320.14/8–3153: Circular instruction
The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic Missions and Consular Offices1
CA–1159.
- Subject:
- Exchange of Views on the Forthcoming Eighth Session of the General Assembly
The Department desires at this time to exchange views with other Members of the United Nations about the work of the Fourth Committee (Trusteeship and Non-Self-Governing Territories) at the forthcoming Eighth Session of the General Assembly scheduled to be convened in New York on September 15, 1953. You are requested, in your discretion, to discuss with the Foreign Office the items on the provisional agenda dealt with in this airgram, which are among the more important issues likely to be considered by the Fourth Committee. You [Page 1320] should indicate that these views are tentative and subject to modification after the Department has received the views of other Members. You are also requested to report any significant reactions from the Foreign Office to the items discussed below by cable if in your judgement they would not reach the Department before September 21 if sent by air pouch.
FYI Only: As was pointed out in the Department’s circular air-gram of October 18, 1952,2 concerning preparations for the Seventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly, one of the principal difficulties that has confronted the United States Delegation in recent sessions of the General Assembly has been the fact that many representatives of the smaller countries in the Second, Third and Fourth Committees apparently have only the most general instructions and are consequently swayed by their personal ideas and the orations of their colleagues. The Department is anxious, therefore, that both the Foreign Office and the representatives on these Committees be fully informed about its views on the principal agenda items.
The Department is interested not only in having its views presented to the Foreign Office and the representatives on the Fourth Committee but also in receiving as soon as possible the views of other governments on the Fourth Committee items referred to in this airgram or any other items in which the other governments show particular interest. The Department is particularly interested in receiving information about any proposals or draft resolutions which other governments plan to introduce in the Fourth Committee.
It is apparent that certain colonial questions will be among the most controversial items before the forthcoming Assembly. Certain of the most difficult of these (i.e. Morocco, Tunisia) may not arise in the Fourth Committee. Nevertheless, the atmosphere in one Committee affects the atmosphere in other Committees, and the Department is anxious to do everything possible to keep discussion in the Fourth Committee on a moderate, reasonable and constructive basis. Those who profit most from controversies between administering and non-administering powers are the communist governments who find in them an excellent basis for endeavoring to weaken the unity of the non-communist world.
The most important item from the United States point of view which will be before the Fourth Commitee of the General Assembly at its Eighth Session is that concerning the cessation of the transmission of information on Puerto Rico. The United States Delegation to the General Assembly’s Committee on Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories will include Dr. Fernos-Isern, Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the United States as Alternate Representative. [Page 1321] It is expected that our delegation to the Eighth General Assembly will also include a prominent Puerto Rican. The Department’s circular airgram of March 31, 1953 set forth the Department’s position and indicated the tactics that would be employed on this item.
The Fourth Committee of the General Assembly will also have before it the question of the Netherlands Government’s decision on the cessation of the transmission of information under Article 73(e) on Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles. While the two cases of cessation, i.e., on Puerto Rico and on the Netherlands territories, appear on the same agenda item of the General Assembly there are substantial differences between the two cases. With respect to Puerto Rico, the United States will maintain that a full measure of self-government has been achieved by the people of Puerto Rico and that therefore it is no longer appropriate to transmit information to the United Nations under Article 73(e) of the Charter. On the other hand, the Netherlands Delegation will maintain that as a result of the constitutional changes which have occurred between the Netherlands and Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles, responsibility for economic, educational and social conditions of the territories resides with the governments of the territories and that constitutional limitations preclude the further transmission of information. The Netherlands will not make the contention that a “full measure of self-government” has been achieved by the territories but rather that a “large measure of self-government” has been attained and that governments of the territories have opposed the further transmission of information to the United Nations. The question of cessation on the Netherlands territories, at the request of the Seventh General Assembly, was examined recently by the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Factors. Because of the divergency of views of its Members, this Committee reached no conclusion on the item and referred the matter back to the Eighth General Assembly. While the Netherlands case has been before various organs of the United Nations for three years, we hope that United Nations consideration of the Puerto Rican case, on the other hand, will be completed at the forthcoming session of the General Assembly. End FYI.
