EVERYMAN'S HANDY GUIDE TO U.N.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 365, 21 June 1946, Page 30

EVERYMAN'S HANDY GUIDE TO U.N.

HE United Nations rule the world. Do you understand how? You should. Here is an attempt by "The New Yorker" to explain how the machinery works.

OW do you know you can’t master the U.N. setup? Follow these simple instructions and astound your friends. Before anybody leaves the room, we’d like to point out that it is indeed U.N., not U.N.O. "Organisation" is a word that keeps popping up’ in the Charter, but it is not part of the official name; officials frown on it, and they regard the spoken word "Uno" with open revulsion. U.N. is just as easy to get used to, they say, as U.S. or O.K., so why be difficult? The U.N. began as a wartime alliance, expressed in the terms of a document known as the Declaration by United Nations, which was signed in Washington’on January 1, 1942, and pledged the 26 signatory nations to continue co-operating after the war. Since then 19 additional nations have signed it. The Charter was roughed out at Dumbarton Oaks, expanded at Yalta and after heavy revision, signed last June at San Francisco by a total of 50 nations. Poland, No. 51, signed a few months later. The Charter came into force only when the Big Five and a majority of the other nations had, in the words of the Charter’s authors, made their "deposit of ratifications’" in Washington. This happy day came on October 24, 1945, when the U.S.S.R. deposited the 29th ratification; the United States deposited its ratification on August 8, ahead of everyone else. The last nation to come in was Belgium, on DeCember 27. The Principal Organs The U.N. Charter is the constitution of an organisation-there’s that word!to preserve peace and, not to quibble over incomplete comparatives, "to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom." It establishes the tundamental structure of the U.N. and has been and will be implemented by an ever-growing corpus of procedural rules and regulations, precedents, and so on. What are known as the principal

organs of the U.N. are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. The General Assembly is the basic organ of the U.N., a sort of parliament in which all the nations have an equal voice, and its functions, like those of the spleen, tend to be advisory and routine. The Security Council has the primary responsibility of putting down aggression and maintaining. peace. The other organs are subordinate to these two chief organs, with the International Court of Justice, or great toe, having the largest measure of autonomy. The Trusteeship Council will administer non-self-governing territories, and the Secretariat is described by its own officials as being in a primitive stage. The Economc and Social Council has 18 members, elected by the Assembly for three-year terms. Its first big-time activity will be the International Health Conference, which is planning to convene on June 19, possibly in Paris. The International Court of Justice is the successor to the League of Nations Permanent Court of International Justice, The new court’s 15 judges (nineyear terms) will sit permanently at The Hague. One of the judges is an American, Green H. Hackworth, who was not invented by Sinclair Lewis. No Racial Barriers Any position in the U.N. may be held by either a man or a woman, without regard to race, language, or religion. The U.N. has no flag and no currency. Salaries are paid in the coin of the country acting as host to U.N. headquarters (i.e. the United States), so they will be in dollars, except in the case of the judges of the International Court of Justice, who will be paid in guilders. The U.N. budget has to be approved by the General Assembly. Costs are apportioned according to ability to pay (it’s not like poker); this involves a nice weighing of national income, national per-capita (continued on next page)

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income, wartime dislocation of economy, and other ponderables. The budget and all other administrative headaches are dealt with by Trygve Lie, Secretary-General of the U.N., who gets $20,000 a year in salary, $20,000 a year for "hospitality" and a house, if he can find one. The house is to be adequately furnished and he is to have a staff of servants. In addition to his administrative duties, he has the important function of bringing to the attention of the Security Council, in the event that nobody else does, "any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security." One Nation, One Vote The General Assembly has, naturally, 51 member nations, each of which has only one vote, but each is entitled to send a delegation of five representatives and five alternates to every session, plus as many advisers and stenographers as it thinks it needs. The U.N. pays the travelling expenses of up to five representatives or alternates, but their salaries are paid by the countries they represent, and these vary. Stettinius, for example, got $20,000 a year. The Liberian delegate probably gets less. Paul Henri Spaak, the current president of the Assembly, gets no U.N. salary; he makes do with whatever he gets from Belgium. A president is to be elected for each of the regular sessions, which are to begin annually on the first Tuesday after September 2 and last until all business is disposed of. Special session$ may be called by the Secretary-General with the approval of two-thirds of the member nations. A> member more than two years in arrears in its financial contributions may not vote unless, in the judgment of the Assembly, it has been unable to pay up because of circumstances beyond its control. Two-thirds of the members present and voting constitute a decisive majority when the Assembly passes on important questions. On other questions, a simple majority will suffice. The Assembly may discuss anything within the scope of the Charter, except that it may not make a recommendation on a dispute already before the Security Council. It will probably stick to long-term problems of international economics, education, and goodwill. A Tough Baby The Security Council is a much tougher baby to explain. Any member nation of the U.N. may bring a dispute before it, and the Council itself may take measures in a big way to deal with any situation that turns up. It may resort to force to preserve peace, and all members of the U.N. are pledged to carry out its decisions. The theory of the Council is that it will function continuously forevermore, and it is mandatory that each member nation have a representative at headquarters at all times, ready to hop into his seat. Each member nation of the Council (not the Assembly) assigns one permanent representative and each nation has one vote, but its permanent representative may be replaced by another representative of his government at any time, and the substitute may then speak and vote (Byrnes batting for Stettinius at the New York meetings; Gromyko for Vishinsky). The Security Council has 11 members: the Big Five, who are permanent, and six who dre non-permanent; three of

these-Egypt, Mexico, and the Nether-lands-have been elected for one year, and three-Australia, Brazil, and Poland -for two years. In the future, three nonpermanent members will be elected every year to two-year terms. They may not be re-elected for consecutive terms. The presidency of the Council is to rotate monthly according to the English alphabetical order of the names of the member nations. Australia came first, then Brazil. There were no meetings during Brazil’s month, so that the Brazilian never had a chance. China followed on May 17. Hence Dr. Quo. If Peace is Threatened In voting on procedural matters, an affirmative vote of any seven member nations is required to carry a motion. On other matters, the seven votes required must include those of the representatives of the permanent members, the Big Five. This was the wrinkle, inserted at Yalta, which led to the stir in San Francisco and again in London, where the U.S.S.R. "vetoed" consideration of the United States’ proposal for dealing with the Syria-Lebanon dispute. In discussions affecting a U.N. member who is not a member of the Council, that member may participate, but without voting. Furthermore, a nation which isn’t a U.N. member must be invited to participate in discussions of situations or disputes in which it has an interest: Spain could be asked to pull up a chair. If the Security Council decides to act in the face of a threat to peace or an actual breach of the peace, it may give effect to its decision by interrupting economic relations, diplomatic relations, rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, "and other means of communication," or it may proceed to "demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea or land forces of members," which all members are obliged to make available. To carry out such action, the Council has a Military Staff Committee, consisting of the Chiefs of Staff, or their representatives, of the Big Five; in time it will have its own earmarked contingents of armed forces. The Military Staff Committee has been meeting during the Council’s sessions, and getting along a good deal more cheerfully.