Judgments of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labor Organization Upon Complaints Made Against the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: On November 30, 1955, the Legal Adviser of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) transmitted to the Court a resolution of the 42d session of die UNESCO Executive Board dated November 25, 1955, under which the Board, acting within the framework of Article XII of the Statute of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labor Organization (ILO), had decided to challenge the decisions rendered by the Tribunal on April 26, 1955, in die Leff, Duberg and Wilcox cases and on October 29, 1955, in the Bernstein case, and to refer die question of their validity to the International Court. The Board had decided to put to die Court die following questions: 1) had die ILO Administrative Tribunal been competent, under Article II of its Statute, to hear the complaints introduced against UNESCO on February 5, 1955, by Messrs. Duberg and Leff and Mrs. Wilcox, and on June 28, 1955 by Mrs. Bernstein: 2) in the case of an affirmative answer to the first question, a) had the Administrative Tribunal been competent to determine whether the power of die UNESCO Director-General not to renew fixed-term appointments had been exercised for the good of the service and the interest of the organization, and b) had die Administrative Tribunal been competent to pronounce on the attitude which the UNESCO Director-General, under the terms of die UNESCO constitution, should maintain in his relations with a member state, particularly as regarded the execution of the policy of the government authorities of that member state; and 3) in any case, what was the validity of the decisions given by die Administrative Tribunal in the four cases in question. Following receipt of die request for an advisory opinion, the Court fixed April 30, 1956, as the time-limit within which written statements might be submitted by any state entitled to appear before the Court, or any international organization considered by the president of die Court as likely to be able to furnish information on the questions referred to the Court, and reserved the rest of the procedure for further decision.

The 26th session of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) officially opened in Montreal on September 20, 1955; the Council itself did not actually begin to meet regularly until November 8, although special preliminary meetings were held on October 25, 26, and 27. The session was concluded on November 29.

The 27th session of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), was held in Montreal from February 21 to March 16, 1956. The preparation of documentation for the Assembly and the Executive Committee occupied a considerable part of the time of the session. A final report on the investigation into the administrative organization and methods of the Secretariat which stated that it was being operated efficiently and economically was approved, as was a recommendation to keep the three year term of the Council and to hold a major session of the Assembly in 1959, with limited sessions in 1957 and 1958 if necessary. Budget estimates were prepared for the three years. Following debate, resolutions were adopted designed to simplify Council work, particularly by making use of standing committees. No recommendation was made, however, on a United Kingdom proposal for the Amendment of the Convention and on the relationship of ICAO with the European Civil Aviation Conference. A considerable number of technical questions came before the Council in reports from the Air Navigation Commission and the Pacific Regional Air Navigation Meeting, and in the air transport field.

The eighth session of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was held in Rome from November 4 through 25, 1955 under the chairmanship of the Right Honorable K. J. Holyoake (New Zealand). The Conference had accepted the proposals submitted by the FAO Council on the organization of the eighth session, and consequently established various commissions to deal with agenda items pertaining to program trends and policy questions in food and agriculture, constitutional and legal questions, and administrative and financial questions. During its discussion of the world food and agricultural situation, the Conference noted that world per capita agricultural production, which had decreased by ten to fifteen percent at the end of World War II, had regained its pre-war level in spite of an increase of nearly 25 percent in population. However, agricultural production had increased more rapidly in advanced countries than in economically under-developed ones, so that per capita production in Asia and Latin America was still below pre-war levels, while surpluses had built up in the more advanced countries. The Conference felt that this situation was due to a failure to expand effective demand for farm products as rapidly as technical developments made it possible to expand production. Although the Conference noted that surplus agricultural commodities had increased more slowly in 1954–1955 than in the two preceding years, it felt that this had been due at least as much to poor crops in some countries as to increased consumption or to a planned reduction of output.

