task from establishing rules of voting for a national legislative body. In an international body both the character of the work to be done and the composition of the body are governing factors. If the body has to make decisions involving the use of force, full respect for sovereignty by requiring unanimity permits the exercise of a liberum veto that blocks action. Simple rules of “democratic” usage by which the members are assumed to be equal in strength, though in fact they are not, cannot be applied, for this might pit weak numerical majorities against preponderantly powerful minorities. On the other hand, frankly to acknowledge the overweening might of a few and to establish a “dictatorship” by giving the most powerful members exclusive voting privileges is politically unacceptable and probably impracticable in our times. Therefore, some compromise has to be found, with reference to the duties and responsibilities of the organization and its composition, that will strike a workable balance between the inequalities of the members and a decent respect for the views and interests of the less powerful.

The First Part of the First Session of the United Nations General Assembly met in London from January 10 to February 14, 1946, and held thirty-three plenary meetings, at which delegates representing each of the 51 United Nations dealt primarily with matters of procedure and organization. The principal item on the agenda was the report of the Preparatory Commission, which contained recommendations designed to bring the United Nations into active operation.

Under Article 23 of the United Nations Charter, the Security Council was to be composed of representatives of five permanent Members — China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union — plus six non-permanent Members elected by the General Assembly. The election at the First Part of the First Session of the General Assembly of Egypt, Mexico, and the Netherlands for one year terms, and Australia, Brazil, and Poland for two year terms, enabled the Security Council to convene for its first meeting on January 18, 1946, at Church House, Dean's Yard, Westminster, in London. The first 23 meetings were held in London, and the balance of 87 for the period under review either at Hunter College in New York or at Lake Success on Long Island. The first President of the Council was Mr. N. J. 0. Makin (Australia) who held office for one month, and was followed for similar periods by the representatives of the other states members in alphabetical order of the names of their countries in English.

By resolution adopted January 24, 1946, at the Seventeenth Plenary Meeting, the General Assembly established the Atomic Energy Commission, composed of one representative of each of the States on the Security Council, and Canada, whose reports, recommendations and rules of procedure were to be given to and approved by the Security Council, which had the additional responsibility both of issuing directives to the Commission and transmitting reports from it to other appropriate United Nations agencies.

Established by the Charter as one of the principal organs of the United Nations, and entrusted with the solution of international economic and social problems and with international cultural and educational cooperation, the Economic and Social Council met three times during 1946 to discuss both organizational and substantive matters. The First Session was held in London from January 23 to February 16, the Second in New York from May 25 to June 21, and the Third in New York from September 11 to October 3. In addition an ad hoc meeting of the Third Session, to confirm appointments to the various Council Commissions, was held on December 10.

At the Second Part of the first Session, the General Assembly completed the steps required by the Charter for the establishment of its last remaining organ, the Trusteeship Council, by accepting trusteeship agreements for eight territories formerly held under mandate. The territories brought under trusteeship and their administering authorities are: New Guinea (Australia), Ruanda-Urundi (Belgium), the Cameroons (France and Great Britain), Togoland (France and Great Britain), and Western Samoa (New Zealand).

On January 12, 1946, a list of candidates nominated for membership on the International Court of Justice was submitted to the General Assembly and the Security Council, in accordance with invitations issued by the Executive Committee of the Preparatory Commission.

As a result of elections held on February 6, the following were elected: Alvarez (Chile), Azevedo (Brazil), Badawi (Egypt), Basdevant (France), de Visscher (Belgium), Fabela (Mexico), Guerrero (Salvador), Hackworth (United States), Hsu (China), Klaestad (Norway), Krylov (USSR), McNair (United Kingdom), Read (Canada), Winiarski (Poland), and Zoricic (Yugoslavia).

The first meeting of the Court was held on April 3 at the Peace Palace at the Hague, and the inaugural sitting on April 18. On April 6 the Court elected Mr. J. G. Guerrero as President and M. J. Basdevant as Vice-President. Mr. Edvard Hambro was appointed Registrar and M. J. Garnier-Coignet, Deputy Registrar. On May 3 the Court formed the Chamber for Summary Procedure, provided for by Article 29 of the Statute, composed of the following members: Guerrero (President), Basdevant, McNair, Krylov, Hsu, with Fabela and de Visscher as substitute members.

Although closely bound to the League of Nations, the ILO did not go out of existence with its dissolution, but continued functioning as an independent agency during the war, despite the League's breakdown. During the past year, the ILO-United Nations agreement was signed, the ILO thus becoming the oldest of the “specialized” intergovernmental agencies to be brought into relationship with the United Nations. Other activities of the ILO during 1946 included the 29th International Labor Conference, a Maritime Conference, an American States Regional Conference, and the first meetings of four newly created Industrial Committees.

Originally designated by the terms of its Constitution as an international agency for the collection and dissemination of information in the field of nutrition, food, and agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations developed a much wider field of activity during 1946, its first working year. Recognizing the need for an international agency with real administrative powers, the FAO assumed the task of helping to ameliorate the world food crisis, while at the same time setting up an organization for long-range planning and statistical work.

Established on December 27, 1945, when the Bretton Woods agreements were signed in Washington, the International Monetary Fund has been primarily concerned with organizational and policy problems during its first year of existence. Not until September was the Fund ready to begin the actual work of establishing stable relationships between currencies and facilitating international trade.

Like the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development devoted most of its first year of existence to the creation of a working organization, postponing its program of making loans to facilitate the reconstruction and development of productive capacity in many nations.

The statute for the creation of the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization was the product of the International Civil Aviation Conference held in Chicago, Illinois, November 1 to December 7, 1944. The Conference agreed that pending the establishment of a permanent international organization to handle problems of air transport, a provisional organization, to exist for not more than three years, should be created when 26 countries had ratified the agreement, to start work on the complex issues arising from the extension of international air routes to most of the major countries of the world.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has been established as a specialized agency under the United Nations. An agreement, negotiated between the Preparatory Commission and the United Nations in June, 1946, was later approved by the General Conference of UNESCO, and by the General Assembly of the United Nations, provided that UNESCO, should maintain direct working relations with the Economic and Social Council's commissions and committees, with the Secretariat of the United Nations, and with other specialized agencies.

Designed as a collective instrument to raise the standards of health and well-being of all peoples throughout the world, a new World Health Organization was launched, under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, by the International Health Conference, which met at Hunter College, June 19 to July 22, 1946.

To provide a final solution to the problems of hundreds of thousands of refugees and persons displaced by the war and who still remain in the occupied zones of Europe, the International Refugee Organization was established by the United Nations. The General Assembly adopted the Constitution of the Organization on December 15 by a vote of 30 to 5, with 18 abstentions, and the agreement was opened for signature the following day.

Following months of preliminary planning and negotiation, the first concrete steps toward the establishment of an International Trade Organization were taken by the Preparatory Committee of the International Conference on Trade and Employment, which met in London from October 15 to November 26, 1946. Called by the Secretary-General of the United Nations pursuant to a resolution of February 18, 1946, of the Economic and Social Council, the meeting was the first of a series of conferences to consider the possible integration of national trade policies and the removal of trade barriers on a world-wide scale. Its work, however, has been essentially preparatory in scope; its recommendations are not binding upon the governments represented.