214. Editorial Note
On February 23, a draft resolution, sponsored by Bolivia, Burma, Ceylon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, and Yugoslavia, was introduced in the First [Page 359] Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. (U.N. doc. A/C.1/L.173) By this draft resolution, the General Assembly, having considered the question of West Irian (West New Guinea), recalling its Resolution 915(X) of December 16, 1955, and noting that negotiations between the Governments of Indonesia and the Netherlands had so far not resolved the issue, would (1) request the President of the General Assembly to appoint a good offices commission consisting of three members, with a view to assisting in negotiations between the two governments in order that a just and peaceful solution of the question might be achieved, in conformity with the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter, and (2) request the good offices commission to report to the General Assembly at its twelfth session. The draft resolution was adopted by the First Committee on February 28 by a vote of 39 to 25, with 9 abstentions, and was considered by the General Assembly at its 664th plenary meeting on the same day. Before putting it to a vote, the President of the General Assembly noted the precedent of a two-thirds majority vote having been required on a draft resolution on the same subject at the ninth session in 1954, and the same rule was applied without objection. The draft resolution was rejected through failure to receive a two-thirds majority; the vote was 40 to 25, with 13 abstentions. Both in committee and in plenary session, the United States did not participate in the debate and abstained on all votes.