Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, General; the United Nations, Volume I

501.BC/4–1476

The Secretary of State to the United States Representative at the United Nations (Stettinius)

secret

Washington, April 17, 1946.

Sir: A. In pursuit of the objectives set forth in the policy memorandum on the United States Position Toward Membership Applications During Coming Security Council Meetings you should immediately initiate discussions, first with the United Kingdom Delegation and then with other delegations at your discretion, to determine the extent of support for the following course of action:

1. The United States Delegate should at an early date, if possible prior to inclusion of the Albanian application on the Provisional Agenda of any meeting, introduce the following resolution in the Security Council:

Resolution of Procedure To Be Adopted by the Security Council in Connection With Applications for Membership in the United Nations

the security council,

taking into account the fact that, under Article 4 of the Charter, membership in the United Nations is open to all peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the Charter, and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations; and

taking into account the fact that the General Assembly, which acts to admit applicant states to membership on the recommendation of the Security Council, will meet for the second part of its first session on September 3, 1946

resolved that:

1. Applications for membership which have been or may be received by the Secretary-General shall be considered by the Security Council at a meeting or meetings to be held in August 1946 for this specific purpose.

2. Applications for membership which may be received by the Secretary-General not later than July 15, 1946 shall be referred to a committee composed of a representative of each of the members of the Security Council for examination and report to the Council not later than August 1, 1946.

2. If the Albanian application is included on the Provisional Agenda for a meeting before we introduce the foregoing resolution, the United States Delegate should move to amend that item on the agenda so that in effect it will apply to applications for membership generally, including the Albanian application, and indicate our intention to introduce the foregoing resolution. If, over our opposition, an Agenda is adopted which includes the Albanian application, the United States Delegate should then introduce the resolution as an amendment to a proposal that is made in connection with the application or as a substitute proposal.

3. The United States Delegate should accompany the introduction of the resolution by a statement that it is desirable to work out satisfactory rules of procedure before considering applications from states desiring membership in the Organization. For this purpose, he should introduce in the Committee of Experts at the proper time, two rules along the following lines to replace Rule 34 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council (S/35, April 10, 1946).⁵⁷

Rule 34

The Secretary-General shall immediately bring the application for membership to the attention of all representatives on the Security Council in accordance with Rule 6. The President of the Security Council shall thereupon, unless otherwise directed by the Council, refer the application for examination to a committee of the Council composed of a representative of each of the Members of the Council. The committee shall at least thirty days in advance of each session of the General Assembly report to the Security Council on all applications received more than forty-five days prior to that session. When there is less than thirty days notice for any session of the General Assembly or when an application has been filed less than forty-five days prior to a session, the Security Council shall determine the time at which the committee shall report on applications before it.

Rule 35

The Security Council shall decide whether in its judgment the applicant is a peace-loving state, and is able and willing to carry out the obligations contained in the Charter, and whether to recommend the applicant state for membership.

B. If the above course of action does not meet with a sufficiently favorable reaction, you should initiate discussions, with the United Kingdom Delegation and then with other delegations at your discretion, to determine the extent of support for the following alternative course of action:

1. The United States Delegate should oppose inclusion in the Agenda for any meeting of the Security Council of an item on the Albanian application, until such time as the rules of procedure governing the handling of membership applications shall have been approved by the Security Council.

2. The United States Delegate should introduce in the Committee of Experts at the proper time the two rules to replace Rule 34 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council as indicated in paragraph A3 above, so that the Albanian application would not be considered immediately by the Security Council.

3. If, over our opposition, an Agenda is adopted which includes the Albanian application, the United States Delegate should continue to oppose consideration of the merits of the application.

C. For your information, this instruction does not modify the position stated in the policy memorandum on the United States Position Toward Membership Applications During Coming Security Council Meetings⁵⁸ that you should vote against any motion for approval of the Albanian application if it is necessary to do so in order to postpone action on the Albanian application until a meeting of the Security Council in August.

Very truly yours,

James F. Byrnes

[Enclosure]

Memorandum To Accompany Instruction on United States Position With Regard to Consideration by the Security Council of Applications for Membership in the United Nations

A. The Problem:

The Question of the admission of Albania to the United Nations was discussed in the Security Council in London in January, and on the proposal of the United States, further consideration was postponed until the Security Council should meet in New York. The subject may thus be placed on the Provisional Agenda of a meeting of the Security Council in the near future.

