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

IO Files: US/A/C.6/13

Memorandum of Conversation

restricted

[New York,] November 5, 1946.

Participants:	Dr. Roberto Jimenez, Chairman of Committee VI
	Mr. Kerno, Assistant Secretary-General
	Mr. Yuen-li Liang, Secretary of the Committee
	Dr. Shih-Shun Liu, China
	Mr. Charles Fahy
	Mr. John Maktos
	Miss Elizabeth Brown

After the first meeting of Committee VI, November 2, 1946, Mr. Fahy convened an informal meeting in the delegates’ lounge to discuss the United States’ proposal on codification of international law.²² He outlined the United States’ position briefly and stated that the United States would be pleased to have China sponsor the proposal jointly with the United States. He added that he had discussed the proposal informally with Sir Hartley Shawcross of the United Kingdom who had indicated his general agreement but that the United States was not asking United Kingdom to co-sponsor its proposal.

Mr. Kerno said that although the Secretariat²³ would have preferred to have the subject of codification of international law referred to it for study and report to the next session of the General Assembly, he was not opposed to the idea of a committee, however, he emphasized that such a committee should be governmental rather than composed of private experts. He felt that the United States’ proposal was a sound one. Mr. Liang stated that he had not had enough time to study the written proposal thoroughly, he questioned the number of members (seven) on the special committee. Mr. Fahy told him that this part of our proposal could easily be modified. Dr. Liu did not make any direct comments on the United States’ proposal but said he felt sure that China would be happy to serve as a joint sponsor of the proposal with the United States.²⁴

22. This item, referred by the General Assembly to the Sixth Committee on October 31, was not formally considered by the Committee until November 20 at which time it was directed to the attention of Sub-Committee 1 of the Committee (United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, First Session, Second Part, Sixth Committee, pp. 100 and 101; hereafter cited as GA(I/2), Sixth Committee).
23. It may be noted that the Secretariat had submitted to the Sixth Committee a memorandum on the history of public international efforts to codify international law; see ibid., pp. 227 ff., annex 13.
24. United Nations documentation relating to the legislative history of the joint United States-Chinese resolution is as follows: Text of the proposed resolution, ibid., p. 236, annex 13a; report of Sub-Committee 1 to the Sixth Committee, ibid., p. 239, annex 13d; discussion of the sub-committee’s report by the Sixth Committee on December 6, ibid., pp. 165 ff.; the Report of the Sixth Committee to the General Assembly, United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, First Session, Second Part, Plenary Meetings, p. 1516, annex 58 (hereafter cited as GA(I/2), Plenary); proceedings in the General Assembly concerning the passage of the resolution on December 11, ibid., pp. 1128 ff.; text of the resolution (Resolution 94 (I)), 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, p. 187 (hereafter cited at GA(I/2), Resolutions).