Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, General; the United Nations, Volume I

IO Files: US/A/C.2 and 3/2

United States Delegation Working Paper

secret

[New York,] November 21, 1946.

Request of the World Federation of Trade Unions for Change in Arrangements for Consultation With the Economic and Social Council

problem

Mr. Leon Jouhaux, Vice President of the WFTU in a letter of November 12, 1946 to Mr. Spaak⁴⁴ asks that the General Assembly recommend revision of the arrangements for consultation with nongovernmental organizations (agreed upon in the Economic and Social Council on June 21, 1946) so as to give the WFTU

1. The right to submit to the Council questions for insertion in the provisional agenda in accordance with the procedure now applicable to specialized agencies. (This procedure is that the Council, subject to such preliminary consultation as may be necessary, includes on its agenda and the agenda of its commissions items proposed by the General Conference or Executive Board of the specialized agencies.)

2. The right to present written and verbal statements to the Council on all matters of concern to the Federation.

Mr. Jouhaux, acting as delegate for France in a Joint Meeting of Committee 2 and 3 on November 20, asked that the above recommendation be adopted, and was strongly supported by the Soviet Delegate.⁴⁵ The U.S. Delegate, Mr. Stevenson, favored a New Zealand proposal that the Assembly simply draw the attention of the Economic and Social Council to the remarks made in the meeting: “and to the letter of 12 November signed by the vice president of the WFTU.”⁴⁶ This suggestion did not satisfy the Soviet Union. Further discussion was postponed.

The problem is whether we wish to support a recommendation to the Economic and Social Council that the WFTU be granted the additional rights proposed by Mr. Jouhaux.

recommendation

We should strongly oppose any recommendation by the General Assembly to the Economic and Social Council which suggests changes in the arrangements agreed upon for consultation with the WFTU. We should base this opposition on the following grounds:

a. The present arrangements, embodied in the Council’s Resolution of June 21, 1946 confirmed by its Resolution of October 1, 1946,⁴⁷ give the WFTU ample opportunities for consultation with the Economic and Social Council. (See Annex I.) In particular with reference to the new demands of the WFTU, the WFTU now has three possibilities of recommending items for inclusion in the provisional agenda of ECOSOC:

(1) By having one or more members of the United Nations submit the item.

(2) By transmitting a recommendation to the President of the Council or to the Secretary-General (which they may place on the agenda at their discretion.)

(3) By addressing a request to the Committee on Non-governmental Organizations of the Council.

Under existing arrangements the WFTU also has the right to transmit to the Council any memoranda, recommendations or draft resolutions bearing on matters before the Council within the special competence of WFTU and such recommendations will be distributed to the members of the Council in full.

b. The present arrangements have been in force for such a brief period that there is now no basis in experience for questioning their adequacy.

c. The Economic and Social Council is empowered by Article 71 to make the arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organizations, and it is inappropriate for the General Assembly to give the Economic and Social Council instructions on the nature of these arrangements. The Economic and Social Council should be left free to operate under the arrangements which have been agreed upon and which the President of the WFTU, in a meeting on October 2, 1946 with the Council’s NGO Committee,⁴⁸ indicated were satisfactory. (See Annex II.)

[Annex I]

Arrangements for Consultation of Non-Governmental Organizations With the Economic and Social Council⁴⁹

(Report of the Committee on Arrangements for Consultation with Non-Governmental Organizations of June 21, 1946)

1. It is recognized that the nature of the consultations will vary with the character of the organization. Accordingly, it is recommended that in drawing up its recognized list of organizations the Council should so far as possible define the field of interest of each and should distinguish between:

(a) Organizations which have a basic interest in most of the activities of the Council, and are closely linked with the economic or social life of the areas which they represent;

(b) Organizations which have a special competence but are concerned specifically with only a few of the fields of activity covered by the Council;

(c) Organizations which are primarily concerned with the development of public opinion and with the dissemination of information.

2. Organizations in category (a) may designate authorized Representatives to sit as observers at all of the public meetings of the Council. Representatives of these organizations which will include organizations of labour, of management and business, of farmers and consumers, will be entitled to circulate to the various members of the Council written statements and suggestions within their competence. Such communications will be addressed to the Secretariat, which will transmit them to the members of the Council.

