USUN files, “IO; Privileges & Immunities, Delegations (Apr. 1949–1955)”
The Secretary-General of the United Nations (Lie) to the Acting United States Representative at the United Nations (Gross)1
The Secretary-General of the United Nations presents his compliments to the Acting Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations and has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of his note UN–2002/133 of 10 June 1952, concerning the application by Mr. Jiri Stary for a visa to proceed to the Headquarters of the United Nations as a member of the Czechoslovakian Delegation to the fourteenth session of the Economic and Social Council.
The Secretary-General takes note of the opinion of the Secretary of State that, had Mr. Stary not left his prior post on the permanent staff of the Czechoslovakian Representative to the United Nations and departed from the United States on 31 October 1951, it would now have been necessary to require, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Headquarters Agreement, that he depart from the United States. The Secretary-General is unable to take any position as to the applicability of Section 13 of the Headquarters Agreement in the present case, since he is in receipt of no official information from the Government concerned.
It is noted that the Secretary of State also considers that, in refusing a visa to Mr. Stary, the United States is acting within the authority which it reserved to itself by the provisions of the United States Representative’s note of 21 November 1947, making the United States acceptance of the Headquarters Agreement subject to Section 6 of Public Law 357 to the effect that nothing in the Agreement shall be construed as in any way diminishing, abridging, or weakening the right of the United States to safeguard its own security and completely [Page 214] to control the entrance of aliens into any territory of the United States other than the headquarters district and its immediate vicinity. In this connection, however, the Secretary-General notes that, in the event that this provision had been intended to constitute a reservation, it was never considered by the General Assembly nor accepted by it. Accordingly, whether or not it has the effect of conditioning obligations under the Headquarters Agreement is a question for the General Assembly, which adopted the Agreement and authorized the Secretary-General to bring it into force.
- Source text attached to USUN memorandum (Bender) to Department of State (Ingram–UNI), June 17, 1952 (USUN files).↩