The second annual report of the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR, Ridgway), to the Standing Group of the Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on the operations of Supreme Head-quarters, Allied Powers, Europe (SHAPE) during the period since May 1952, was released on May 30, 1953. In reviewing the changes which had been made in the period under consideration – the first year in which General Ridgway held the position of SACEUR – the report noted that “much has been done to increase our defense forces and to make them more effective” but “measured against the Soviet capacity, our progress is insufficient to give us acceptable prospect of success if attacked”. SACEUR observed that by the end of 1952, the numerical goals for NATO forces set at the Lisbon meeting of the Council had in large part been met, “although there was a substantial shortfall in planned combat effectiveness”. The outstanding deficiency of a year ago in tactical air forces had been improved both from deliveries under the United States military assistance program and from increased combat capability; nevertheless, the Supreme Commander still regarded air power as “the weakest link in our defense”. While the growth of land forces had been “encouraging” if not “satisfactory”, the same was not true of the arrangements for the supply and support of those forces. General Ridgway emphasized the complexity of the present system in which each nation was responsible for the support of its own troops; however, he felt that the situation could largely be remedied with the approval and implementation of plans submitted by SHAPE to the Standing Group in October 1952. Progress had been good, the report noted, in the infrastructure program.

The World Health Organization sponsored an inter-regional conference on rabies, held on Coonoor, India, during July 1952, which gave intensive and individual training in complicated laboratory procedures to an international group. A consultant staff of eight members gave lectures, led discussions, and supervised the laboratory work of 47 participants. One of die objects of die conference was to teach standardized procedures in rabies tests so that results obtained in laboratories diroughout the world might be compared.

The second extraordinary session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was held in Paris from July 1 to 6, 1953. After setting up credentials and nominations committees, the Conference set up a drafting committee on personnel questions and elected two members of the Executive Board. Acting upon the nomination presented to it by the Executive Board, the Conference, by a vote of 39 to 17, appointed Dr. Luther H. Evans, Librarian of the United States Congress, as Director-General of the organization. The appointment was for a period of six years.

An extraordinary session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg from January 14–17, 1953. The major item of discussion during the session was the statute of a European political community.

The legislature of the West German Federal Republic completed on May 15, 1953, parliamentary action on the European Defense Community Treaty, the first of the six signatories to do so. However, the final steps in west Germany's ratification were delayed pending decisions from the courts on the constitutionality of the treaty and the method of its parliamentary approval.

From September 9 to 27, 1952, the Executive Committee of the World Meteorological Organization met in its third session in Geneva. The lengthy agenda contained a higher proportion of technical matters than in previous sessions. The committee made suggestions for meeting the shortage of experts in the various specialized aspects of meteorology and invited the regional associations to consider possible application of the United Nations expanded program of technical assistance in their areas. Two of the largest items on the agenda were the reports on the first sessions of Regional Association VI (Europe) and the Commission for Maritime Meteorology. Both sessions had brought to light difficulties in interpreting the WMO general regulations, and the committee issued guidance for use until the points could be finally settled by the Congress. It was generally agreed that the Executive Committee should encourage the work of die regional associations and the technical commissions. After discussing the general procedure for dealing with urgent technical enquiries referred to WMO, a resolution directing the secretariat to take a more active part in such questions was adopted. It was decided that a working group should be established to investigate how WMO could contribute to the UNESCO arid zone program, and that the committee should proceed with the preparation of world maps and tables of thunderstorm frequency. In all, about 50 resolutions were adopted at this session of the committee.

The headquarters of NATO, on March 12, 1953, published figures showing the defense expenditures of thirteen member countries during the last four years, while the Secretary-General (Ismay) stated in Washington, D.C., that from the year 1949–50 to the current year defense expenditures in the European NATO countries had increased by 120 percent.