The seventh session of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Asian Advisory Committee was held in Geneva on November 7 and 8, 1955, under the chairmanship of Mr. Maung Maung (government member, Burma). The session was attended by eight government members, four employers' members, and three workers' members, and by observers from the UN and the Food and Agriculture Organization. The Committee agreed that increased credit facilities for agriculture in Asia would contribute to social and economic progress in the region and might also help to increase the volume of international trade; there was need for wide and repid international action to deal with the problem, and it was suggested that the provision of such credit might be assisted through expended activities on the part of existing international financial agencies. The Committee endorsed a resolution adopted at the fifth session of the Permanent Agricultural Committee concerning the scope and nature of ILO contributies to international programs of action for community organization and development, emphasizing that the ILO should take an active part in conferences, seminars and study groups as well as in technical assistance projects designed to promote community development, and should stress the community development approach within its own program of work. In considering ways of accelerating economic development in Asian countries, the Committee emphasized the need for increased capital investment by countries with capital surpluses, so as to ensure that an increase in the rate of capital formation did not encroach on the level of current consumption.

In the introduction to the annual report for 1954–1955 on the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the Director-General of FAO (Cardon) stated that although FAO had many separate projects in the fields of agriculture, economics, fisheries, forestry, and nutrition, the organization had an over-all program, that of improving human well-being by increasing and improving the production, distribution, and utilization of food and other products of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. He stated that progress had been made in unifying and integrating FAO's work since 1) each division of FAO contributed to the five major aspects of the general program, and 2) the work of direct technical advisory assistance for economic development had been more closely integrated with the regular FAO program. In elaborating on his themes of integration, the Director-General stated that “…the need grows more pressing for the closest integration within each receiving government, within each agency, among agencies, and with the like activities of bilateral and other programs”. During the year under review, considerable progress had been made in the more effective association of FAO's work with that of other international organizations.

During the period from March 29 to June 6, 1956, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development made eight loans in seven countries. A loan of $5 million to the Empresa Electrica Quito, S.A. was announced by the Bank on March 29, to help finance hydroelectric and thermal power projects near Quito, Ecuador. The total cost of the projects, which were expected to nearly triple the supply of power to Quito, was estimated at $9 million. The Bank of America N.T. & S.A. participated in the loan, without the Bank's guarantee, to the extent of $197,000. The loan, the Bank's second in Ecuador, was for a period of 20 years at an annual interest of 4% percent, including the Bank's commission; amortization was to begin on August 1, 1959. The loan was guaranteed by the government of Ecuador.

The Governing Body of the International Labor Organization (ILO) held its 132d session in Geneva from June 1–2 and on July 29, 1956 under the chairmanship of Mr. A. H. Brown (Canada). After a discussion the Governing Body requested the Director-General to submit law and practice reports to the 133d session on the following subjects: 1) conditions of work of fishermen; 2) organization of occupational health services in places of employment; and 3) collaboration between public authorities and employers' and workers' organizations at industrial and national levels. In addition, the 133d session was asked to consider as a law and practice report a report on hours of work which had already been submitted along with the conclusions of a special committee and additional information which the Office had available. The Director-General was also requested to prepare a report on technical assistance. The conclusions of the nineteenth report of the Committee on Freedom of Association and certain proposals to facilitate committee procedure were adopted. A reservation to these proposals was made by the delegate from the Soviet Union who felt they would result in slowing further the Committee's already cumbersome working methods.

At the request of the government of Peru, the International Monetary Fund extended for one year a stand-by credit agreement which enabled Peru to draw up to $12.5 million from the Fund. At the same time, Peru renewed a stabilization agreement with the United States Treasury which permitted drawings up to $12.5 million, and a stabilization credit of $5 million granted by the Chase National Bank of New York. In announcing the agreements, the government of Peru emphasized its firm intention to follow sound fiscal and monetary policies in maintaining freedom of exchange.

The tenth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development was held in Istanbul, Turkey from September 12 to 16, 1955, under the chairmanship of Ahmed Zaki Saad (Governor for Egypt). Two of the five plenary sessions were held jointly with the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, and on September 15 an informal panel discussion was held on the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1956 was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on June 29, 1956. The world payments situation had improved during the year under review, the report stated; restrictions had been further relaxed, the transferability of important currencies had been extended, and discrimination, especially that resulting from bilateral arrangements, had had less influence on the direction of trade. Progress in extending multilateral trade and payments had thus been maintained, although during the year there had been no addition to the list of Fund members which had established formal convertibility of their currencies. While in general postwar investment programs had brought good returns, inflationary pressures were still strong in a number of countries, the report stated, and they had not always been kept under effective control. The report noted with satisfaction a greater readiness to take corrective or preventive measures, and that the value of flexible monetary and fiscal policies as a major means of achieving and maintaining stability was increasingly recognized. In assessing the future development of the generally encouraging world payments situation, the report cited the following relevant factors which because of their tendency to change from year to year made accurate prediction difficult: 1) the important part played in the international balance of payments by the expenditures abroad of the United States government; 2) the fact that countries whose export trade consisted mainly of primary products were especially subject to variations in export earnings; and 3) the problem of disposing of surpluses of agricultural products.

