Editorial Note
Discussion of the voting question was resumed by the First Committee on December 1 at which time it was decided to appoint a subcommittee to reconcile the several resolutions which had been offered (the Soviet Union submitted one at this meeting, making a total of six). The Sub-Committee, composed of representatives of the delegations of Argentina, Australia, China, the Soviet Union, the United [Page 356] Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela, in an unsuccessful attempt to reach a consensus extending through five meetings, finally on December 6 drafted a report to the Plenary Committee which recommended that the Committee vote on the resolutions of Cuba, Peru, Australia (the second of two revisions), the Soviet Union, and China (the latter submitting a resolution to the Sub-Committee on December 6). For the deliberations of the First Committee on December 1, see GA(I/2), First Committee, pages 210 ff.; the Soviet and Chinese resolutions are found ibid., pages 328 and 330, annexes 7g and 7i, respectively; the two Australian revisions are found ibid., pages 327 and 331, annexes 7e and 7j (the text finally voted on by the First Committee was that found in annex 7j); see ibid., pages 329 and 330, annex 7h for the text of the Sub-Committee’s report.
In the final phase of the First Committee’s consideration of this issue, on December 8, the Committee, grappling with a tangled parliamentary situation, finally approved the second Australian revised text, while rejecting its second paragraph which was implicitly condemnatory of the past performance of the Security Council; the Australian Delegation had signified its willingness that the voting on the proposed resolution should be on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis. For the December 8 proceedings of the First Committee see ibid., pages 284 ff.
At both meetings of the Plenary Committee, on December 1 and December 8, the United States Representative on the First Committee, Senator Connally, declared that the United States Delegation supported the resolution offered by Australia except for the second paragraph “which appeared to imply a condemnation of past events and reflect on members of the Security Council. … His delegation believed the Council’s difficulties were the growing pains of a new organization for which no one should be blamed” ( ibid., pages 218 and 219; quotation from December 8 statement).
The report of the First Committee to the General Assembly on this matter is found in GA(I/2), Plenary, pages 1538 ff., annex 7l. General Assembly debate of the report during two meetings on December 13 is found ibid., pages 1231 ff. For Senator Austin’s statement to the General Assembly in support of the First Committee’s recommended draft resolution, see ibid., pages 1244 ff. The draft resolution was adopted by the General Assembly without change and as Resolution 40 (I) read:
“The General Assembly
Mindful of the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations, and having taken notice of the divergencies which have arisen in regard to the application and interpretation of Article 27 of the Charter:
Earnestly requests the permanent members of the Security Council [Page 357] to make every effort, in consultation with one another and with fellow members of the Security Council, to ensure that the use of the special voting privilege of its permanent members does not impede the Security Council in reaching decisions promptly;
Recommends to the Security Council the early adoption of practices and procedures, consistent with the Charter, to assist in reducing the difficulties in the application of Article 27 and to ensure the prompt and effective exercise by the Security Council of its functions; and
Further recommends that, in developing such practices and procedures, the Security Council take into consideration the views expressed by Members of the United Nations during the second part of the first session of the General Assembly.”
(United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, First Session, Second Part, Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly during the Second Part of the First Session, pages 64 and 65.)