From May 20 to 30, 1953, the Executive Board of the World Health Organization met in Geneva in its twelfth session. For the most part, the Board considered decisions of the Sixth World Health Assembly. One of the major problems was that of technical discussions at Assemblies. The Sixth World Health Assembly having requested the Executive Board to study the matter of organization and conduct of technical discussion at future Assemblies, in the light of recommendations made during that Assembly, the Board made a number of relevant decisions. Among them were the following: the topic for the discussions at the Seventh Assembly should be public-health problems in rural areas, the discussions should be continued on an informal basis and should be limited to a total period of not more than two working days, and the Director-General was requested to take appropriate action to prepare the technical discussions in accordance with this decision. The entire question of technical discussions at subsequent Assemblies was to be considered by the Board at its thirteenth session.

Annual Report: The fourth annual report of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which was approved by the Council of Ministers on December 12, 1952, differed from previous reports in that in its preparation the United States and Canada played parts entirely similar to those of member countries and that the recommendations made applied equally to west Europe and North America. The current situation was regarded as unsatisfactory: production in west Europe was either not rising or rising very slightly; inflationary tendencies in some countries and deflationary pressures in others stood in the way of stable development; several OEEC members still suffered from balance of trade disequilibria and nearly all had dollar shortages; and progress toward trade liberalization had halted and even retrogressed in some major instances. These difficulties, the report pointed out, could not be attributed to unusual or temporary factors; such temporary factors as Korea and World War II dislocations were no longer of major significance in the economic situation while such elements as defense expenditures and interrupted east-west trade could be considered permanent.

At Anse Vata, Noumea the tenth session of the South Pacific Commission was held from October 6 to 16, 1952, under the chairmanship of G. R. Powles, Senior Commissioner for New Zealand. Four plenary meetings were held, and the Commission continued the method of work previously adopted. It considered the progress achieved in the execution of the current work program and the modifications and extensions recommended by the Research Council at its fourth meeting and adopted resolutions which: 1) approved the continuation in 1953 of the Epidemiological Information Service in conjunction with the South Pacific Health Service, 2) approved the continuation of the standard quarantine regulations and alimentation and nutrition projects; 3) approved the recommendation of the Research Council that a specialist for research on mosquito-borne diseases be engaged on a long-term basis to undertake surveys in the field where requested and investigations as recommended by the Filariasis Conference in entomology, epidemiology and control; 4) resolved that grants-in-aid be made available for plant introduction and quarantine stations in the south Pacific; 5) sought the approval of participating governments for a request to the Food and Agriculture Organization to co-sponsor with the Commission a technical meeting on rice of representatives of south Pacific territories; and 6) authorized grants-in-aid to assist pasture experiments within the region and the repetition of acclimatization and feeding experiments with dairy cattle in Fiji.

The deputies of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe met in Strasbourg from March 16 through 19, 1953, under the chairmanship of Peter W. Scarlett (United Kingdom) and gave preliminary consideration to suggested revisions of the Council of Europe Statute designed to strengthen the Council and to facilitate liaison with proposed or existing European communities. The International Civil Aviation Organization was invited to convene a conference of European states — both members and non-members of ICAO — to examine the questions of more effective operation of airlines and methods of improving cooperation in this field. The deputies transmitted to the Consultative Assembly a memorandum submitted by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade on the problem of reducing tariffs. Other measures approved included: 1) cooperative arrangements between the Council of Europe and the Berne International Office for the Protection of Industrial Property; 2) a decision to convene a committee of governmental experts to examine recommendations for a European convention on extradition; and 3) the draft Convention on Medical and Social Assistance and a protocol extending the convention to refugees; and 4) draft rules for the establishment of relations with nongovernmental organizations.

The second part of the fourth ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg, September 15–30, 1952. Mr. Baggiano-Pico (Italy) was elected to the vice-presidency vacated by the death of Mr. Jacini. The President of the assembly (deMenthon, France) announced that an extraordinary session would be held in mid-January 1953, to consider the work of the Ad Hoc Assembly entrusted with the preparation of a draft treaty for a European political community, a decision in which the deputies of the Committee of Ministers later concurred.

