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

IO Files: US/A/C.2 and 3/3

United States Delegation Working Paper

secret

[ New York ,] November 24, 1946.

At Saturday’s⁵¹ meeting of Joint Committee 2 and 3, the first part of a USSR resolution concerning the relationship of the WFTU to the Economic and Social Council (see (A/C.2 and 3/10, of Nov. 21)⁵² was adopted by a vote of 22 to 15.

The second part of the USSR resolution, in which the GA would have recommended that the ECOSOC give to the WFTU the right to make oral as well as written statements “on all matters of interest to the Federation”, was rejected by a vote of about 24 to 14. Included among those voting with the USSR in favor of this part of the resolution were Argentina, Chile and Colombia. Venezuela, among others, abstained.⁵³

In the resolution adopted by the Joint Committee the GA recommends that ECOSOC give to the WFTU the unrestricted right, now enjoyed by specialized agencies and Member states not members of ECOSOC, to place items on the Council’s agenda.⁵⁴

The UK, Canada, New Zealand and the US vigorously opposed this resolution on some or all of the following grounds: (1) that it would go beyond the provisions of the Charter (Art. 71); (2) that the arrangements worked out by the Council should be entirely satisfactory to the WFTU and the other three non-governmental organizations presently included in Category A (American Federation of Labor, International Chamber of Commerce, and International Cooperative Alliance); (3) that these arrangements should be given a reasonable trial before the GA raises any question as to their adequacy; and (4) that it was questionable whether it was appropriate under the terms of the Charter (Art. 71) for the GA to attempt to deal with the details of the arrangements to be worked out by the Council for its consultative arrangements with non-governmental organizations. (For additional background information on this subject see Secret document US/A/C.2 and 3/2 of Nov. 21).⁵⁵

Although a roll-call vote was not taken, the many speeches made prior to the vote, as they will be summarized in the Journal, will afford useful guides to attitudes and votes. In general, it was apparent that quite a few Delegations were reluctant to vote against both parts of the USSR resolution. Belgium (Lebeau) had taken the lead in suggesting the desirability of a “compromise” in which the first part would be accepted and the second part rejected.

USDel should make every effort, with the aid of like-minded Delegations, to defeat the USSR resolution, adopted by Joint Committee 2 and 3, when it comes before a Plenary meeting of the GA at some future date. It is vitally important that we rally the necessary support to do this. If we fail in the GA, we might not be able to stave off adoption of the USSR resolution by ECOSOC. Adoption of such a resolution by ECOSOC would seriously weaken the effectiveness of the Council; its agenda might be bogged down with all sorts of items from the WFTU and from other Category A organizations if, in accordance with the general principle of equality of treatment we favor, the same right were extended to other non-governmental organizations in the same category.

Immediately after the Joint Committee had adopted the first part of the USSR resolution, Mr. Stevenson called to the Committee’s attention the fact that there were other non-governmental organizations in Category A and asked whether it would be in order to propose an addition to the resolution just adopted, to the effect that if ECOSOC should grant the unrestricted right to WFTU to place items on the Council’s agenda, the same right should be given to all other Category A organizations.

The Chairman ruled that this would not be in order, but that the US Delegation would be free to submit a separate resolution for consideration at a later meeting.

After the meeting, a separate resolution (see attached) was drafted and submitted to the Secretariat to be circulated. It will come up for discussion at the next meeting of Joint Committee 2 and 3, probably on Tuesday.⁵⁶

This resolution would simply place the GA’s stamp of approval on the ECOSOC principle of treating equally all non-governmental organizations within Category A. This resolution, and the attendant circumstances, will be discussed by Mr. Stevenson at the Delegation meeting Monday morning.

The present intention is to press for favorable action on this resolution in Joint Committee 2 and 3 on Tuesday. In presenting it, Mr. Stevenson would make it very clear that we remain unalterably opposed to the USSR resolution adopted at Saturday’s meeting and that we intend to work toward its defeat in the Plenary meeting of the GA, for reasons already stated. He would argue in favor of adoption of our resolution endorsing ECOSOC’s “equality of treatment” principle, mainly on the ground that we cannot let pass unchallenged the attack made on that principle by the USSR and a few other Delegations. (Although not adaptable for use in an open meeting, there is the further consideration that adoption of our “equality of treatment” resolution would provide a hedge against the possibility that we may not be able to defeat the USSR resolution in the Plenary meeting of the GA).

All political officers can begin immediately to attempt to build up support for defeating the USSR resolution in the Plenary meeting of the GA. After the Delegation meeting Monday morning they will have a clear idea of how best to deal with the proposed US “equality of treatment” resolution.⁵⁷

51. November 23.

52. The operative section of the proposed Soviet resolution read:

    “The General Assembly recommends that the Economic and Social Council grant to the World Federation of Trade Unions:

    1. The right to submit for consideration by the Economic and Social Council, questions intended for inclusion in the provisional agenda in accordance with procedure applied at the present time to specialized agencies;

    2. The right to submit to the Council written and oral communications on all matters of interest to the Federation.” See GA(I/2), Joint Second and Third Committee, pp. 96 and 97, annex 3b, which is United Nations document A/C.2 and 3/10, November 21.

53. The United States vote was recorded against both parts of the proposed Soviet resolution. For the proceedings of the Joint Committee on November 23, see GA(I/2), Joint Second and Third Committee, pp. 15 ff.
54. The resolution as enacted (that is, the first section of the original Soviet proposal) was incorporated by the Joint Committee into a draft report which was being submitted by the Joint Committee to the General Assembly, relating to the Report of the Economic and Social Council to the General Assembly submitted earlier by the Council to the General Assembly; see ibid., pp. 97 ff., annex 3e, with particular reference to the second section on p. 99.
55. The United States Delegation working paper, printed supra.

56. See GA(I/2), Joint Second and Third Committee, p. 97, annex 3 c. The draft resolution read: “The General Assembly.

    Having considered the report of the Economic and Social Council (document A/125) concerning arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations:

    1. Takes note of the action of the Council to place certain non-governmental organizations in category A; and

    2. Expresses agreement with the general principle that all non-governmental organizations in category A should receive equal treatment in respect of consultative arrangements with the Council.”

    This draft was approved by the U.S. Delegation at a meeting on November 25, and at the same time it was agreed that the United States should make every effort to defeat the Soviet resolution (included in the Joint Committee’s report) when it came before the General Assembly (IO Files, document US/A/M/20).

57. For the U.S. statement made by Mr. Adlai Stevenson in offering the U.S. resolution at the meeting of the Joint Committee on November 26, see GA (1/2), Joint Second and Third Committee, p. 23; debate on the resolution is found ibid., pp. 23–30. The resolution was adopted by the Joint Committee on the same date by 19 votes to 13, and 11 abstentions and 11 members absent, and incorporated into the draft report of the Joint Committee on the ECOSOC Report.