IO Files: US/A/C.2 and 3/2
United States Delegation Working Paper
Request of the World Federation of Trade Unions for Change in Arrangements for Consultation With the Economic and Social Council
problem
Mr. Leon Jouhaux, Vice President of the WFTU in a letter of November 12, 1946 to Mr. Spaak44 asks that the General Assembly recommend revision of the arrangements for consultation with nongovernmental organizations (agreed upon in the Economic and Social Council on June 21, 1946) so as to give the WFTU
- 1.
- The right to submit to the Council questions for insertion in the provisional agenda in accordance with the procedure now applicable to specialized agencies. (This procedure is that the Council, subject to such preliminary consultation as may be necessary, includes on its agenda and the agenda of its commissions items proposed by the General Conference or Executive Board of the specialized agencies.)
- 2.
- The right to present written and verbal statements to the Council on all matters of concern to the Federation.
Mr. Jouhaux, acting as delegate for France in a Joint Meeting of Committee 2 and 3 on November 20, asked that the above recommendation [Page 515] be adopted, and was strongly supported by the Soviet Delegate.45 The U.S. Delegate, Mr. Stevenson, favored a New Zealand proposal that the Assembly simply draw the attention of the Economic and Social Council to the remarks made in the meeting: “and to the letter of 12 November signed by the vice president of the WFTU.”46 This suggestion did not satisfy the Soviet Union. Further discussion was postponed.
The problem is whether we wish to support a recommendation to the Economic and Social Council that the WFTU be granted the additional rights proposed by Mr. Jouhaux.
recommendation
We should strongly oppose any recommendation by the General Assembly to the Economic and Social Council which suggests changes in the arrangements agreed upon for consultation with the WFTU. We should base this opposition on the following grounds:
- a.
- The present arrangements, embodied in the Council’s
Resolution of June 21, 1946 confirmed by its Resolution of
October 1, 1946,47 give
the WFTU ample opportunities
for consultation with the Economic and Social Council. (See
Annex I.) In particular with reference to the new demands of the
WFTU, the WFTU now has three possibilities
of recommending items for inclusion in the provisional agenda of
ECOSOC:
- (1)
- By having one or more members of the United Nations submit the item.
- (2)
- By transmitting a recommendation to the President of the Council or to the Secretary-General (which they may place on the agenda at their discretion.)
- (3)
- By addressing a request to the Committee on Non-governmental Organizations of the Council.
- Under existing arrangements the WFTU also has the right to transmit to the Council any memoranda, recommendations or draft resolutions bearing on matters before the Council within the special competence of WFTU and such recommendations will be distributed to the members of the Council in full.
- b.
- The present arrangements have been in force for such a brief [Page 516] period that there is now no basis in experience for questioning their adequacy.
- c.
- The Economic and Social Council is empowered by Article 71 to make the arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations, and it is inappropriate for the General Assembly to give the Economic and Social Council instructions on the nature of these arrangements. The Economic and Social Council should be left free to operate under the arrangements which have been agreed upon and which the President of the WFTU, in a meeting on October 2, 1946 with the Council’s NGO Committee,48 indicated were satisfactory. (See Annex II.)
- United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, First Session, Second Part, Joint Committee of the Second and Third Committee, pp. 85 and 86, annex 1. (Hereafter cited as GA (I/2), Joint Second and Third Committee.)↩
- The French request was made on November 18 at the beginning of the Joint Committee’s consideration of the draft report of the Economic and Social Council to the General Assembly; for the discussion on November 18 and subsequent discussions on November 22, 23, 26, and 27, see GA(I/2), Joint Second and Third Committee, pp. 1 ff.↩
- See ibid., p. 96, annex 3a.↩
- This refers to Council action extending category (a) status to the International Chamber of Commerce, thus adding a fourth non-governmental organization to the three already established in that category by the Council on June 21, see ESC (III), pp. 112 ff. This move was sponsored by the United States.↩
- On June 21 ECOSOC established a standing committee known as the Committee on Arrangements for Consultations with Non-Governmental Organizations and it was given the official short title of “Council NGO Committee”; see ESC (II), p. 320. The composition of this committee was made Up of the President of the Economic and Social Council and four members; these were to be assisted by the United Nations Assistant Secretaries-General for Economic and Social Affairs. The Committee was to perform functions related to listing non-governmental organizations eligible for relationship with the Council and generally to perform in a liaison capacity.↩
- This constitutes Part IV of the report on which the Economic and Social Council based its decisions of June 21; see ESC (II), p. 321.↩
- See Annex I, p. 516.↩