The Territories of the United States have a separate membership in the ITU and a separate vote. The Chairman of the U.S. Territories Delegation was the Honorable Francisco Corneiro, Attorney General of the Virgin Islands.

The ITU celebrated its centenary at this Conference.

Institutional Changes

The Montreux Conference took several steps in the direction of improving the structure of the ITU, although it did not go as far as the United States had hoped. Among the decisions taken in this connection were:

(1) To increase the size of the Administrative Council from 25 to 29 members. The 25 member Council was established when the total membership of the Organization was 96. The four new seats reflect an increase in membership to 129 members, and provide an equitable representation for the new and developing countries.

(2) To reduce the size of the International Frequency Registration Board (IFRB) from 11 members to 5.

(3) To simplify arrangements for subsidiary conferences. In the future the ITU will hold only World Administrative Conferences, instead of the five types previously permitted.

The United States and a number of other countries have felt for some time that the entire ITU Convention should not be renegotiated every 6 years. The United States accordingly proposed that the Convention be replaced by an instrument of a more permanent nature, with provisions of the present Convention that are subject to frequent changes moved to a set of General Regulations. The Conference was not prepared to take final action on this proposal, but adopted a resolution establishing a study group of not more than 10 experts to prepare a draft Constitutional Charter and General Regulations for consideration at the next Plenipotentiary Conference.

Political Issues

Considerable time at the Conference was devoted to political questions, including the Chinese representation issue.

The first political issue arose in the form of a draft resolution to exclude the representatives of South Africa from the Conference because of its racial policies. In the ensuing debate many countries, including the United States, stated that under the ITU Convention all members are entitled to participate in conferences of the Union. They considered that the Conference was therefore not competent to consider the proposed resolution. The question of competence was put to the vote and resulted in a tie, 53 for, 53 against, and 3 abstentions. It became clear that there was no agreement on the meaning of this vote; one group claimed that it meant the Conference was competent, another claimed it meant that the Conference was not competent. Accordingly a new vote on competence was taken and the Conference declared itself competent by a vote of 58 to 51, with 2 abstentions. The draft resolution was then put to the vote and South Africa was excluded from the Conference by a vote of 59 to 27, with 7 abstentions, and 15 (U.S.) not participating.

on this subject, the most far-reaching were:

(1) the establishment of an ITU Technical Cooperation Fund, separate from funds available through the United Nations;

(2) the establishment within ITU headquarters of an independent technical cooperation body with an elected director;

(3) the establishment of regional offices of the ITU in less developed areas.

The United States shared the views of many countries that these proposals were impractical. Their utility had not been demonstrated, and it would be unwise to commit large sums to untried experiments. Moreover, any contributions to a separate technical assistance fund for telecommunications would reduce the sums available for other purposes, and thus in effect limit the choice of governments seeking technical assistance. The proposals were not adopted. However, the Secretary General was asked to study the question of regional offices and report to the Administrative Council which, in turn, will make recommendations to the next Plenipotentiary Conference.

The United States, together with Morocco, the U.S.S.R., and the United Kingdom, submitted a resolution on practical measures to strengthen existing arrangements for technical cooperation in the ITU. It was adopted without objection. The United States also supported a further resolution calling for an increase in the technical staff of ITU Headquarters to deal with inquiries from the developing countries on technical problems in the field of

telecommunications.

Organizational Arrangements

The Conference elected Dr. Monohar B. Sarwate of India as the new Secretary General, replacing Gerald C. Gross of the United States who retired on December 31, 1965. Dr. SarIwate had served with distinction as Deputy Secretary General to Mr. Gross. Dr. Mohamed Mili of Tunisia was elected Deputy Secretary Gen

The Conference also retained the existing unit system of apportioning costs among the members under which the U.S. share is expected to be approximately 10 percent as in the preceding 6-year period. The 10 percent share covers the dues for both the United States and its Territories.

The Administrative Council was authorized to purchase the building that the ITU currently occupies under a rental agreement with the Swiss Government. The purchase price is particularly advantageous to the organization since it was set in the original agreement in 1962. Real estate values in Geneva have since increased rapidly owing to the shortage of commercial space.

the United States is subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

INTERNATIONAL RADIO

CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (CCIR) Twelve of the 14 CCIR study groups held meetings during 1965 in preparation for the 11th CCIR Plenary Assembly in Oslo in 1966. The United States contributed heavily to the preparatory work for all of these study groups and participated in them. Recommendations and reports were developed by the study groups, for final action by the Assembly, on a wide range of subjects important to U.S. interests, such as frequency sharing criteria between communication satellites and microwave radio relay systems in the satellite communication service.