The unclassified material below is presented in such a form as to serve, if you desire, as the basis for a Memorandum or Aide-Mémoire to be handed to the Foreign Office to supplement your discussions. A Spanish translation of this unclassified section is now in preparation in the Department for the convenience of posts in Spanish speaking countries and will be forwarded to the field within one week.
General Considerations
The United States continues to be guided by the following general considerations in its approach to dependent area questions in the [Page 1322] United Nations. We approach these questions with a sincere desire to promote the principles set forth in the United Nations Charter. We realize that all Members of the United Nations have an interest in the affairs of non-self-governing territories, for the expression of which the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly is the logical and natural forum. We feel sure that all representatives on the Fourth Committee will be guided by the principle to which the administering Members are pledged in Chapter XI of the Charter “that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount”. The most effective promotion of this principle will, we feel, arise from a cooperative spirit on the part of administering and non-administering powers alike. Many of these problems are genuinely complex and do not lend themselves to quick and easy solutions. We hope, however, that a large measure of agreement may be reached in the Fourth Committee as to reasonable and realistic steps which may be taken toward the advancement of non-self-governing territories towards the goals set forth in the Charter. It is with this objective in mind that the United States desires an exchange of views on certain of the more important questions that are expected to arise in the Fourth Committee at the forthcoming session of the General Assembly.
Ad Hoc Committee on Factors
The Ad Hoc Committee on Factors was set up by the General Assembly to study the “factors which should be taken into account in deciding whether a territory is or is not a territory whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government”. This study was undertaken because Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter applies to “territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government”, but does not define this expression.
During United Nations discussions over the past five years, the United States has favored full and frank discussion on this question in the belief that from such debate fuller understanding of the issues involved would emerge. The United States has participated in the Ad Hoc Committee established by the Sixth and Seventh General Assemblies to carry out a further study of this question. We believe that the report of the latest Ad Hoc Committee has contributed toward the refinement of the list of factors and that it sheds further light on this complex question. We propose to take the same attitude towards the Committee’s report as we have towards previous discussions of this question and hope that other Members follow a similar course, in order that there may be maintained in the Fourth Committee the cooperative spirit between the non-administering and administering Members which we are convinced is essential to effective promotion by the United Nations of the advancement of non-self-governing territories. The United States continues to believe that the factors listed in the [Page 1323] Committee’s report provide a useful guide in determining when a territory ceases to be non-self-governing. It is our view, however, that no specific factor or particular combination of factors should be represented as determining the status of a territory in relation to Chapter XI of the Charter, since no formulation could be flexible enough to embrace the complexities of constitutional forms and usages in the wide variety of territories and at the same time be definitive.
As to the authority which has the competence to decide when a territory has attained a full measure of self-government, and therefore need no longer be reported on, it is the view of the United States that each administering Member has the right to determine the constitutional position and status of territories under its sovereignty. The United States also considers that the decision regarding reporting under Article 73(e) on specific territories rests solely with the administering Members concerned. The United States does not believe, however, that the interpretation of the expressions “non-self-governing territories” and “territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-government”, since they appear in the Charter, is a matter for unilateral determination by individual administering Members. We believe, therefore, in view of Article 10, that the General Assembly, for example, has the authority to discuss and attempt to define the above expressions, to recommend to administering Members generally the consideration of any definition it might adopt, or even express its opinion in general terms on the principles which have guided or may guide members in deciding on which of its territories it will transmit information. We believe that any resolution regarding the decision of an administering authority to cease transmission of information should not imply that the administering authority’s decision requires the General Assembly’s approval or disapproval. The United States finds it understandable that certain United Nations members may be concerned lest Chapter XI be circumvented by premature cessation of transmission of information under Article 73(e). We hope that administering authorities will endeavor to avoid arousing apprehensions on this point.
Participation of Non-Self-Governing Territories in the Work of the Committee on Information From Non-Self-Governing Territories
The Seventh General Assembly has asked the Committee on Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories to study further the question of the direct participation in its discussions of representatives of those non-self-governing territories the inhabitants of which have attained a wide measure of responsibility for economic, social and educational policies. The United States believes that, as in the case of the comparable question with respect to the Trusteeship Council, the most practicable and satisfactory means to bring about such participation [Page 1324] at the present time is to expand the practice of attaching suitable qualified indigenous inhabitants of territories to the Delegations of the appropriate administering authority.
