Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council resumed its 20th session at UN Headquarters with its 894th meeting on December 5, and concluded the session with its 899th meeting on December 15. The Council formulated its basic program of work for 1956, considered and with minor changes approved the provisional agenda for its 21st session which had been drawn up by the Secretary-General, and adopted a draft list of items for the 22d session, which it planned to review at the 21st session. The Council dealt as follows with questions arising out of the tenth session of the General Assembly: 1) it decided that in the course of considering the general agenda item financing of economic development at its 22d session, it would deal with the establishment of the Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development (SUNFED), the international flow of private capital, and international tax problems, as sub-items; 2) it approved without discussion the Secretary-General's proposals relating to advisory services in the field of human rights;1 and 3) it approved without objections the Secretary-General's proposals with regard to the administration of programs of technical assistance. The question of re-establishing the Council's discontinued Economic, Employment and Development Commission was considered at the resumed 20th session, as were its terms of reference in the event that it should be reactivated. A number of representatives held the view that the functions performed by the Commission had been assigned to other bodies, and that revival of the Commission would lead to overlapping and inefficiency; it was also argued that while a commission of experts had been invaluable in the planning stage of economic development, governmental representation, as in the case of the Council's other commissions, could be more effective in the stage of actual operations.