The question of color television standards was considered by CCIR Study Group XI at Vienna 1 and the subject is to be dealt with again at the Oslo 1966 Assembly. Various CCIR study groups were concerned with the development of recom-. mendations for the use of the single sideband, particularly in the maritime services. The decisions to be reached at Oslo in 1966 on this subject will be of important concern to the world conference on maritime telecommunications matters to be held in 1967.

At the meeting of this study group in Vienna, Mar. 25-Apr. 7, 1965, efforts were made to secure an agreement on international adoption of a single color television system by choosing one among three rival systems developed in France, West Germany, and the United States. Just before the Vienna meeting, the French and Soviet Governments had signed an agreement in Paris providing for cooperative development of color television based on the French system, Mar. 22, 1965. Subsequently at the Vienna meeting, the German and U.S. delegations tried to gain support for their two systems by agreeing on a definition of the characteristics common to both systems. Although some countries agreed to accept this U.S.-German common technique, no agreement on a single color television system emerged from the Vienna meeting and consideration of the issue was postponed until the 11th ITU CCIR Plenary Assembly, scheduled to meet at Oslo, June 22-July 22, 1966. (See Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 1965-1966, vol. XV, p. 20712; and The New York Times, Mar. 23-24, 28, and Apr. 7-8, 1965.)

Document II-106

Statute of the
International Agency for
Research on Cancer,
Signed at Geneva,
May 20, 1965,
Entered Into Force

for the United States,
September 15, 1965 52

Document II-107

Report of the President (Johnson) to the Congress on U.S. Participation in the U.N., Transmitted March 9, 1967 (Excerpt) 63

Activities of the

World Health Organization During 1965

In 1964 the Director General of WHO declared that continuity was one of the fundamental criteria in planning the Organization's annual program. This quality was apparent during 1965 in WHO's work which, in accordance with the general program adopted by the Health Assembly for the current 5-year period, was directed toward the control of communicable diseases, the reduction of infant mortality, the improvement of nutrition, and the bet

52 TIAS 5873; 16 UST 1239. As of Jan. 1, 1967, the parties to the Statute were Australia, France, Federal Republic of Germany, U.S.S.R., U.K., and the U.S. For a statement by President Johnson, July 4, 1965, on the occasion of U.S. notification to the World Health Organization of its acceptance of the Statute establishing the International Agency for Cancer Research, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, vol. II, pp. 721-722.

53 U.S. Participation in the UN, 1965, pp. 240-244.

terment of environmental conditions. At the same time, specific services were adapted to countries and their changing needs with a view to their economic and social development.

The convening by WHO of an Expert Committee on Water Pollution Control and of joint committees with the Food and Agriculture Organization on food additives and on the evaluation of the toxicity of pesticide residues in food are illustrative of the Organization's awareness of new problems. Continuity was evident not only in meetings of the expert committees on malaria and health statistics but in the great amount of attention given to education and training of personnel and to public health administration, in recognition of the importance of strengthening national health services for the ultimate attainment of WHO's objectives.

The United States continued its active support of WHO in its efforts to obtain "the highest level of health of all peoples." 54

18th WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY

56

Pursuant to a White House announcement," the U.S. delegation to the Assembly (under the chairmanship of Dr. Luther Terry, Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service) proposed a world-wide campaign to eradicate smallpox. The Assembly, meeting at Geneva in May, adopted a resolution declaring the eradication of smallpox to be one of the major objectives of the Organization, and instructing the Director General to take the necessary steps, including the raising of funds, to speed up existing programs and to launch new programs against this disease.

The United States further offered to make available to the Organization the facilities of the Food and Drug Administration for the purpose of developing an international

54 For its activities in 1965, the WHO obligated a total of $54,644,460 in funds. The U.S. assessed contribution was $12,327,120.

55 May 18, 1965; text in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, vol. I, pp. 560561. See also the Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 13, 1965, pp. 959–960. May 4-21, 1965.

57 Pursuant to a statement by the President (Johnson) recommending the establishment of an international system to monitor new drugs, issued Apr. 21, 1965; text ibid., p. 440.

58 The Proposed amendment to art. 7 of the WHO Constitution also provided that membership, may be restored by the Health Assembly on the proposal of the Executive Board following a detailed report proving that the State in question has renounced the policy of discrimination which gave rise to its suspension or exclusion". (Text in UN Monthly Chronicle, vol. II, No. 10, Nov. 1965, p. 56.) The amendment will come into force upon receipt of instruments of acceptance from two-thirds of the members of WHO. As of Jan. 1, 1967, it had not entered into force for the United States.

BU.S. Participation in the UN, 1965, pp. 255-259.