In the period from June 4 through November 19, 1952, the Council of the Organization of American States held ten meetings. The General Secretariat was authorized to use supplementary credit to carry out resolution VIII of the Fourth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs which concerned strengthening internal security. The budgets of the Pan American Institute on Geography and History and the American Institute for the Protection of Childhood were examined by the Council. On two occasions, members were urged to pay their quotas of contributions for maintaining the Pan American Union and OAS specialized agencies. Among other decisions taken by the Council in relation to other inter-American organizations were approval of the reports on the Inter-American Telecommunications Conference, the Inter-American Radio Office, the Pan American Highway Congress, and the eighth assembly of the Inter-American Commission of Women. A report containing provisions on a draft revised constitution of the Pan American Sanitary Organization was approved by the Council following study by the Committee on Inter-American Organizations. It was further decided to establish cooperative relations with the International Road Federation.

During the summer of 1953, two questions of political importance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were raised. According to press reports, some NATO members felt that the Council should discuss the questions of Germany and of the policy which the west should adopt if the Soviet Union proposed full withdrawal of all foreign troops from Germany as a prelude to reunification. The eventual agreement, if any were reached, was not made known, but press reports indicated that there were several obstacles to such a discussion: 1) the German Federal Republic was not a member of NATO; 2) the United States did not want to consider publicly alternatives to the European Defense Community; 3) France opposed direct entrance of the German Federal Republic into NATO; and 4)other NATO members felt that the work of the organization should be first in the military, and eventually in the economic social and cultural fields but not in the political-diplomatic field.

The Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization met in Paris, December 15–18, 1952, the first meeting of the Council on a ministerial level since the Lisbon meeting of February 1952. Ministers of foreign affairs, finance and defense of the fourteen NATO members took part in the meeting. Observers agreed that the principal fact conditioning the discussions and decisions of the ministers was the impending change of government in the United States.

The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration was established during the fourth session of the Provisional Intergovernmental Committee for the Movement of Migrants from Europe which met in Geneva from October 13 to 21, 1952. Twenty member governments sent official delegations to this session, which had been called to discuss the need for the continuing existence of the migration committee beyond the twelve month period ending December 1952 and to decide whether the experimental plan of attack on Europe's chronic surplus population problem during the previous year should be broadened or abandoned. Count Justo Giusti del Giaro (Italy) was unanimously elected as chairman and A. L. Nutt (Australia), N. Hadji Vassiliou (Greece) and Fernando Donoso (Chile) as first and second vice chairmen and rapporteur, respectively. During the nine-day conference, the committee voted to change its name to Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM); to continue the activities of the committee in Geneva through, 1953 and to make plans during the coming year for the future; to set themselves the 1953 target of moving 120,000 of western Europe's surplus to new homes overseas; to authorize the committee to attempt to improve the selection and settlement services involved in the movement of migrants in the expectation that this would substantially speed up and increase movement;, to establish a $2,147,000 administrative and a $34,608,475 operational budget to effect the 1953 movements; and to continue investigations and discussions on the possibilities of securing outside financial and technical assistance for the establishment of land settlement projects in immigration countries.

The twenty-second annual report of the Bank for International Settlements, covering the period from April 1, 1951, to March 31, 1952, was made public in June 1952. The report noted that in the first half of 1950, immediately prior to the outbreak of fighting in Korea, a real approach had been made throughout the world toward economic balance; the equilibrium had not, however, been too secure. The effects of the double impact of Korea and the rearmaments efforts of the west, with accompanying increases in imports and rise in prices of raw materials, had finally been arrested only in early 1951.

The undersigned, the Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command, on the one hand, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army and the Commander of the Chinese People's Volunteers, on the other hand, in the interest of stopping the Korean conflict, with its great toll of suffering and bloodshed on both sides, and with the objective of establishing an armistice which will insure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved, do individually, collectively, and mutually agree to accept and to be bound and governed by the conditions and terms of armistice set forth in the following Articles and Paragraphs, which said conditions and terms are intended to be purely military in character and to pertain solely to the belligerents in Korea.