mendatory body. It is meant to focus attention on problems and to point out to governments and to the specialized agencies the way to their solution-in short, to provide a sense of direction and coherence to world economic and social policies. Ultimately, whatever action is taken must be taken by governments or by the specialized agencies.

One of the most important functions of the Council is its continuing scrutiny of the activities of the specialized agencies to see that they are pulling together as a team and that their cooperative efforts contribute most effectively to the realization of the purposes of the United Nations.

The Council has as yet scarcely begun its substantive work. Many months have had to be spent in setting the stage-in establishing the technical commissions, in working out relationships with the specialized agencies, and in taking many other requisite preparatory steps. It was not until 1948 that the Council was able to devote most of its energies to central questions. For the first time the Council carefully surveyed the world economic situation. Also for the first time the Council reviewed in detail the annual reports of the specialized agencies. A significant development, illustrative of the Council's position of leadership, was its action in calling upon the entire machinery of the United Nations system-governments, specialized agencies, and commissions to take joint and prompt action to meet the world food crisis.

The United States is confident that the Economic and Social Council can and will become the world forum for focusing attention on key international economic and social problems and proposing constructive solutions for them.

TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

One of the principal aims of the United Nations is the promotion of the well-being and advancement of more than 200,000,000 people who have not yet achieved self-government. These aims, set forth in the Charter "Declaration Regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories,” relate to all such people. In addition, part of this total number reside in trust territories to which trusteeship principles of the Charter apply. Ten trust territories, all formerly under League of Nations mandate, have been placed under the international trusteeship system. These territories contain a total population of approximately 15 million people. The Trusteeship Council, one of the principal organs of the

United Nations, oversees the administration of these trust territories. Like the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, the Council examines reports and petitions. Moreover, it sends visiting missions to investigate conditions in the territories under its supervision.

The Trusteeship Council has held three sessions at Lake Success and has sent two missions to trust territories. It now has 12 members, half of which administer trust territories and half of which do not. The six administering authorities are Australia, Belgium, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States; the nonadministering members are China, Costa Rica, Iraq, Mexico, the Philippines, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Of the latter six, China and the U. S. S. R. are permanent members, while the remaining four are elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly.

The Council meets in regular session twice each year. At these sessions it examines reports submitted by administering authorities on the basis of a questionnaire which it formulated, acts upon petitions from inhabitants of the trust territories and other interested parties, and reviews the reports of its visiting missions.

Nine territories formerly under League of Nations mandate have been placed under the trusteeship system by agreements negotiated between the administering authorities and the General Assembly. A tenth former mandate, now known as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and under United States administration, has been designated a strategic area through an agreement approved by the Security Council. None of these trusteeship agreements can be altered or amended without the consent of the administering authority and the approval of the General Assembly or Security Council. Although the Charter provides that the United Nations itself may administer a trust territory, the 10 trusteeship agreements thus far approved designate Members of the United Nations as administering authorities. As a result the Trusteeship Council plays a supervisory rather than an administrative role in regard to the present trust territories.

Six of the ten trust territories are in Africa. They contain 93 percent of the people under the trusteeship system, some quite primitive and others well advanced. Two thirds of these Africans live in the East African trust territories of Tanganyika, under British administration, and Ruanda-Urundi, under Belgian administration. The trust territories of British Cameroons, British Togoland, French Cameroons, and French Togoland are in West Africa. In the Pacific area are the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, under United States administration; New Guinea, administered by Australia ; Western Samoa, administered by New Zealand; and Nauru, administered

by Australia on behalf of New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

The Trusteeship Council reports on its activities to the General Assembly, which has charged its Fourth Committee with the examination of trusteeship problems. It also cooperates with other United Nations organs and specialized agencies on common problems.

The Trusteeship Council completed most of its organizational work by the end of the Second Session on May 5, 1948, and, upon special request of the General Assembly, drafted a statute for the City of Jerusalem. When the Third Session of the Council opened on June 16, it was ready therefore to undertake its assigned task of supervising the administration of the trust territories. An unexpectedly long session resulted, during which the Council examined in detail reports by the administering authorities on New Guinea, Ruanda-Urundi, and Tanganyika. A special representative of each territory was present to answer questions from Council members. The Council also considered 13 petitions, completed arrangements for sending to East Africa its first regular visiting mission, examined a report on South West Africa referred to it by the General Assembly, and dealt further with a draft statute for Jerusalem.