The United States has followed the practice of attaching qualified leaders and experts from its non-self-governing territories to its Delegations to the Committee on Information. For example, when Puerto Rico was a non-self-governing territory the United States Delegation in 1951 included Dr. Roberto de Jesus Toro, a Puerto Rican expert on questions of economic development. Other administering authorities have from time to time attached indigenous personnel to their Delegations to United Nations meetings concerned with non-self-governing territories. The United States considers that this practice should be continued and encouraged.
The United States would feel it necessary to oppose in the Fourth Committee any proposals which would establish representation for dependent territories or the inhabitants of such territories distinct from the representation of the administering member responsible for the administration of such territories.
Participation of Indigenous Inhabitants of Trust Territories in the Work of the Trusteeship Council
The Sixth General Assembly by Resolution 554 (VI) invited the Trusteeship Council to examine the possibility of associating the inhabitants of trust territories more closely in its work and to report the results of its examination to the General Assembly at its Seventh Session. The Council considered the problem at its two sessions in 1952 and adopted a resolution which expressed the hope “that administering authorities would find its appropriate to associate suitably qualified indigenous inhabitants in the work of the Trusteeship Council as part of their delegations to the Council or in any other manner which they deem desirable.”
During the discussion of Resolution 554 (VI) at the Sixth Assembly the sponsors of that resolution indicated that it was their desire to bring about the participation of representatives of indigenous populations in such a way that their representation would be separate and distinct from that of the administering authority. Mention was made of the concept of associate membership for the trust territories, with their representation to be chosen by the people of the territories rather than by the responsible administering authority. In the Trusteeship Council, however, the concept of separate representation was opposed by all administering authorities, as well as certain non-administering Members. The United States, while recognizing the desirability of closer association between the peoples of trust territories and the work of the Trusteeship Council, has considered that separate or dual representation for such peoples in the Council was incompatible with the [Page 1325] concept of Trusteeship. At the conclusion of the discussion, the compromise formula described above, proposed by Thailand and supported by the United States, was adopted by the Council.
At the Seventh Session of the General Assembly the United States supported action taken by the Trusteeship Council on this subject by voting for Assembly Resolution 653 (VII) which in effect endorsed the action of the Trusteeship Council in suggesting participation by inhabitants as members of administering authorities’ delegations or in any other way which they deem desirable and requested the Council to include information in its reports to the Assembly on the action taken in implementation of the Council’s resolution.
The Syrian delegation introduced a resolution at the Twelfth Session of the Trusteeship Council which proposed the establishment of a committee to further examine the question of participation of indigenous inhabitants in the work of the Council. There was little discussion on the substance of the question and the resolution was adopted in spite of reservations expressed by some of the Members who felt the resolution of the Seventh General Assembly had endorsed the Council’s action and that therefore further consideration of the question was unnecessary. The United States, El Salvador, Syria and the United Kingdom were appointed to the Committee to continue the examination of the question and to report to the Thirteenth Session of the Council (January 1954).
The United States considers that action by the Eighth General Assembly on this subject would be inopportune since the question remains under active consideration by the Trusteeship Council and will be examined further by the Council at its Thirteenth Session on the basis of the report of its recently established Committee. However, in any discussion that might take place at the Eighth General Assembly, the United States would continue to give careful consideration to any proposals which might be made with respect to further methods for achieving closer association and participation by trust territory inhabitants in the Council’s work. United States support of close association of these inhabitants in the Council’s work is evidenced by the fact that two inhabitants of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Mrs. Dorothy Kabua, member of the Marshallese Congress, and her son, Amata Kabua) were appointed as members of the United States Delegation to the Twelfth Session of the Trusteeship Council. France also appointed an indigenous representative from a trust territory, Mr. Apedo-Amah from Togoland under French administration, as a member of its Delegation to the Twelfth Session of the Trusteeship Council. However, the United States continues to consider it undesirable to establish representation in United Nations bodies for inhabitants of trust territories apart from the representation of the responsible administering authorities or their territorial administrations.