The Department has not opposed the admission of Albania to the United Nations on the merits of the case and wishes if possible to avoid doing so. There has been no disposition to deny that the United Nations can function with maximum strength and efficiency only if all properly qualified states are participants in the Organization. At the same time, it is believed that there would be a great tactical advantage in considering the Albanian application together with other applications toward which this country would be more favorably disposed.

On January 28, Mr. Stettinius made the following statement of the United States’ position in the Security Council in London:

“The admission of new Members is a serious and important matter, requiring the most careful consideration of the Members of the United Nations. In the circumstances, it is apparent that the only reasonable and fair method of giving proper and adequate consideration to applications for new membership would be to defer all applications until some time prior to the next meeting of the General Assembly, when the Security Council would have had an opportunity to deal with the number of applications that have accrued at that time.”

Substantially this same position was reaffirmed in the policy memorandum on the United States Position Toward Membership Applications During Coming Security Council Meetings which was approved by the Secretary of State in early March. That memorandum stated:

• “1. We should favor a motion to postpone until a meeting in August, consideration of the Albanian application and any other application received before that time, since

  (a) the admission of Albanian or any other applicant state could not possibly take place until final approval of the application by the General Assembly at its meeting in September and

  (b) the Security Council should make provision for considering not only the one application now before it, but all applications that may be presented within a reasonable time.”

B. Purpose of Instruction:

The present instruction is intended to provide the basis for initiating discussions immediately with other delegations to the Security Council, beginning with the United Kingdom Delegation, to decide the course of action to be followed in dealing both with the Albanian application and with the related question of establishing a general procedure for handling applications for membership.

Two principal alternative courses of action are set forth, the second of which is recommended for exploration with other delegations only if adequate support is not forthcoming for the first.

C. Comment on Proposed Courses of Action:

The two courses of action set forth in the instruction are designed to secure the adoption of an agreed date this summer, such as August first, for consideration by the Security Council of all membership applications. Both courses of action are directed to having the Albanian application referred to a committee where it could be held until mid-summer. Both are premised on our opposing the Albanian application if it comes up for consideration by the Security Council before that time.

The first course of action is preferred, however, for the following reasons:

1. The United States would be pressing for adoption of a positive proposal which it had itself suggested, to achieve the purposes which it favors, instead of laying itself open to the charge of merely blocking substantive action on Albania by such procedural devices as opposition to the adoption of an Agenda.

2. The ground of discussion would be shifted in the Security Council from the case of Albania to the general question of membership, thus serving to prevent what might be an acrimonious discussion with the Soviet Union on Albania’s qualifications.

3. The resolution proposed for introduction in the Security Council would serve as an indication to eligible applicants that they are invited to submit their applications in time for consideration before the specified date.

4. The resolution might be agreed upon as a special measure, even if the proposed rules of procedure providing for a regular procedure of submission of applications to a committee failed of acceptance in the Committee of Experts.

It is understood that if the Security Council adopts the proposed resolution that action would be in no way modified by approval of the suggested rules of procedure to replace Rule 34.

57. The provisional rules of procedure in effect at this time had been approved by the Security Council on April 9 and printed in document S/35, dated April 10 (see United Nations, Official Records of the Security Council, First Year, First Series, Supplement No. 2, pp. 15 ff., annex 1c; hereafter cited as SC, 1st yr., 1st series, Suppl. No. 2). Rule 34 read: “The application for membership in the United Nations shall be placed by the Secretary-General before the Security Council, which shall decide whether in its judgment the applicant is a peace-loving State and is able and willing to carry out the obligations contained in the Charter.” Actually the Committee of Experts had not yet addressed itself seriously to the rules of procedure relating to admission of new members, and Rule 34 in the April 10 rules was unchanged from Rule 40 in the provisional rules adopted by the Security Council earlier on February 5 (ibid., pp. 3 ff., annex 1a) and the original rule drafted by the Preparatory Commission (Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, Report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, p. 27 [Rule 26]).
58. Dated March 22, p. 368.