S/PV.40 Security Council

.!.am going tG put the resolution of -the Australian representative to a vote. mettre aux voix l'Australie.

1 wish to propose that the Sub-Committee should be made up of the representatives of Australia, Brazil, China,France and Poland. If th~re is no objection, the proposaI is adopted. tion Je de .Mr. LANGE (Poland): 1 should like to add to the President's proposaI that the representative of Australia be Chairman of the Sub- Committee. The PRES~ENT: Since there is no· objection" the proposaI 18 adopted., qu'il adoptée. 1 propose that we concIude this meeting and that the neXt meeting be called when there are prochaine further matters for discussion. saisi Th~ meeting rose at 3.40 p.m. fORTIETH MERING Held at Hunter Gollege, New York, on Wednesday, 8 May 1946, at 3p.m. President: AnFI Pasha (Egypt). Present: The representatives of the following countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, United States of America. Australie, Mexique, Etats-Unis 54. Provisional agenda (document S/54) 54. 1. Adoption of the agenda. 1. 2. The Iranian question: 2. (a) Letter dated 18 March 1946 from the . representative of Iran addressed ta the Secretary-General (document S/15).1 Letter dated 18 March 1946 from the representative of Iran addrtSSed to the President of the Security Council (document S/l~).' . 55. Adoption of the agenda 56. Continuation of the discussion 'ln the Ira~ian question

