vestige of their basic human rights. They have been torn from their homes; their families have been separated; and they have been herded into concentration camps.

During the last 2 years the United Nations has inquired of all governments as to the manner and extent they would be prepared to cooperate in an impartial survey of forced labor. The reactions to these proposals on the part of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European adherents have given convincing evidence that these governments have been touched in a sensitive spot. Despite the fact that Soviet laws authorizing forced labor were read into the record, the spokesmen of the Soviet group, while denouncing the accusations as sheer propaganda, have refused to agree to admit within their territories any investigation of the conditions alleged to exist in forcedlabor camps.

The International Labor Organization has watched with concern the discussions in the United Nations and the effort of a few countries to prevent the truth from being investigated and from being made known. It has indicated its desire to cooperate fully with the United Nations in any effort which might be made to investigate forced labor. The question was actively discussed in the Governing Body of ILO at its 111th session (February-March 1950). The record of this discussion was transmitted to the United Nations for the information of the eleventh session of Ecosoc (July-August 1950).

At that session the United States and the United Kingdom introduced a joint resolution inviting ILO to cooperate with the Council in the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labor to survey the field of forced labor, to assess the nature and extent of the problem, and to report the results of its studies to the Council and to ILO. In introducing this resolution the United States spokesman said:

"We cannot continue simply to make speeches about this. To make these speeches is a hateful task at best. It makes us ashamed of admitting that we live in a world where man's inhumanity to man is as ghastly and as ruthless as it appears to be in the U.S.S.R. and the countries under the various satellite regimes. The United Nations has found the will and the means through collective action to deal with military aggression. We must also find the will and the means to deal with large-scale planned aggression against the individual. We cannot stand by silently while the Charter of the United Nations is violated by some of its own members."

The United States representative then put on the record further evidence which had come to light regarding conditions in countries controlled by the Soviet Union. He spoke particularly of conditions in Rumania, Czechoslovakia, the Eastern zone of Germany, and the conquered lands of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. He then said:

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"This shameful list of violations of human rights could be continued for a long time. . . . Everything possible must be done to direct the searchlight of public inquiry upon these intolerable conditions wherever they may be found. That is the purpose of the joint resolution which we were glad to co-sponsor with the United Kingdom."

This United States-United Kingdom proposal came before the Council at the end of its session. Final action was adjourned until the twelfth session (February-March 1951) in order to give all members of the Council the opportunity to study the question in detail.

ILO in the meantime, at its November 1950 Governing Body meeting, has signified its desire to cooperate with the United Nations on the basis of the draft resolution now before Ecosoc.

7. Freedom of Association (Trade-Union Rights)

For several years following World War II labor organizations have complained bitterly that in many countries workers' groups have been suppressed, and workers have been forbidden to organize into groups of their own choosing. This matter was brought before various sessions of the Economic and Social Council and of the Governing Body of ILO. Both ILO and the United Nations recognized the desirability of cooperative action in this area of joint concern.

At its 110th session (Mysore, India, January 1950) the ILO Governing Body decided to establish in collaboration with the United Nations a Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association. It also agreed upon a procedure by which allegations of denial of freedom of association could be brought before the Commission.

On February 17, 1950, Ecosoc at its tenth session adopted a resolution under which the Council accepted the services of ILO and its Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission and decided to forward, under specified procedures, to ILO any allegations received by Ecosoc concerning violations of trade-union rights.

ILO has established the Commission, and several allegations concerning the violation of trade-union rights are being reviewed by the officers of the ILO Governing Body for possible submission to the Commission. It is too early as yet to assess the work of the Commission. The members of the Commission are (1) Carl V. Bramnaes, former Minister of Finance of Denmark; (2) Mahmoud Hassan Pasha, former Egyptian Ambassador to the United States; (3) J. N. Majumdar, former judge of Calcutta High Court and member of the All India In

dustrial Tribunal; (4) François de Menthon, former Minister of National Economy and Minister of Justice of France; (5) Arsenio Roldan, presiding judge of the Philippine Court of Industrial Relations; (6) Oscar Schnake, former Minister of Labor of Chile and president of the Chilean Development Corporation; (7) Justice Arthur Tyndall, judge of the New Zealand Court of Arbitration; (8) Sir Harold Butler, former Director General of ILO and Minister of Great Britain in Washington; and (9) Frank J. Murray, associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court.