The annual report of the Director-General (Morse) of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to the 39th session of the ILO Conference emphasized the effects of technological change on social patterns. The Director-General stated that in the economically under-developed countries where industrialization was proceeding at a rapid pace, vast numbers of persons had been uprooted from their traditional ways of life, and communal and family ties had weakened in the new industrial societies. In the industrially advanced countries, the Director General continued, the expansion of industry had constantly affected various aspects of the social life of the people, such as their consumption habits and their leisure time; he maintained that the progress of technology and economic organization had made industry an increasingly intricate mechanism, with the result that even the skilled worker comprehended less and less of the total process anddeveloped a feeling of helplessness in the face of industrial forces. According to the DirectorGeneral, if no means were found of giving a real social significance to industrial work in the industrialized countries, the danger of violence and turmoil would be increased rather than lessened by the growth of industry. The Director-General felt that the ILO had a special responsibility for dealing with the problems of social relationships and institutional growth. He asserted that ILO's regular program would help to fulfill this responsibility and he noted ILO's work on cooperative organization and the activities of the industrial committees as examples of the way the organization had approached these problems in the past. He suggested three main lines of development for ILO's future work in this field: i) to increase awareness throughout the world of the implications for social policy of new industrial processes, such as the application of automation in industry and the industrial uses of atomic energy; 2) to establish a workers' education program which would provide practical training for the workers in different countries in how to deal rationally and effectively with their own social problems; and 3) to promote better labor-management relations.

The International Monetary Fund approved a proposal by the government of Chile to make certain fundamental changes in that country's exchange system, effective April 16, 1956. According to a press release the new exchange system replaced a complex structure of multiple rates and import licensing regulations, and established an exchange market in which the rate for commercial imports and exports, government transactions and some invisible transactions would be responsive to supply and demand forces. There would continue to be a second exchange market for other invisible transactions. At the same time the Fund entered into a one year stand-by credit agreement which enabled Chile to purchase up to $35 million in currencies held by the Fund. In addition, other Chilean arrangements provided for credits of $30 million from private banks in the United States and an exchange agreement with the United States Treasury in the amount of $10 million. These resources were intended to assist the Chilean authorities in their administration of an exchange reform, accompanied by a comprehensive program of fiscal and monetary measures directed toward economic stability. The Fund stated that it intended to remain in close touch with the Chilean authorities regarding the new exchange system.

The ninth session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly was held in Montreal from May 31 through June 13, 1955.1 Representatives from 53 contracting states, and observers from the Federal Republic of Germany, the UN, and the International Labor Organization were present at the session at which Brigadier C. Stephen Booth (Canada) was elected President. Following statements by various delegations, the delegates considered the provisional agenda consisting of eighteen items; the first seventeen were adopted without discussion, but a debate developed on the last item, sponsored by the United Kingdom, which proposed that various amendments involving changes in the higher direction of ICAO be made in the ICAO Convention. It was pointed out that if this item were included in the agenda, Rule 10 (d) requiring that proposals for an amendment to the Convention be submitted to member states at least 90 days before the opening of the session would have to be suspended. The United Kingdom representative declared that his delegation was more interested in having a review of the future organization and methods of ICAO take place than in proposing specific amendments to the Convention; therefore, if it were the general wish of the delegates, he would withdraw his request for the discussion of specific amendments on the understanding that the Assembly would take up such a review under the agenda item dealing with the working methods of the Council. This proposal was unanimously adopted by the Assembly, after which the Assembly unanimously approved a proposal of France, the United Kingdom and United States to add the following item to the agenda: “The application of the Federal Republic of Germany for membership in the Organization”.