In his letter dated 6 May, the IrarJan representative informed the Council as follows: "USSR troops have now heen completely evacuated :from the provinces of Khurasan, Gorgan, Mazanderan and Gilan. This information is based upon investigations made by responsible officiaIs of the Goveniment of Iran. "So far as the province of Azerbaijan is"concemed, the Government has been informed through other sources that the evacuation of USSR troops from that province has been going forward a:nrl it is said will have heen completed 1 ingérences prévoir ment renseignement Dans de l'avenir, The Council ha.s not so far received any direct informai:ion from the other party concerned. In these circumstances, it is now for the Council to decide what future action should be taken in this matter. (traduit 4 nement à lui .les était MI'. STETTINIUS (United States of America): Id its resolution of 4 April,lthe Security Council requested the Govemments of the USSR and Iran to report to the Council on 6 May as to whether the withdr?wal of all USSR, troops from the whole of Iran had been completed. The Government of the USSR has not complied with the request of the Council. The Iranian Government, for its part, has complied with the request, but only in a preliminary manner, and apparently, as fully. as conditions have permitted. In its report, the Iranian Gov- . eroment stated that it was not possible, at this rime, for its representntives to make a complete report because it had no opportunity to ascertain through its own officials the conditions prevailing in the province of Azerbaijan. conformé le demande, minaire que rapport, ses actuelle, qu'il l'intermédiaire conditions l'Azerbaïdjan. In view of the statement by the Iranian Government that it will report promptly to the Council the true state of affairs in Azerbaijan as soon as it is able to ascertain the facts through its own official representatives, and recognizing the difficulties of communication a..lld !rave! in that remote area, 1wish to submit to the Council, for its consideration, a draft resolution which 1 should now like to read to you: iranien, aux termes de laquelle il rendra prompte. ment compte dans le l'LlltermédiaÏre ciels nicatiolls lointaine, Conseil maintenant vous "The Security Council, "Having considered the statement made by the Iranian Government in its preliminary report of 6 May, submitted in" compliance with the resolution of4 April 1946, that it was not able as of 6 May to state whether the withdrawal of all USSR troops from the whole of Iran had been completed, vernement du 6 mai, résolution il dire du CCTo request the Iranian Government to sùbmit a complete report on the subject to the Sef urity Cauneil immediately upon the receipt of the information which will enable it so to do; and in ease it is unable toobtain such information by 20 May, to report on t.tat day such information as is available to it at that time; and "To consider immediately following the receipt from the lranian Government of the report r:equested, what further proceedings may he required." The PRESIDENT: Does any member wi'lh to speak about this United States proposai? Does the Cauneil accept the proposai then? Mr. HASLuCK (Australia). The Australian delegation has no objection to this draft resolution 50 far as it goes. It quite accords with thepolicy which we have urged tbroughout; namely, that the Couneil must be in possession of information before it takes any action. But 1 would, call attention to the fact that when we last dealt with this matter on ~ April, it was resolved to request information not orny from the Government of Iran,· but aIso from the Government of the USSR. To speak plainly, it seems that the Govemment of· the USSR has ignored .this Couneil's request~ We must aIso look at the awkward but .in~eapable fact that there. are orny ten members sitting at this council table. We have had that experience on one previous. occasion. When it happens once, suCÎl absence may be regarded .in .the nature of a protest. When it happem; twic~, 1t looks as though we may be in ~'e'. process of establishing a procedure very dangerous ta the work of this·organ. 1 think weare tou...hing on a matterwhich is of.very deep coneem to the United Nations and certainly to ou~ delegation. We feel· that wecannot let this Q.ccasion pass withoutdra,Ang attention to the fact and aIso pointing tosome of itsimplieations. It· seems to ~s !bat if a member of tbis Council absents himse1ffrom the Couneil, he is establishing a situation which affects notonIy .lùa· 'OWn position as a member, butalso the funetioningof the Council,and we shouldIike to reach some dearer idea of what is theexaet consequence of such action. It· .isobviously not a matter whichthe (JouncR can resolve this afternoon, but we suggest .itis. a matter whichthe Council must :resolve· in",the very near ·future. When, a memculière ques-uns discussion quant l'Australie membre affecte le vote. laquelle llctuelle, dangereuse qui conduisant l'idée son organisme organisme Même sim.pIe d'hui, caractère mis Then,apart from these general questions of constitutionality, it seems to us there is a questions deeper principle. Our interpretation of the un Charter is that each.member of this Council, tation whethér permanent or non"permanent, acts in du a representative capacity that extends beyond dans the representation of bis own Government. He représentation is acting on behalf of all the Members of the agit United Nations. Some of us, the non-permanent l'Organisation members, have been appointed to this position d'entre aro the result of an election. Others, the perma" ~té nent members, have been appointed to this a position as the resu1tof a provision in the Char-'1 permanents, ont été nommés en application d'une ter agreed to by all the Members of the United clause Nations who are signatoriea to the Charter. ~emb~es But whether our authority cornes from election slgn~taIl'es or whether it comes from the Charter it seems prOVIennent tous that each and every member of'this body de acts in a representativê capacity, exercising the me~bres powers conferred on him not soleIy' on bis own repre~entative,~n hehalf but on behaIf of all other Members. ont ~ propre, Can we entertain a situation in which. a member· holding officeunder such conditions laquelle can select", an Qccasion on whichhe cloes not conditions c~oose to actas a representatîve? If we enter" pas ta;ned tha,t idea fora moment, it would under-' arrêtions nune the whole stru~ure ofthis body. It would 'structure MI'. Hasluck has drawn our attention to a number of very important points which arise out of the situation in which for the second time we find ourselves: that of being deprived of the presence of one of our number. 1 am sure we should be grateful to him for drawing our attention to t.!}ese points, but at the same time, 1 should like ta say if 1 may, and explain Ü 1 can, that 1 think he perhaps exaggerates a little the difficulty in which we find ourselves. The ab<,p:.:-:e of one of our number from this table dOf:> not halt the Council's work. We sit here and function. As regards a quorum, 1 table, believe we have no rule relating to a necessary la quorum, unless you could infer something from the voting rule which requires that any actual moins resolution or decision requires' an affirmative vote of at least seven members. 1résolutions membres Now, as regards the responsibility of members of the Council, it is quite true, 1 suppose, that Conseil, we all sit here with a sort of large responsibility lorsque to all the Members of the United Nations; sorte and ta remain away from any of our discussions Membres de l'Organisation des Nations Unies, may be considered ta a certain extent to amount le fait to an evasion of that responsibility. Well, that conques is a matter which any member of the Council mesure, must settle with his own conscience. But, as bilité. regards the effect of absence upon the action membres of the Couneil or upon the voting, r cannot conscience. see that there is really any difference b~tween l'absence absence from this table or presence at the table ou sur le vote, and abstention from a vote. It seems to me une that the general effect is the same. There is table' a difference in sorne ways; that is ta say, the voter. absence certainly does imply sorne sort of evasion y of responsibility or obligation~, and may in sorne que l'absence implique certainement cases reduce the authority of the Council, but évasion 1 cannat see that it has any actual effect upon peut the ability of the Council ta take a decision, Conseil, any more than has sitting in a chair and abstaineffet réel sur l'aptitude ing from vcting. décision de 1 think therefore that the problems to which Ml'. Hasluck has drawn our attention are not really quite so grave as might at first be thought, or, at least, 1 do not think they are new problems. There may be a good deal ta be studied with regard ta the effect on the voting rules. We shall have ta undertake that study in the Course of our future labours. We cannat, of course, settle anything here today. 1 do not sur lesquels M. Hasluck a attiré notre attention ne sont pas tout penser pas peut-être les de travaux vons que l'absenc,e regrettée la nouveau l'anglais): ~ea1ly think that any new or different problem IS presented by the ..regretted absence of one of OUI' members here tpday. MI'. VAN KLEFFENS (Netherlands): When 1 read the draft resolution presented by the The Australian representative now raises number of questions, important questions no doubt, several of which, as he himself observed, we do not have to go into this afternoon. But it seems to me that we must give an answer ta one of the questions which he raisedalthough 1 hardly thought myself that it was or could be a question at allnamely, whether the Couneil can legitimately adopt a resolution on a matter of procedure in spite of the fact that one member of the Couneil has chosen to be absent. 1 may recall that at a previous meeting pointed out how undesirable it would be for a member, instead of submitting to a decision which, in the opinion of the required majority, had been legitimately taken, to absent himse1f. If that methtJt were followed in any association, the working of that association would be seriously hampered, il not prevcnted altogether. It cannot be the intention of the Charter to give to any member of the Oouncil, whether permanent or not, the power to prevent a resolution from being adopted by the simple expedient of absenting himself. 1 therefore think that we can quite legitimately adopt a resolution on the matter of procedure; and may 1 recall that without this question being explicitly raised, we implicitly took that point of view on a previous occasion. As to the possibility of taking à. decision on the question of a permanent member's right to absent himself, 1 should Iike to reserve my opinion. It seems to me that we need not go into that point· this 'aftemoon. May 1 suggest that we may settl~ this question by voting and, 1 hope and trust, by adopting the United States draft resolution now before us.

1 amgoing to put the draft resolution submitted by the representative of the United States ta a 'ote. The 'Iesolunon was adopted without objection. The PRESIDENT: We shalI adjoum to a date which will be fixed later. The meeting 'Iose al 3.50 p.m. FORTY-FIRST MEETING Held at Hunter College, New York, on Thursday, 16 May 1946 at 11 a.m. President: AFIFI Pasba (Egypt). Present: The representatives of the fol1owing countries:Australia, BraziI, China, Egypt,