12

Membership of the Conference There were representatives of forty-four countries at the Conference, but voting membership was confined to States which had formally adhered to the Constitution. They were 28 in number at the beginning of the Conference, 30 by the end. They are named in the order of their formal acceptance of the Constitution — United Kingdom, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Union of South Africa, Australia, India, Mexico, France, Dominican Republic, Turkey, Egypt, Norway, Canada, China, Denmark, United States of America, Czechoslovakia, Brazil, Lebanon, Greece, Poland, Bolivia, Syria, Haiti, Ecuador, Peru, Philippines, Venezuela, Belgium, Netherlands. , The following countries which had signed the Constitution, but had not formally accepted it, were entitled to be represented by observers with the right to speak but not to vote — Argentine, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Luxemburg, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay and Yugoslavia.. Invitations to attend the Conference were sent to the following eight countries entitled by their membership of the United Nations to be represented by observers. Up to the final date of the Conference these countries had not signed or accepted the UNESCO Constitution— U.S.S.R., Ukraine, Byelo-Russia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Honduras, Paraguay, Salvador.. Special requests to the Conference for permission to be represented by observers were received from Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland, the Spanish Republican Government, and the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. The decision of the United Nations to admit Sweden and Iceland to membership ensured the acceptance of their observers, and the request of Switzerland, whose application for membership of UNESCO has since been approved by the Economic and Social Council, was granted by a special decision of the Conference. The Spanish Republican Government and the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam were invited to send representatives in the capacity of guests, since on legal grounds it was impossible to grant observer status to their representatives. The Soviet Union was not represented at the Conference, and this notable absence occasioned the public expression of regret by the leaders of many delegations. International organizations which sent official observers to the Conference included — The United Nations, the International Labour Organization, the International Bureau of Education, the International Institute