2. The 24th Session of the Economic and Social Council is meeting in Geneva from July 2 to August 2. Canada is at present serving a three-year term of office on the Council, which is composed of 18 members of the United Nations. The function of the Council is to review and coordinate the economic and social policies of the United Nations.

3. The Canadian Delegation is as follows:

   Representative
   Dr. R.A. MacKay,
   Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, New York

   Alternative Representatives
   Mr. Wershof, Permanent Representative of Canada
   to the European Office of the United Nations

   Dr. G.F. Davidson, Deputy Minister of Welfare,
   Department of National Health and Welfare

   Dr. O.J. Firestone,
   Department of Trade and Commerce

   Mr. S. Pollock,
   Department of Finance.

4. The items to be considered at this session are, in general, issues which have already been discussed and social policies, and the debate is more in the nature of a review of attitudes than the taking of decisions. As it has not yet been possible for Cabinet to review all these questions, the Canadian Delegation has been instructed to avoid commitments and to conduct its intervention along the lines of generally acceptable Canadian positions. If issues arise on which a Government decision is required, these will be referred to Cabinet. Subjects discussed in the Economic and Social Council are referred to the General Assembly, which meets in the autumn, and it is in this body that Canadian policies may be defined.²⁴

5. Among the principal items under consideration is a review of development and co-ordination of all the programmes and activities of the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies. This review is undertaken annually to achieve the most effective utilization of the resources and expertise available to the Organization. The Council will consider the reports of four of its functional commissions the Commission on Human Rights, the Commission on the Status of Women (to which Canada has been elected, term of office to commence next year), the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (of which Canada is a permanent member), and the Social Commission. In connexion with the latter the Council will have before it a report on the world social situation on which a wide-ranging discussion is expected but on which the delegations will not be expected to take positions involving policy decisions.

6. The Council will also consider the annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There are two main issues: the possible extension in time of the High Commissioner's mandate and his shortage of funds. The Delegation has been instructed not to commit Canada to any further expenditures until the question of refugees can be considered by Cabinet.

7. Among the economic items on the agenda there are two which may give rise to controversy. One of these involves a long-standing proposal to establish a Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development (SUNFED), to which member countries would contribute funds (a total amount of $600 million has been suggested) for the financing of basic development projects in under-developed countries.²⁵ This proposal, which has been debated and examined many times in United Nations forums, is supported by most of the under-developed countries and some advanced countries such as the Netherlands. The United States and United Kingdom have led the opposition to SUNFED for somewhat differing reasons. The United States prefers to keep its funds for international assistance under its own control; the United Kingdom is more concerned about a possible extension of its external financial commitments. Neither the United States nor United Kingdom have shown any indication of changing their positions. The Delegation at the 24th Session is being instructed to maintain the position on SUNFED taken by other Canadian delegations during the past year, i.e. that we could consider Canadian participation only when sufficient support was forthcoming from the major potential contributors, and that we would wish to be assured that the administrative and operational aspects of the proposed fund were satisfactory. The Delegation has been asked to continue to do what it can to prevent the issue from dividing Western countries and the under-developed countries.

8. The other possibly contentious issue involves international trade in primary commodities. Many under-developed countries are heavily dependent on the export of a single, or of a very few, primary products; and these products are subject to violent fluctuations in price and volume. The under-developed countries have therefore been seeking some general over-all plan for commodity arrangements which could provide a solution to their difficulties; Canada and other countries have been urging a commodity-by-commodity approach to these problems and have supported and participated in a number of commodity arrangements to achieve more stability in trade in certain commodities such as wheat, sugar and tin. The discussion at the 24th session of ECOSOC is likely to be largely concerned with the international machinery for dealing with commodity problems. It is hard to tell whether differences in views regarding this machinery will, in fact, give rise to serious difficulties; in any event, the Delegation has been asked to give general support for a continuation of the status quo among the bodies chiefly concerned.

9. It is recommended²⁶

1. That the Canadian Delegation be approved as constituted.

2. That the instructions be approved as described above.

3. That the Delegation seek to play a useful role in discussions of the economic and social work of the United Nations but reserve its position or, if time allows, refer to Ottawa for instructions on matters specifically involving Canadian economic and social policies.

J.G. DIEFENBAKER

²⁴ À cause d'une erreur typographique évidente, l'original de ce document comporte deux paragraphes identiques numérotés (4). Un de ces paragraphes a été supprimé ici.
Due to an apparent typographical error, the original copy of this document has two identical paragraphs numbered (4). One of these duplicate paragraphs has been removed here.

²⁵ Pour les documents concernant SUNFED avant le 31 décembre 1958, voir la Section E du présent chapitre.
See Section E of this chapter for documents relating to SUNFED prior to December 31, 1958.

²⁶ Approuvé par le Cabinet le 11 juillet 1957.
Approved by Cabinet on July 11, 1957.