[Page 1326]The Ewe and Togoland Unification Question
This question was originally raised in the United Nations by petitions from leaders of the 800,000 Ewe people, who inhabit the coastal area of the trust territories of British Togoland and French Togoland, as well as a portion of the Gold Coast Colony. They object to being divided among different administrations and have requested unification under a single administration. Subsequently, other groups have asked for the unification of the two trust territories as a whole, rather than simply the Ewe areas. The question has been before the Trusteeship Council and the General Assembly in some form almost since their establishment. It will be before the Eighth General Assembly by virtue of a special report on the matter requested of the Trusteeship Council by the Seventh General Assembly.
The general position of the United States regarding this problem is as follows: The United States believes that, in conformity with earlier Trusteeship Council and General Assembly resolutions, advances have been made in reducing the inconveniences caused by the international boundary between the two trust territories and in increased cooperation between them in the economic, social and educational fields. It is our view that steps should be taken to preserve and develop cooperation in these fields while at the same time encouraging political advancement in each of the two territories. With regard to unification, it appears that the views of unificationists in the two Togolands are in a state of flux. In this situation it is difficult and probably unwise to recommend any drastic alteration of the present political status. However, the United States does favor full implementation of Trusteeship Council Resolution 643(XI) and General Asembly Resolution 652 (VII). In supporting these resolutions the United States emphasizes that the contemplated implementation of these resolutions is to take place in several stages and urges the Council and the administering authorities concerned to concentrate their attention on the first stage as set forth in the Assembly’s Resolution, namely, “carry on full and extensive consultations with the principal political parties in the two territories”, with a view to reestablishing the Joint Council for Togoland Affairs, or a similar body “on a basis which will enlist the cooperation of all major segments of the population.”
In considering steps to meet the wishes of certain groups in the two Togolands, it is necessary also to consider the effect of such action on the remaining inhabitants of the territories. For example, the interests of the inhabitants of the northern parts of the two territories (where the inhabitants, who form numerical majorities in both territories, have thus far been generally opposed to unification) must certainly be given proper consideration along with the interests of the predominately Ewe-inhabited southern parts of the territories. It also seems [Page 1327] likely that the opinions of the peoples in both the north and the south may be materially affected if the Gold Coast achieves complete self-government in the near future.
Educational Advancement in Trust Territories
FYI: You may wish to make reference to the information in the section immediately following in any general exchange of views with the Foreign Office on the respective views of the Department of State and the Foreign Office on the work of the United Nations in the field of dependent areas. This information details a recent example of action taken by the United States to assist in the promotion of the welfare of dependent peoples through the United Nations. End FYI.
On January 18, 1952, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 557 (VI) on Educational Advancement in Trust Territories which invites Member states of the United Nations to make fellowships, scholarships and internships available to qualified students from trust territories. Thus far seven nations, including the United States, have made offers of various kinds for grants in accordance with the Assembly invitation. The United States announced its offer in a note to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on November 6, 1952. Four grants were made available to students from any of the trust territories except the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which is administered by the United States. Students of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands will of course be eligible for scholarships which may be offered by other United Nations members. Applicants for United States offered fellowships and scholarships were required to be indigenous to the trust territory through which they applied, proficient in English, and to have the equivalent of an A.B. degree except where candidates had gone as far in their formal education as the resources of the countries permit. In any event the applicants had to be at the junior or senior year of college level. The scholarships include maintenance, tuitions and fees, book allowance, and costs of domestic and international travel. The American diplomatic and consular officers concerned were given the relevant information concerning these grants in a circular airgram of December 9, 1952.
Applications for the United States grants were received from students in four of the trust territories, Western Samoa, Tanganyika, British Cameroons and British Togoland. On the basis of their qualifications four students have been awarded these scholarships, one student from each of the above trust territories and are now undertaking their studies in educational institutions in various parts of the United States.
The six nations, in addition to the United States, that have made offers to students from trust territories are Yugoslavia, India, Philippines, [Page 1328] Turkey, Norway, and Indonesia. It is anticipated that the United States will renew its offer for the school year 1953–54, and the number of grants offered may be increased.