Although Soviet membership on the Trusteeship Council is provided for in the Charter, a representative of the Soviet Union took his place at the Council table for the first time in April 1948. The effect of Soviet participation was to disrupt the cooperative spirit which had characterized the sessions of the Council during its formative period.

The United States has been an active member of the Trusteeship Council from its beginning. Francis B. Sayre, the United States. Representative, served initially as President of the Council, until the third session opened in June 1948, when Liu Chieh of China was elected to succeed him. At first a nonadministering authority, the United States became an administering authority on July 18, 1947, when the trusteeship agreement for the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands entered into force. Because this territory is a strategic area, the Security Council and the Trusteeship Council are now attempting to work out suitable procedure for the application of the trusteeship system.

In setting standards for the progress of the 15 million inhabitants of the trust territories, the work of the Trusteeship Council cannot but influence the administration of other non-self-governing peoples. The well-being of the latter is the primary concern of the declaration regarding non-self-governing territories contained in chapter XI of the Charter. To promote the principles of this declaration, the Gen

eral Assembly has established a special committee to examine the information received on the administration of non-self-governing territories and to make appropriate recommendations thereon.

The United States played an important role in formulating the declaration and the two trusteeship chapters of the Charter and has consistently and actively supported the principles upon which the trusteeship system is based. Its record of achievement in the administration of its own non-self-governing territories has continued to receive favorable comment. The influence which the United States has thus gained was used effectively in the discussions of the Trusteeship Council, the Special Committee on Information, and the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly.

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF

JUSTICE

By the Charter, the International Court of Justice is designated the "principal judicial organ of the United Nations". It functions in accordance with a statute which is annexed to, and forms an integral part of, the Charter.

Parties to the Statute

All Members of the United Nations are ipso facto parties to the Statute of the International Court of Justice. A state which is not a Member of the United Nations may become a party to the Statute on conditions determined in each case by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the Security Council.

In response to an inquiry of the Swiss Federal Government, the General Assembly, on December 11, 1946, on a recommendation of the Security Council of November 15, 1946, determined the conditions on which Switzerland might become a party to the Statute. The conditions would be fulfilled by deposit with the Secretary-General of the United Nations of an instrument containing: (a) acceptance of the Statute; (b) acceptance of all the obligations of a Member of the United Nations under article 94 of the Charter; and (c) an undertaking to contribute to the expenses of the Court such equitable amount as the General Assembly shall assess from time to time after consultation with the Swiss Government. On July 28, 1948, the Swiss Fed

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eral Council, duly authorized, deposited an instrument dated July 6, 1948, declaring that the Swiss Confederation accepted the three conditions. The General Assembly on October 8, 1948, adopted without objection the recommendations of the Security Council laying down the formal conditions for the participation of such nonmember states in the election of the judges of the Court. Switzerland, accordingly, participated in the election held at the Third Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Cases Before the Court

During the year the International Court of Justice gave an advisory opinion on a question relating to admission of new Members which had been requested by the General Assembly at its Second Regular Session in 1947. In effect the Court said that a Member of the United Nations called upon to express itself on the admission of an applicant state for membership was not juridically entitled to make its consent dependent on conditions not expressly provided by the membership article of the Charter.

The Corfu Channel case was also before the Court during 1948. The case arose out of the fact that on October 22, 1946, two British destroyers struck mines in Albanian territorial waters in the Corfu Channel. The explosions caused damage to the vessels and loss of life. Certain preliminary questions were disposed of by the Court during the year. In November, at The Hague, the Court opened public hearings on the merits of the case.

Compulsory Jurisdiction

In 1948 the following states accepted general compulsory jurisdiction of the Court (in some instances a renewal of a previously existing declaration), as provided in article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute: Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Honduras, Pakistan, and Switzerland.

Election of Judges

On October 22, 1948, the General Assembly and the Security Council, by an absolute majority of votes, re-elected the following five judges of the Court, whose initial terms of three years expire February 5, 1949: Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha of Egypt, Hsu Mo of China, John Erskine Read of Canada, Bohdan Winiarski of Poland, and Milovan Zoricic of Yugoslavia.