General

The agenda for the Twelfth Session of ECOSOC is relatively light and should be easily completed within the four weeks period estimated by the Secretary-General. There may be a tendency on the part of the Latin American members to prolong a meeting being held in their own territory, and the Cominform delegations will undoubtedly contribute to this end by using the Council as a propaganda forum. The Delegation should resist attempts to draw out the session longer than is genuinely necessary to deal with its agenda thoroughly and efficiently.

2. The three Cominform members of the Council, the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia, can be expected to make the most of their opportunities for propaganda at the Santiago Session. The fact that Chile has broken diplomatic relations with these Governments may be an additional incentive for them to use the Council as a medium of propaganda in that area. It is to be hoped that the non-Communist members of the Council will refuse to be drawn into lengthy and futile propaganda debates, and the Delegation should do what it can towards this end.

3. The Council will review the progress made in setting up the United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency. Canada has endorsed the United Nations programme of relief and rehabilitation in Korea both in the Council and in the General Assembly, and the Government has pledged financial support of the programme (Cabinet decision of November 23, 1950). The Delegation should support United Nations action in helping the Korean people to repair the ravages of war in their country.

4. The Delegation should continue to maintain a close scrutiny of all proposals, and to assess the various plans submitted with a view to ensuring that the limited resources of funds and facilities are put to the best purpose.

Economic Questions

5. The principal economc items are those 'relating to technical assistance and economic development of under-developed countries. The general Canadian position on these questions has been clearly defined at previous sessions of the Council and of the General Assembly, and the Delegation should continue to be guided by the instructions approved for earlier sessions. Canadian support of the principles and objectives of the Technical Assistance Programme could be stressed, and the Delegation should continue to press for effective co-ordination and careful selection of projects of practical value.

6. The under-developed countries will undoubtedly exert heavy pressure on the Council to approve measures designed to stimulate the flow of investment capital for economic development and the location of the Session in Latin America, with the consequent increase in local press publicity, will probably encourage these delegations to press their claims with added vigour. The desire of the less advanced countries to improve their economic conditions and the standard of living of their people is valid, and the Delegation should be most careful to avoid giving any impression that Canada is unsympathetic to legitimate aspirations. However, as Canadian delegations have stressed in the past, before the governments of underdeveloped countries can expect substantial increase of investment from abroad many of them will have to try to create a political, economic and social atmosphere that is friendly rather than hostile to such investment and to the measure of outside concern in their affairs that necessarily goes with it. Moreover, the Economic and Social Council itself is not, nor is it likely to become, a suitable channel for arranging or facilitating inter-governmental financing. The International Bank can and does provide loans to under-developed countries where the chances of repayment are reasonably good; in the sphere of other capital assistance, such as grants, most countries in a position to provide it will prefer to do so under bilateral arrangements rather than through a U.N. agency. This is the present position of the Canadian Government; it is also the position of other governments as indicated by the Marshall Plan and the Colombo Plan.

Social Questions

7. The most difficult item on the agenda in the social field is that concerning forced labour, and measures for its abolition. A joint U.S.-U.K. resolution calling for the establishment of a U.N.-I.L.O. commission of inquiry was tabled at the Eleventh Session and will come before the Council at the Twelfth Session for a decision. The proposed inquiry is intended to serve propaganda purposes by collecting evidence on forced labour in the Soviet Union and other Cominform countries. As such an inquiry could not benefit the victims of forced labour, and as thepropaganda value of the undertaking is doubtful, it would be preferable if some alternative course of action could be agreed upon which would meet the U.S. and U.K. position without involving the U.N. in a risky propaganda venture. If a satis­factory compromise is impossible and the U.S.-U.K. proposal stands, the Delega­tion should support it. In that event, all necessary facilities should be provided to the Commission to ensure a first-class inquiry.³⁷

L.B. PEARSON

³⁶ Le chef de la délégation était John Kearney, ambassadeur en Argentine.
The Canadian delegation was led by John Kearney, Ambassador in Argentina.

³⁷ Approuvé par le Cabinet, le 13 février 1951./Approved by Cabinet, February 13, 1951.