A number of meetings sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) were held or scheduled during the period under review: I) the newly-formed International Advisory Committee on Marine Sciences met for its first session in Tokyo on October 24 and 25, 1955 to discuss international cooperation in the field of oceanography; 2) biologists from nine countries attended a meeting in Paris from December 12 to 16, 1955, and recommended a plan of action to UNESCO which would encourage international or regional research on normal and abnormal cell growth; 3) a five-day meeting of experts from thirteen countries was held in Paris beginning February 6, 1956 to study the possible need for new international arrangements governing the exchange of publications to replace the existing Brussels Convention; 4) a group of educators met in Atlantic City, New Jersey from February 13 to 21, 1956, under the joint sponsorship of UNESCO and the American Educational Research Association, to discuss problems of educational research and international exchange of research information; 5) a group of scientists was scheduled to meet in Ceylon beginning March 19, 1956 to study problems of humid tropical regions; 6) a ten-day regional conference on the teaching of social sciences was held in Rio de Janeiro beginning March 5, 1956; and 7) the first international conference devoted exclusively to the question of the professional training of journalists was scheduled to be held in Paris from April 9 to 13, 1956.

The eleventh annual session of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Administrative Council was held in Geneva from April 25 to May 19, 1956 under the chairmanship of Mohamed Nazir Mirza (Pakistan). The Council decided on a tentative program of ITU conferences which included 1) the Plenipotentiary Conference and the Administrative Radio Conference, to be held together in 1959; and 2) the Administrative Telephone and Telegraph Conference, to be held in Geneva toward the end of 1958, with the final dates to be set by the Plenary Assemblies in September and December of 1956.

40th session: The 40th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Executive Board was held in Montevideo, Uruguay on December 11, 1954, under the chairmanship of Dr. Arcot L. Mudaliar (India). The Board approved a few drafting amendments to its Rules of Procedure as a result of amendments made to the Constitution by the eighth session of the General Conference; it postponed further discussion of drafting amendments to the rules until the Board's 41st session. After electing the chairmen for the finance commission, the program commission and the external relations commission, the Board requested its Bureau to submit proposals on membership to the permanent commissions to its next session. The Board authorized the Director-General to continue consultations with the Organization of American States (OAS) in regard to a regional conference in Latin America in 1956 on the extension of free and compulsory school education, and if possible, to prepare and convene such a conference in Brazil in the fall of 1955 in association with OAS.

The Governing Body of the International Labor Organization (ILO) held its 130th session in Geneva from November 15 through 19, 1955, under the chairmanship of Mr. A. H. Brown (Canada). After deciding that the 40th session of the ILO Conference should open in Geneva on June 5, 1957, and noting that, in addition to the regular agenda items, the questions of forced labor, weekly rest in commerce and offices, and living and working conditions of indigenous populations in independent countries were likely to be carried over from the 39th session, the Governing Body considered several documents submitted to it by the Director-General (Morse) relating to possible further agenda items for the 40th session. The Governing Body, after some discussion, decided to add to the agenda two new items: 1) discrimination in the field of employment and occupation, and 2) conditions of employment of plantation workers.

Executive Board The 43d session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Executive Board was held in Madrid from April 9 to 19, 1956 under the Chairmanship of Sir Arcot L. Mudaliar. The Board decided to postpone consideration of the report of the Director General covering the activities of UNESCO in 1955 until the July session, at which time the report for the first six months of 1956 could also be discussed. A preliminary report on the activities of the first three months of 1956 was noted with satisfaction.

The Executive and Liaison Committee of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) held its annual session at Lugano, Switzerland from May 2 to 13, 1955, under the chairmanship of Mr. Lemmens, Director General of Posts of Belgium; the session was attended by representatives of nineteen countries and by observers from several interested international organizations. Among the proposals submitted by the Committee to the Ottawa Congress to be held in 1957 was a draft article outlining the procedure to be followed for the presentation of draft and substantive proposals to future sessions of the Congress by administrations of member countries of UPU. If accepted by the Ottawa Congress, the article would supplement and amend the provisions of the UPU Convention and its Detailed Regulations. After considering the suggestion submitted by the UN Secretariat to the effect that such expressions in the UPU Convention as “colonies” and “protectorates” be replaced by ones like “trust territories” and “non-self-governing territories” which were the expressions used in the UN Charter and in the resolutions of the main organs of the UN, the Committee in part agreed to the UN recommendation and proposed to the Ottawa Congress that it make certain changes in the wording of the Convention. In regard to the Italian proposal that the trust territory of Somaliland under Italian administration be admitted to UPU, the Committee recommended that the Ottawa Congress approve the Italian request.