8. The Rise of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

Early in 1950 the new International Confederation of Free Trade Unions entered into a consultative relationship with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and with the International Labor Organization. ICFTU was established at London in late 1949 at a meeting of representatives of the major free trade organizations of the world. ICFTU was created to give world labor its own international organization free of control by governments and free of the political bias which has motivated its rival, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). The objectives of ICFTU are tradeunion objectives rather than political objectives as such. ICFTU was born out of the disillusionment of the free workers of the world with the political machinations of Communist stooges in WFTU.

ICFTU is a world focal point for free labor and as such has become one of the pillars of the free world. All during 1950 national tradeunions and federations of trade-unions became affiliated with ICFTU. It now claims the allegiance of the bulk of the organized workers of the world outside of the Soviet group. In other countries where WFTU affiliates exist, their influence has receded and they can no longer count on the complete loyalty of their membership.

In its consultative relationship with the Economic and Social Council and with the International Labor Organization, ICFTU has paid particular attention to problems relating to full employment, economic development, forced labor, freedom of association, and most other economic and social questions affecting the well-being of workers. It has constructively worked toward the establishment of conditions of economic, political, and social justice.

C. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

ADVANCEMENT

1. Social Rehabilitation

During 1950 the United Nations gave special consideration to ways and means of assisting governments to improve their programs for the rehabilitation of the physically handicapped, including the blind. In the United States alone a conservative estimate of the number of disabled who are in need of rehabilitative services is from one and one half to two million people. Throughout the world there are vast numbers of physically handicapped persons who can be assisted to lead not only happier lives but economically productive lives through advances in medical knowledge and the use of modern prosthetic appliances, together with the help of persons specially trained in rehabilitation work. Last year the United Nations sent an outstanding American doctor in this field to several countries of Europe to study and report on the methods and feasibility of United Nations action in the field of rehabilitation. On the basis of the report made and consideration of the recommendations of the Secretary-General the initiation of a program for social rehabilitation was approved. A small staff will be employed to initiate this program, which will include expert advisers for governments, provision of training facilities, literature, and other types of aid which appear most practicable. The first task of the staff to be employed will be to draw up the details of a sound program for international action which will be given consideration at subsequent United Nations meetings. In addition the United Nations is now engaged in the preparation of training materials and is assisting governments by providing demonstrations of rehabilitation work and technical assistance in the manufacture and use of prosthetic appliances.

2. Health

Interchange of information between countries concerning the outbreak and spread of communicable diseases has been carried on without serious interruption since 1903, when the first effective sanitary convention was concluded, except during World War II, when international health activities practically ceased. The importance of cooperation on health matters was generally recognized, however, and

the need for expanded public-health effort became even more obvious to all governments as a consequence of the war. International health activities immediately after the war were concentrated, first, upon the health problems created by the war, especially those in war-devastated countries, and, second, upon the building up of international machinery to meet these greater needs. With the establishment of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948, the way was opened for operation on a broad front. During 1950, with a membership which had reached 74 nations, WHO has been working diligently toward a fulfillment of the potentialities of international cooperation in the field of public health.

The epidemiological service of WHO maintains current records of the prevalence of infectious diseases throughout the world. Worldwide broadcasts beamed thrice daily from Geneva alert nations to the prevalence of communicable diseases. In this way not only are quarantine authorities alerted to the most recent disease hazards but they are also enabled to process the passengers and vessels in international commerce more quickly.

WHO has been engaged in the preparation of international sanitary regulations to replace existing international sanitary treaties, which regulate quarantine activities. Early in 1950 the draft regulations were sent to governments, inviting their comments. The Expert Committee on Epidemiology and Quarantine, which met in October, reexamined these draft regulations in the light of the observations received from 30 governments and prepared a revised draft which has now been circulated to members of WHO. A special committee will prepare regulations on the basis of the earlier drafts and will then submit these regulations for adoption by the fourth World Health Assembly in May 1951.

A similar effort is being made to work out an international system for biological standardization and for the unification of pharmacopoeias. During the year WHо recommended a series of international standards for biological preparations for adoption by governments. These standards are designed to eliminate variations in definitions of units of activity for vitamins, hormones, vaccines, and other biologicals in current use in different countries. WHO has also been instrumental in compiling data relating to active drugs into an international pharmacopoeia for adoption by governments. The pharmacopoeia proposes standard tests for purity and potency of drugs.

Other continuing activities of a technical nature relate to the determination of habit-forming tendencies of new drugs and the standardization of names of diseases for use in reporting morbidity and mortality.