REQUIREMENTS, FISCAL YEAR 1948 Mr. STEFAN. Continuing hearings on appropriations for the Department of State for the fiscal year 1948, we take up the item "Contributions to International Commissions, Congresses, and Bureaus." SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS The summary of requirements will be inserted in the record at this point. (The summary follows:) International obligations and activities-Contributions to international commissions Congresses, and bureaus Appropriation, 1947 regular act. Supplemental appropriation for 1947 (Third Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946). Total.. Deduct: Activities reduced or eliminated.. Base for 1948..... Net difference, 1948 over 1947: $3, 104, 631 339, 854 3,444, 485 -355, 536 3,088, 949 APPROPRIATION REQUIREMENTS, 1947, AND ESTIMATES, 1948 Mr. STEFAN. The regular appropriation for 1947 was $3,104,631. There was a supplemental appropriation in the Third Deficiency Appropriation Act of 1946 of $339,854. There is an item of activities reduced or eliminated amounting to $355,536, making the base for 1948, $3,088,949. The estimate for 1948 is $3,386,016, or increase of $297,067. Mr. Sandifer, state your full name and title for the record. Mr. SANDIFER. D. V. Sandifer, Chief of the Division of International Organization Affairs. GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. STEFAN. Do you have a statement to make to the committee at this point? Mr. SANDIFER. Yes, sir. Mr. STEFAN. Proceed. Mr. SANDIFER. I am pleased to have the opportunity to present to the Appropriations Committee the estimates providing for contributions by the United States to the international organizations in which this Government participates. The United States share in the United Nations will be discussed tomorrow by Senator Austin. Today we are to consider contributions from this Government to other organizations in which the United States participates. As originally submitted this estimate contemplated contributions totalling $3,434,884 to 30 international organizations. It is now possible to recommend a reduction of $48,868, bringing the total of this estimate to $3,386,016 for 29 organizations. Of this reduction $1,210 is occasioned by the anticipated consolidation of the work of the International Technical Committee of Aerial Legal Experts into the organization of the International Civil Aviation Organization, to which I will refer later. The balance of the reduction, $47,658, is occasioned by the diminished activity of the Emergency Avdisory Committee for Political Defense. These organizations fall into four main groups which I should like to mention briefly before proceeding to any questions which the Committee may wish to raise. The first group comprises the major specialized agencies of the United Nations the International Labor Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Civil Aviation Organization. The United Nations Charter in articles 57 and 63 contemplates that specialized agencies should exist to perform technical functions in various economic and social fields. The Economic and Social Council is responsible for coordinating the work of the specialized agencies to achieve administrative economy and avoid duplication of work. Accordingly the Economic and Social Council has negotiated a series of agreements with the several specialized agencies bringing them into formal relationship with the United Nations. These agreements provide for mutual consultation and exchange of information; for coordination of statistical services; for the submission of the budgets of the specialized agencies to the United Nations for recommendation; for the development of similar personnel, fiscal, and budgetary standrds; and for sharing of administrative and technical resources. Thus these specialized agencies are working harmoniously and closely with the United Nations. Mr. STEFAN. How many of those are there? Mr. SANDIFER. There are three that have been brought into relationship with the United Nations that we are considering here. Separately I believe you have considered UNESCO, but there are three of these specialized agencies that have been brought into relationship with the United Nations. INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION The International Labor Organization, for which an amount of $522,000 is requested for fiscal 1948, is the specialized agency of the United Nations in the field of labor. The ILO has been active for some 28 years in the improvement of labor standards throughout the world. Among its functions are the adoption of conventions and recommendations dealing with such subjects as hours of work, protection against accidents, insurance against old age, sickness and disability, workmen's compensation, statistics of wages and hours of work, night work for women, and many others. Both employers and workers as well as government members are represented on the delegations to the conferences of the ILO. The United States share in the budget for calendar year 1947 (our fiscal year 1948) is calculated at $522,000 as compared with $497,000 for last year. The ILO scale of contributions allots to the United States 108 units out of a total of 690 units, or approximately 15 percent of the total budget. The total ILO budget for this year is about $3,750,000, an increase over last year of about $1,000,000. This increase was necessitated by the dissolution of the League of Nations, which had formerly carried certain overhead expenses such as staff pensions and building maintenance, and by the partial resumption of normal activity after the relative inactivity of the war period. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION The Food and Agriculture Organization, created by a United Nations Conference in 1943, is the specialized agency concerned with raising levels of nutrition and living standards, and with improving the production and distribution of food and agricultural products. The United States pays 25 percent of the FAO budget. The amount of $1,250,000 is requested, which is one-quarter of the FAO budget of $5,000,000 for a 12-month period. The FAO Conference, which met last September, voted to change from a fiscal year to a calendar year basis. The budget of the second financial year of the FAO, extending from July 1, 1946 to December 31, 1947, is $7,500,000, and the United States share is $1,875,000. The funds requested at this time will cover the United States contribution only from July 1, 1947 to June 30, 1948. INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION The International Civil Aviation Organization is a newcomer to the list of organizations carried in this appropriation. In 1944 the United States called together a Conference on international civil aviation at Chicago, which adopted a convention on international civil aviation for submission to governments. This conference established a Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization, . to which 47 governments belong, and provided that the permanent organization should be established upon ratification of the convention by 26' nations. The United States ratified the convention in July 1946. [Thirty-five nations have now ratified, and the permanent organization will formally be established on April 4, 1947.] Funds to pay the United States share are therefore being requested in antici pation of the official establishment of the permanent organization. The Provisional Organization (PICAO) has been active for 2 years. An amount of $950,000 is requested as the United States quota for the fiscal year 1948. This is an estimate since the size of the total budget and the scale of contributions has not been finally determined. The contribution scale to the Provisional Organization provides for a United States quota of 45 units out of a total of 300 units, or about 15 percent. The 1947 budget of PICAO was $1,960,000, of which the United States paid $294,000. The request for 1948 is based on an estimated budget for the permanent organization of $2,350,000 divided according to the same scale of contributions that is used for the Provisional Organization. This concludes the specialized agencies. INTER-AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS The second group of international organizations to be considered includes 11 inter-American organizations, of which the cost to the United States in fiscal year 1948 will be $714,645. I should like to make a brief statement about the inter-American organizations in general and take up later any specific questions which the committee may wish to raise. The inter-American organizations form an important part of the inter-American system which has developed through more than 50 years of inter-American understanding into a system of regional cooperation among the American Republics which has been a principal objective of United States foreign policy. It continues to be a basic policy of this Government to participate actively in the inter-American system, and to contribute to its strengthening and development. Implementation of this policy is effected, in part, through United States participation in the contributions to the Pan American Union and to the inter-American specialized agencies. The executive branch is well aware that, concurrent with our continued support of the inter-American system, attention must be given to the elimination of conflicting functions between the interAmerican and world organizations to prevent duplication in their activities and to promote international harmony, efficiency, and economy. It is expected that the solution to the regional problems raised by the recent establishment of certain world organizations will be sought by all the American Republics at the Ninth International Conference of American States to be held at Bogota, Colombia, in December 1947, where the reorganization and strengthening of the inter-American system and its relationship to world activities will be considered. Initiating cooperative relationships must, of course, be guided by the international development of the United Nations, which is just getting under way. TECHNICAL INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS The third major group includes 13 other international organizations to which the United States has contributed regularly for many years. Their total cost to the United States for the fiscal year 1948 will be $69,371. Most of these organizations are technical in nature, established to perform narrowly limited functions which are of mutual benefit to the participating nations. Their total budgets are very modest, and the United States subscribes a relatively small proportion of the total cost. ANNUAL PAYMENT TO GOVERNMENT OF PANAMA AND THE GORGAS MEMORIAL ARCAIBAINE Fourth and last, there are two annual payments authorized by the Congress which, strictly speaking, are not contributed to international organizations. I refer to the annual payment of $430,000 to the Government of Panama, authorized by an international convention of 1903, as modified in 1936, and the annual payment of $50,000 to the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory in Panama, provided for by law in 1928. The Department of State is making a continuous review of all these international organizations with the purpose of making recommendations on the termination or consolidation of any which should not be continued as separate organizations. The Appropriations Committee last May requested that a report of progress be submitted at the time of the hearings on the 1948 Budget. This report has been transmitted for the consideration of the committee. You will note that no funds are requested for three organizations formerly carried in this appropriation: the International Institute of Agriculture, the International Technical Committee of Aerial Legal Experts, and the Narcotics bodies established by the 1931 Convention on Narcotics. A detailed listing of all the organizations contained in the four groups above is shown under the project statement in the budget under the appropriation entitled "United States Contributions to International Commissions, Congresses, and Bureaus." NUMBER OF PERSONNEL Mr. STEFAN. How many people do you have in your office? Mr. SANDIFER. In my Division at the present time we have 64. Mr. STEFAN. Put in the record a statement of those receiving over $4,000 by classes. Mr. SANDIFER. Yes, sir. (The information follows:) Division of International Organization Affairs (personnel receiving over $4,000 per annum) |