Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, The United Nations; The Western Hemisphere, Volume II

IO Files

United States Delegation Position Paper

confidential

[Paris,] November 14, 1951.

SD/A/C.4/90/Rev. 1

Question of the Full Participation of Italy in the Work of the Trusteeship Council

the problem

By resolution 310 (VIII), the Trusteeship Council requested the General Assembly to include in its agenda the question of the full participation of Italy in the work of the Council. The Council has already granted Italy full participation short of the right to vote, a right which is restricted to United Nations Members. What position should the United States take on this question?

recommendations

1. The Delegation should express the view of the United States that Italy could acquire full participation in the Trusteeship Council (i.e., the right to vote) only through:

(a) admission of Italy to membership in the United Nations; or

(b) amendment to Article 86 of the Charter.

2. The Delegation should take the position that the United States will not be fully satisfied with any arrangement short of full membership of Italy in the United Nations.

3. The Delegation should, if practicable, and if agreed to by Italy, sponsor or support in the Fourth Committee action to have the General Assembly request the Security Council to reconsider Italy’s application as a special case in view of Italy’s responsibilities under the Trusteeship Agreement for Somaliland. In the event that this action is undertaken, the Delegation should endeavor to have the Committee consider the matter at the beginning of the Session and before any general discussion of the membership question arises in the Committee I.

4. However, in the event that full participation of Italy in the Trusteeship Council is not accomplished through its admission to membership in the United Nations, and if an amendment to Article 86 providing for such full participation is proposed and is desired by Italy, the Delegation should vote for it.

comment

Trusteeship Council resolution 310 (VIII), requesting inclusion of this item in the General Assembly agenda, was introduced by Argentina and adopted by the Council by a vote of 9 (US)–1(USSR)–2(UK–NZ).

Italy falls short of full participation in the Trusteeship Council only by lack of the right to vote, a right presently restricted to United Nations Members. Article 89 of the Charter provides that “each Member of the Trusteeship Council shall have one vote”; and Article 86 provides that “the Trusteeship Council shall consist of the following Members of the United Nations: (a) those Members administering Trust Territories” etc. Thus the admission of Italy to membership in the United Nations would automatically make her a member of the Trusteeship Council with, of course, all the rights of Members; including the right to vote. This solution would obviously be preferable from the point of view of Italy to a solution which would limit her participation in the United Nations to full participation in the Trusteeship Council. The United States has supported and will continue to support strongly the admission of Italy to membership in the United Nations, and will not be fully satisfied until this objective is achieved.

Insofar as tactics at the Sixth General Assembly are concerned, there would be considerable merit in having the question of Italian membership raised in the Fourth Committee in connection with “The Question of the Full Participation of Italy in the Work of the Trusteeship Council”. A resolution adopted by the Fourth Committee according to which the General Assembly would request the Security Council to reconsider Italy’s application in view of its responsibilities under the Trusteeship Agreement should help to strengthen the position that Italy should be considered “as a special case” by the Security Council. It could be argued that, above and beyond the declarations of the General Assembly since 1947 that Italy is fully qualified for admission, the General Assembly has granted and Italy has accepted special United Nations responsibilities in connection with the operation of the trusteeship system. Italy is seriously handicapped in discharging these responsibilities if it does not have full voting participation in the Trusteeship Council, in the General Assembly, under whose general supervision the Trusteeship Council works, and perhaps in other United Nations bodies.

Full participation of Italy in the Trusteeship Council might also be obtained by amending Article 86. The first sentence of paragraph 1 could be revised to read: “The Trusteeship Council shall consist of the following states.” (“states” being substituted for “Members of the United Nations”). Sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph 1 could be changed to read: “those states administering trust territories …” (“states” being substituted for “Members”). Probably sub-paragraph (c) would also have to be revised to read: “as many other Members elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly as may be necessary to ensure that the total number of members of the Trusteeship Council is equally divided between those states which administer trust territories and those which do not.” (The phrase “Members of the United Nations” being replaced by “states”.)

As amendments to the Charter must be adopted by a vote of two-thirds of the Members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two-thirds of the Members of the United Nations, including all the permanent members of the Security Council, amendment to Article 86 would be not only a less satisfactory solution than admission of Italy to the United Nations but also at least as difficult to achieve.

As action to amend Article 86 would be less satisfactory than the admission of Italy to membership in the United Nations and would be unnecessary if Italy had full membership, consideration of any proposal for amendment should be delayed until a decision has been reached on the membership question.