Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

Economic and Social
Progress and Promotion
of Human Rights

The Challenge of Present-Day Economic and Social Problems

For a long time hunger, disease, and premature death have

been the lot of men in many parts of the world.

During the last few centuries expanding knowledge and technological progress have given us effective tools to conquer hunger and disease. Yet the fate of the peoples of the world continues to be as precarious as ever. The last few hundred years have brought an extraordinary increase in population in certain parts of the world which has outraced the development of the human and material resources of those areas. Whereas in earlier days of crisis a few millions might have perished as a result of famines and war and unrest, today the well-being of hundreds of millions is in jeopardy.

Something else has changed. The poor and the underprivileged, representing almost two-thirds of the total population of the world, are becoming more fully conscious of their needs. They dimly perceive that it is within the power of man to meet their needs, and they are growing restless as they struggle with misery and despair. As a result they have become more vulnerable to demagogic appeals. This fact is exploited to the full by the false prophets of communism, who hide their imperialist designs behind the promises of a world of plenty. Their appeal to violence in internal and international

relations has become an ever-present threat to peaceful relations within established societies and between them.

The challenge of this situation was clearly set forth by Secretary Acheson when he stated in his address to the fifth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on September 20, 1950:

"We must carry on with our war against want, even as we arm against aggression. We must do these two things at the same time, because that is the only way we can keep constantly before us the whole purpose of what we are doing.

"We have it in our power now, on the basis of the experience of the United Nations and the specialized agencies, and of many member nations, to transform the lives of millions of people, to take them out from under the specter of want, to give people everywhere new hope."

The American people do not stand alone in recognizing this challenge. One of the most encouraging trends in the United Nations is the growing emphasis on economic and social problems. The promotion of "social progress and better standards of life in greater freedom," to quote from the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, has become an end-not a mere promise.

In 1950 the program of technical assistance for economic development was launched by the United Nations in cooperation with the specialized agencies. The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development gave special attention to the problem of domestic and international financing of economic development schemes. Among the major concerns of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council were the promotion of land reform and improvement of land tenure. A large measure of agreement was reached in the Economic and Social Council on measures, domestic and international, to assure high levels of employment and to avoid the specter of unemployment. In the discussion and development of these various projects the accent has been placed on human needs and the best ways of meeting them. Measures to increase production or to facilitate the formation of capital were considered as means of improving living standards generally. Much attention was given to the development of socialwelfare institutions and to the training of leaders in this field. Child health and welfare were among the major preoccupations not only of UNICEF but also of such specialized agencies as WHO and Fao. Basic educational schemes, planned and operated to fight illiteracy on a broad front, figured high on the list of priorities in the program of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The most revealing single fact in this entire picture is the utterly negative attitude of Soviet Russia and its adherents. While using every means of propaganda to impress itself upon the world as the savior of the oppressed and the hungry, the U. S. S. R. either stood aloof from or actively opposed all the constructive efforts of the United Nations and the specialized agencies in the economic and social fields. For 8 months out of 12 no Soviet, no Polish, no Czechoslovak representative participated in any meeting of the Economic and Social Council or its subsidiary bodies with the exception of the Economic Commission for Europe, where they spent most of their time protesting American efforts to assist in the economic recovery of Europe. Generally they do not participate in the specialized agencies established to assist in the improvement of economic and social conditions throughout the world and the promotion of health and better education. As a matter of fact, the U. S. S. R. does not belong to a single one of the newer specialized agencies. Although the U. S. S. R. helped sponsor the inauguration of the U. N. Technical Assistance Program, it has not contributed a single penny to the financing of the special Technical Assistance Fund. All the Communist countries either abstained from voting or voted against measures to relieve the suffering in Korea. The conclusion is inescapable, in spite of their persistent propaganda to the contrary: the Communist countries are not interested in the economic and social development of the nonCommunist world; they are not interested in improving the lot of the common man. They look askance at any improvement in the liv ing standards anywhere in the free world for they know that misery and despair are their best allies.

By contrast the policies and actions of the United States in the United Nations during the year under review clearly indicate the determination of the American people, acting in concert with other free nations, to help the underdeveloped and often overpopulated countries to achieve a better life. Ours is a struggle for economic advance, for social justice, for the soul of man which can survive only in freedom.

The International Approach to Economic Problems

The United Nations is based in part upon a specific recognition that economic problems transcend national boundaries and cannot adequately be solved in many cases except upon the basis of international cooperation. The Charter specifically charges the United Nations

with the responsibility for promoting higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development together with the solution of international social, health, and related problems. Moreover, all members pledge themselves under article 56 to take joint and separate action for the achievement of these purposes.

Thus, it was on the basis of this responsibility that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was negotiated at United Nations initiative and under United Nations auspices in 1947. Under that agreement the great majority of the world's trading nations have already greatly reduced their trade barriers and international trade has been considerably increased, thus benefiting all the countries concerned. The process is continuing with more countries being included and greater reductions being negotiated. During 1950 the number of countries which entered into negotiations for reduction of their tariffs and which thus become eligible to become contracting parties under the agreement was raised to nearly 40. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has continued its closely related task of assuring a degree of stability in the exchange rates of the world's currencies.

But international trade, important as it is, is by no means the only economic field in which there is need for international cooperation under the Charter. The experience of the great depression in the early thirties demonstrates how bad times in one country quickly spread to other countries which depend upon the first country for their markets, thus spreading depression throughout the world. It is for this reason that the United Nations undertakes an annual economic survey both in the major economic regions through the regional economic commissions and in the world as a whole. In this way dangerous economic trends may be foreseen and forestalled before they have become acute. This review also affords an opportunity for the United States regularly to explain to the world its economic policies and to reassure the other non-Communist countries with regard to the health of its economic system. The need for such reassurances has arisen because of the efforts of the Communists to persuade other countries that the capitalist system is on the brink of collapse and that this collapse will in turn wreck the economic systems of other countries.

But the world's economy must be more than merely healthy: it must be a growing and improving economy. The vast majority of the world's population is still living under subsistence conditions and must be given a chance to improve its living standards. Otherwise these countries, which form a majority of the world's population, may

941458-51- -10

127

fall prey to Communist propaganda.. Although these countries must themselves carry the main burden of their own development, there is much that can and must be done internationally. Accordingly the United Nations and the specialized agencies have embarked upon their programs of economic development based in part upon technical assistance and in part upon fostering the expansion of capital investment, both privately and publicly, both domestically and internationally. Thus the advanced techniques and accumulated capital available in the more developed countries can be used for the development of the less developed countries for the benefit of both.

A. ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

1. The World Economic Situation

At its February 1950 session the Economic and Social Council made its annual review of the world economic situation. This review was facilitated by the Secretariat's report entitled "Major Economic Changes in 1949." The main events of 1949 cited by the report and discussed by the various representatives on the Council were the decline in economic activity in the United States and the continuing disequilibrium in international transactions which had given rise to the wave of currency devaluations in September of that year. tention was also called to the subsiding of inflationary pressures in nearly all parts of the world.

The statement made by Willard L. Thorp, United States representative on the Economic and Social Council, was devoted largely to a factual review of the world economic situation, with particular attention to the United States. Mr. Thorp emphasized the importance of the annual factual review of the world economic situation in the Council's work as a means of forcing the Council "to stay close to reality." After reviewing the production situation in various countries, Mr. Thorp pointed out that "in large measure, the economic progress of most countries is in their own power to shape . . . [although] international cooperation can be of great help." He pointed out that the United States has been spending large sums of money and much energy to strengthen the productive power of other countries. “We have been doing this despite the fact that many of these countries

« ÎnapoiContinuă »