Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, The United Nations; The Western Hemisphere, Volume II

501.BE/1–2649

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

Washington, August 15, 1949.

No. 264

The Secretary of State refers to Despatch No. 92 from the United States representative to the United Nations, dated January 26, 1949, transmitting to the Secretary of State a note from the Secretary General of the United Nations, dated January 21, 1949.¹ The note from the Secretary General called attention inter alia to General Assembly Resolution 222 (III), of November 3, 1948, on the Cessation of the Transmission of Information under Article 73(e) of the Charter. This resolution points out that while the responsible governments, in General Assembly Resolution 66 (I) of December 14, 1946, enumerated seventy-four territories as falling within the scope of Article 73(e) of the Charter, information on certain of these territories was not provided in 1947 and 1948. The resolution welcomes any advances toward self-government in such territories but requests the responsible governments concerned to inform the United Nations of the changes in the constitutional position and status of such territories which have led these governments to consider unnecessary the further transmission of information and to furnish the Secretary General of the United Nations with the appropriate documents.

In calling attention to this resolution in his communication of January 21, 1949, the Secretary General listed the Canal Zone as one among twelve territories enumerated as non-self-governing in 1946 on which information was not transmitted in 1947 and 1948, and, while noting that certain reservations were made in conjunction with this 1946 enumeration of territories, suggested that “in relevant cases” the information requested by the General Assembly on the changed constitution and status of such territories be transmitted.

In reply to the Secretary General’s note, the United States Representative to the United Nations is requested to transmit a communication along the following lines:

“Having further considered the text of Resolution 222 (III) in the light of the Secretary General’s note of January 21, 1949, the United States believes that the resolution is not applicable of the case of the Canal Zone for the following reasons:

1. “The United States in transmitting information on August 16, 1946 on territories which it administers, including the Canal Zone, made a general reservation that it was doing so ‘on the basis of a purely pragmatic approach’ to the problem of which territories administered by the United States were non-self-governing within the meaning of Article 73(e) of the Charter. This general reservation has been repeated in subsequent years. Moreover, when the enumeration contained in Resolution 66 (I), to which Resolution 222 (III) refers, was considered by the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly on December 11, 1946, the United States Representative requested that the enumeration by the United States of the Canal Zone be followed by a footnote referring to the statement of the Delegation of Panama in the Fourth Committee on November 14, 1946. The Secretary General will recall that on November 14, 1946, the Delegation of Panama contested the action of the United States in transmitting information on the Canal Zone under Article 73(e) of the Charter on the grounds that the territory could not be considered a non-self-governing territory and that sovereignty over the Canal Zone rested in the Republic of Panama.

2. “In omitting the Canal Zone from the list of territories on which it transmitted information in 1947 and 1948 the United States informed the Secretary General of the reason for this omission. On each occasion, the United States called attention to the statement of November 14, 1946, by the Delegation of Panama in the Fourth Committee, and, while reserving its own position, stated that the matter was subject for consultation between the two governments.

3. “Since the United States has at no time claimed that there has been a ‘change in the constitutional position and status’ of the Canal Zone subsequent to the transmission by the United States in August, 1946 of information on the Canal Zone or subsequent to the adoption by the General Assembly of Resolution 66 (I), the request to the Member Governments contained in Paragraph 3 of Resolution 222 (III) is not considered by the United States to be applicable in the case of the Canal Zone.

“The United States takes this opportunity, however, to inform the Secretary General that this year, as in 1947 and in 1948, information is transmitted, pursuant to Article 73(e) of the Charter, on Alaska, American Samoa, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands of the United States but not on the Canal Zone. The explanation is the same as in previous years; namely, that the problem of the status of the Canal Zone in relation to Article 73(e) of the Charter is a subject for further study and consultation on the part of the Government of the United States and of the Republic of Panama.”

1. Neither printed.