The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1948. REFORM OF UNITED NATIONS, OR ELSE!

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22821, 16 December 1948, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1948. REFORM OF UNITED NATIONS, OR ELSE!

r jpilE estimate that the Palais de Chaillot session of the United Nations' General Assembly which ended last Sunday cost the

taxpayers of those countries represented £1,000,000, or over 0/- for every word spoken, coupled with the fact that little tangible in the settlement of major issues was achieved, must inevitably produce a reaction in the minds of people. It again emphasises the cost of the efforts to win the peace.

While the value of success cannot be measured in terms ol money, there does seem to be evidence in the meantime ol a degree

of prodigality which has not yet been explained and lor which tin.' nations’ leaders must be held responsible. Without explanation, it is too reminiscent of Geneva in the old days of the League of Nat ions.

A Paris report that the work of the delegates was greatly slowed down by the city's temptations resulting in the session’s atmosphere being more lackadaisical than in New York does not make good reading. Of the expenditure on the session it is said that more than half, which on the basis of the Paris newspaper estimate would be over £BOO.OOO, was spent by individual delegations. Money Unwed into the hotels, theatres, shops, restaurants, cabarets and the black market. In fact, a good time seems to have been had by most, it not bv all.

What was achieved in the discussions of (lie major political problems confronting the world today ? The agenda included such burning questions as the Berlin blockade with repercussions bordering on war, the Soviet call for disarmament and a share in the control of atomic energy, Palestine, Greece. Korea, (lie future of the Italian colonies, the treatment of Indians in South Africa, relations between India and Pakistan, and Spain. Home-For-Christmas Rush

For the first six weeks of the session the discussions were dominated by the Berlin situation and by the American presidential elections. The large agenda was crammed into the second six weeks and witli a home-for-Christmas rush it is no wonder that tlfe results were disappointing. The most heartening news is that following the Security Council’s discussion of the Berlin dispute, the tension between the East and the West has been somewhat reduced. The reason for this is obscure for the speeches were just as bitter as in the past and, despite negotiations on the currency question, the issues are still unsolved and are at the moment even more complicated by the Communists’ action in. setting up their own City Assembly, The president of the Assembly, Dr. 11. V. Evatt, says its foremost achievements were the proclamation of the declaration of human rights and the submission to member Governments of an international convention to outlaw genocide. But compared with the major issues these achievements seem small, for by what means are they to be enforced?

There is no doubt that the United Nations has made further progress on the economic side. For instance, an international scheme is being worked out for action to avoid a recurrence of world unemployment on the scale we had in the ’thirties, and we have the assurance of the Assistant Secretary-General, Mr. A. D. K. Owen, of success in the preliminary discussions. Another problem that is being tackled with energy is the development of many countries whose economic resources have not been used anything like to the full and whose standards are to he raised. There is a host of other economic questions upon which co-operation among the nations has been encouraging. In the political field, however, many United Nations’ delegates, it is reported, feel that the ultimate function of the Assembly will he mainly that of an international forum for a “cold war” of words. This is not an optimistic outlook, but if those words can avert war such methods will be justified. Many delegates believe that drastic reforms must be made in the. Assembly’s procedure to prevent a repetition of this year’s partial fiasco. The plain fact is that co-operation among the Big Five was from the outset recognised as essential to the United Nations’ successful functioning. Without this co-operation it must remain largely meaningless, and politically impotent. Present Sole Source of Strength

In the present circumstances the United Nations’ sole source of strength is its moral influence. It can express the measured judgment of the world. But Russia has increasingly shown her contempt for moral considerations and lias made it abundantly clear that force is the only argument understood by the Kremlin.

For these reasons there are some observers who claim that the Western Union, together with an Atlantic union, offers the best, and probably the only, chance of providing an effective counter to Russia and that their endorsement by a majority in the Assembly would strengthen the cause of peace more than any number of resolutions condemning aggression.

But such action, would no doubt cause Russia to withdraw from the United Nations and increase the cleavage between the East and the West. It is felt that so long as the United Nations provides a forum settlement by negotiation is possible, even if that seems remote at present. For that reason hope must be retained in the United Nations, but to make it more effective and to encourage more public confidence in it the General Assembly and Security Council procedure must be reformed, or at least an attempt made. If what has happened in the Palais de Chaillot in the past three months is repeated, international respect for the United Nations will suffer. By the facilities for personal association by the world’s leaders the United Nations has all the essential means of fostering international goodwill, and with the underlying issues of peace or war there must be renewed, resolute efforts to make it succeed.