3. To insure effective consultation on matters in which organizations have special competence or knowledge, it is recommended that those included in category (a) may be invited by the Council to consult with a standing committee appointed for that purpose, if the Council so desires or the organization requests such consultation. The Chairman of the Standing Committee should be the President of the Council. The representatives of the organizations should be able to participate fully in any consultations of this kind so that the Committee may report to the Council on the basis of a full exchange of views. Upon recommendation of the Standing Committee, the Council as a whole may receive representatives of organizations in category (a) for the purpose of hearing their views.

4. Organizations in categories (b) and (c) may designate authorized representatives to sit as observers at public meetings of the Council. They may submit written statements and suggestions on matters within their competence, and the Secretariat will prepare and distribute a list of all such communications briefly indicating the substance of each. On the request of any member of the Council, a communication will be reproduced in full and distributed. Any lengthy communications will be distributed only if sufficient copies are furnished by the organization concerned.

5. To insure effective consultation on matters in which organizations have special competence or knowledge, it is recommended that those included in categories (b) and (c) may be invited by the Council to consult with a committee appointed for that purpose, if the Council so desires or the organization specifically requests such consultation. Their representatives should be able to participate fully in any consultations of this kind so that the Committee may report to the Council on the basis of a full exchange of views.

[Annex II]

Procedures Established by the Non-Governmental Organizations Committee To Implement the Resolution of the Economic and Social Council of June 21, 1946

The Council NGO Committee pointed out:

1. that the WFTU should receive in advance every Session of the Council copies of its Provisional Agenda and of documents bearing upon the various points of the Agenda.

2. that under the existing Rules of Procedure of the Council, the WFTU had three possibilities of recommending items for inclusion in the Provisional Agenda as follows:

(a) by approaching a Member of the United Nations

(b) by transmitting a recommendation to the President of the Council or to the Secretary-General

(c) by addressing a request to the Council NGO Committee

3. that in line with Part IV, Paragraph 2⁵⁰ of the above-cited Resolution the WFTU as one of the organizations in category (a) would have the right to transmit to the Council any memoranda, recommendations, or draft resolutions bearing on matters before the Council within the special competence of the WFTU and that such communications would be distributed to the Members of the Council in full.

4. that the WFTU could, according to Part IV, Paragraph 3, request the Council NGO Committee to meet with representatives of the WFTU for the purpose of discussing views put forward by the WFTU.

5. that the Council NGO Committee would give most serious consideration to requests by the WFTU to be heard by the Council as a whole, if it is so desired on specific matters of importance within its special competence or knowledge.

6. that the WFTU under the provisions of Part IV, Paragraph 2, would automatically have the right to submit written communications to the Council protesting any decision by the Council NGO Committee, including a decision not to recommend to the Council that it should hear the WFTU on a particular matter.

7. that the Council NGO Committee would make a practice of keeping the Council fully informed about its consultations with the WFTU.

8. that according to Part V, Paragraph 1, the WFTU would normally have an opportunity to consult directly with the various Commissions of the Council.

44. United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, First Session, Second Part, Joint Committee of the Second and Third Committee, pp. 85 and 86, annex 1. (Hereafter cited as GA (I/2), Joint Second and Third Committee.)
45. The French request was made on November 18 at the beginning of the Joint Committee’s consideration of the draft report of the Economic and Social Council to the General Assembly; for the discussion on November 18 and subsequent discussions on November 22, 23, 26, and 27, see GA(I/2), Joint Second and Third Committee, pp. 1 ff.
46. See ibid., p. 96, annex 3a.
47. This refers to Council action extending category (a) status to the International Chamber of Commerce, thus adding a fourth non-governmental organization to the three already established in that category by the Council on June 21, see ESC (III), pp. 112 ff. This move was sponsored by the United States.
48. On June 21 ECOSOC established a standing committee known as the Committee on Arrangements for Consultations with Non-Governmental Organizations and it was given the official short title of “Council NGO Committee”; see ESC (II), p. 320. The composition of this committee was made Up of the President of the Economic and Social Council and four members; these were to be assisted by the United Nations Assistant Secretaries-General for Economic and Social Affairs. The Committee was to perform functions related to listing non-governmental organizations eligible for relationship with the Council and generally to perform in a liaison capacity.
49. This constitutes Part IV of the report on which the Economic and Social Council based its decisions of June 21; see ESC (II), p. 321.
50. See Annex I, p. 516.