Transmission of Information under Article 73e of the Charter

I. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE FOURTH COMMITTEE
66. Transmission of Information under Article 73e of the Charter

The General Assembly, on 9 February 1946, approved a resolution on Non-Self-Governing Peoples. By this resolution the Secretary-General was requested to include in his annual report on the work of the Organization a statement summarizing such information as may have been transmitted to him by Members of the United Nations under Article 73e of the Charter relating to economic, social and educational conditions in the territories for which they are responsible, other than those to which Chapters XII and XIII apply. The General Assembly notes that information has been transmitted by the Governments of Australia concerning conditions in Papua; France concerning conditions in French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, French Somaliland, Madagascar and Dependencies, French Establishments in Oceania, Indo-China, French Establishments in India, New Caledonia and Dependencies, Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, Morocco, Tunisia, the New Hebrides under Anglo-French Condominium, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Dependencies, French Guiana, and Reunion (without prejudice to the future status of these territories); New Zealand concerning conditions in the Cook Islands (without prejudice to any interpretation of the expression "Non-Self-Governing Territories" in view of the fact that the Cook Islands are an integral part of New Zealand); the United Kingdom concerning conditions in Barbados, Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras,[1] Fiji, Gambia, Gibraltar, Leeward Islands, Mauritius, St. Lucia, and Zanzibar Protectorate; and the United States concerning conditions in Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Panama Canal Zone,[2] Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The General Assembly also notes that the following Governments have declared their intention of transmitting information: Belgium on the Belgian Congo; Denmark on Greenland; the Netherlands on the Netherlands Indies, Surinam and Curacao; New Zealand on the Tokelau Islands; and the United Kingdom on Aden (Colony and Protectorate), Bahamas, Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, British Somaliland Protectorate, Brunei, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands,[3] Gold Coast (Colony and Protectorate), Grenada, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kenya (Colony and Protectorate), Malayan Union, Malta, Nigeria, North Borneo, Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, St. Helena and Dependencies, St. Vincent, Sarawak, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda Protectorate, and the High Commission Territories of the Western Pacific (Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, British Solomon Islands Protectorate, Pitcairn Islands). The value of the association of Non-Self-Governing Territories in the work of the specialized agencies as a means of attaining the objectives of Chapter XI of the Charter has been stressed. The procedures to be followed by the Organization in connexion with the information transmitted by Members regarding Non-Self-Governing Peoples have been carefully examined. The General Assembly, therefore,

1. Invites the Members transmitting information to send to the Secretary-General by 30 June of each year the most recent information which is at their disposal;

2. Recommends that the information transmitted in the course of 1947 by Members of the United Nations under Article 73e of the Charter should be summarized, analysed and classified by the Secretary-General and included in his report to the second session of the General Assembly, in order that, in the light of the experience gained, the General Assembly may be able to decide whether any other procedure may be desirable for dealing with such information in future years;

3. Recommends that the Secretary-General communicate to the specialized agencies the information transmitted, with a view to making all relevant data available to their expert and deliberative bodies;

4. Invites the Secretary-General to convene, some weeks before the opening of the second session of the General Assembly, an ad hoc Committee composed in equal numbers of representatives of the Members transmitting information under Article 73e of the Charter and of representatives of Members elected, by the General Assembly at this session, on the basis of an equitable geographical distribution;

5. Invites the Secretary-General to request the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the World Health Organization and the International Trade Organization, when constituted, to send representatives in an advisory capacity to the meeting of the ad hoc committee;

6. Invites the ad hoc Committee to examine the Secretary-General's summary and analysis of the information transmitted under Article 73e of the Charter with a view to aiding the General Assembly in its -consideration of this information, and with a view to making recommendations to the General Assembly regarding the procedures to be followed in the future and the means of ensuring that the advice, expert knowledge and experience of the specialized agencies are used to the best advantage.

Sixty-fourth plenary meeting,
14 December 1946. At its sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth plenary meetings, on 14 and 15 December 1946 respectively, the General Assembly, in accordance with the terms of the above resolution, elected eight Members of the ad hoc Committee. The composition of the Committee therefore is as follows: Members transmitting information under Article 73e of the Charter: Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America. Members elected by the General Assembly: Brazil, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Philippine Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Uruguay.

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[1] In this connexion reference is made to the journal of the United Nations, No. 55, to December 1946, Supplement No. 4, pages 79-80. [2] In this connexion reference is made to document A/200, dated 26 November 1946. [3] In regard to the Falkland Islands the delegation of Argentina, at the twenty-fifth meeting of the Committee, made a reservation to the effect that the Argentine Government did not recognize British sovereignty in the Falkland Islands. The delegation of the United Kingdom made a parallel reservation, not recognizing Argentine sovereignty in these islands.