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Canada & the UN > Lester Pearson’s Role in the UN & FAO United Nations Association in Canada's "Lester B. Pearson's Role in the Formation of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and in Other United Nations Activities " Continued... (Part 4 of 6) SECTION II: Other
United Nations Activities
During the last years of World War II and the immediate postwar period, the timing of Pearson’s tenure in Washington (1942-46) jibed almost perfectly with the most active formative period of the United Nations (1943-47) and its first agencies. As such, Pearson often represented Canada at many of the successive international conferences of the United Nations when it commenced shaping policies for the handling of post-war problems such as food, relief and rehabilitation, and finance. He was a strong advocate for, and encouraged the growth of, the United Nations and in particular its economic and social agencies including the formation of the FAO; the creation of the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA); and discussions that led to the recommendation for an Atomic Energy Commission. While this account will not go into further details on the following agencies, it should be noted that Pearson was also involved in the formative periods of the UN Security Council, the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Civil Aviation Agency (ICAO) and in preliminary discussions on the World Health Organization (WHO). Pearson continued to be involved in various UN activities and programmes after he returned to Canada in the fall of 1946. While he is perhaps best known for his participation at the UN in several major crises (Palestine, Korea, Suez, Cyprus) and for his proposal for a UN Emergency Force at Suez, Pearson also headed the Canadian delegations to the UN from 1948-1956, and served as President of the UN General Assembly in 1952-53. As well, he was Chairman of the Commission on International Development, established by the World Bank in 1968. On two occasions, there was speculation that Pearson might be elected as UN Secretary-General (1945 and 1953), but on both occasions, the USSR imposed its veto. United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) UNRRA was one of several international institutions set up during and after World War II by the allied nations to contribute to a better world. Founded in Washington on November 9, 1943, even before the official creation of the UN, UNRRA was "a promise to the invaded lands and their people who were fighting for the common cause by sabotage - in the hills, underground - that once the aggressors’ yoke had been lifted, the uninvaded lands would pool their resources to send food and medicines and clothing and other emergency supplies."21 Set up for the post-war transitional period only (the problems of reconstruction were to be met by other institutions), it’s mandate was to provide assistance to war victims in the occupied territories and to provide quick, efficient and effective relief and rehabilitation of territories devastated during the war.F4 Pearson believed strongly inUNRRA’s potential for helping to build a better world for all, stating that "...UNRRA must not merely do its job well; it must do it so well that it will give heart and courage to the governments who, slowly but steadily, are building up the international structure of peace; so well that it will, by its example, bring hope to men and women, who, if that structure falls, will again be crushed beneath its ruins."22 As such, and given that the creation and work of UNRRA coincided almost perfectly with his posting in Washington, Pearson was involved in UNRRA from its beginning to its end. He was the Canadian representative on the committee which first started to work on the issue in 1942 and which resulted in the creation of UNRRA. When established in 1943, Canada was not one of the four nations comprising the Central Committee of UNRRA (USA, UK, USSR, China), however Pearson was elected Chairman of the influential Supplies Committee and, as such, was entitled to sit on the Central Committee. During UNRRA’s final year (1946), he became Chairman of the Subcommittee for Displaced Persons which was concerned with those who had lost their homes due to war and persecution. The major issues of concern to the Supplies Committee were world food shortages and the allocation of food supplies. Pearson was heavily involved in the intricate negotiations, especially those revolving around which institution should be responsible for international food allocation. He helped defeat the push from Eastern European states to have UNRRA take over food allocation responsibilities from the Combined Food Board (CFB). However, recognizing their concerns over the CFB’s limited membership of three nations (USA, UK, Canada), he presided over the committee which recommended the setting up of an International Emergency Food Council (IEFC) with wide membership to replace the CFB. This recommendation was adopted and the IEFC was set up. The role of UNRRA came into full force at the end of World War II when it was called upon to assist military authorities in the repatriation of over six million persons23 after"occupied territories in Europe, Southeast Asia and the Pacific were liberated. There was much to do in relief and rehabilitation and this was being done.If there was inefficiency in the doing and some corruption, nevertheless, without UNRRA, there would have been infinitely more suffering and destitution after the war and a far slower rate of recovery and rehabilitation."24 USA-UK (-Canada) Atomic Energy Collaboration and Agreements
Creation of the United Nations Organization During the last years of World War II, allied governments, led by President Roosevelt, were determined to establish a new international institution to replace the failed League of Nations. More thoroughly described in "Everyone’s United Nations", the major events leading to the creation of the United Nations Organization were as follows:
Canada’s involvement in the process really began once the concrete planning process started at Dumbarton Oaks. While Canada was not an official participant at Dumbarton Oaks, Pearson was extremely active in making Canada’s views known informally to both the British and American representatives in Washington. "Our duty at the Legation was to maintain close touch with these talks in order to make the Canadian position known on points of concern.., in the hope that this would avoid, or at least reduce, public differences and disputes later at (San Francisco)..."26 Both at Dumbarton Oaks and subsequently in San Francisco, Canada and Pearson fought strongly against the veto and for "narrowing the gap between the rights and obligations of the great and lesser powers... so as to make it a more effective instrument for the maintenance of peace and for peaceful change."27 More specifically, Canada was concerned that "nothing should be done to make, or appear to make, three or four powers controllers of the world’s destiny, with all the others, without distinction, grouped together as ‘other members of the UN’."28 Canada advocated strongly that, while each of the five great powers (USA, UK, USSR, China, France) should have a special position of permanent membership in the UN with special power and responsibility, it should not be an exclusive position. Other members needed to be recognized, and there should be some kind of "functional principle" which further defined and accepted different levels of power and responsibility between them. Canada also wanted more definition of the role of the Economic and Social Council, and how the United Nations Organization was going to provide effective coordination of the activities of its functional and specialized agencies (both existing and future agencies). Pearson, personally, was "most concerned over the proposals that dealt with the organization of security and with measures to prevent and defeat aggression"29 -- those items which became the core of the UN Charter. "Of the international issues with which I was involved during my war years in Washington, ... the most important of all was the question of how to make a just and lasting peace and create a United Nations organization to maintain and strengthen it." "I was certain that if we made no progress in drawing up the blue-prints for a new world order when the agony of war and the unity of purpose in a common struggle were drawing us together, we would find it far more difficult to do this later when nationalist prides and prejudices would become strong again and narrow concepts of national interest prevail."30 Pearson’s global vision of the potential of the United Nations never wavered during his lifetime and he persistently took any opportunity to voice these views. He was proud to be characterised as idealistic and Utopian, stating in his acceptance speech for the Victor Gollancz Humanity Award in 1972 that "The ideal of world peace and security through international action and institutions may seem Utopian in today’s world but, as Anatole France once wrote,‘without the Utopians of other times, men would still live in caves, miserable and naked. Utopia is the principle of all progress and the essay into a better future." President of the UN General Assembly, 1952 - 1953 As the 7th regular President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Pearson was responsible for chairing UNGA meetings and for back corridor work bringing the UNGA agenda forward. His primary preoccupation and challenge during the year was to resolve the Korean conflict (for more information, see the peacekeeping section below). One of the other major contributions Pearson made to the UN during his Presidency was during the latter period of his tenure when he sparked an idea that led to making the UN a more universal organization. Since its inaugural year, the UN had maintained a membership of 51. The USSR had blocked membership applications from countries such as Ireland, Italy and Finland in counter-response to the USA’s objection to the admission of Outer Mongolia, which it believed to be little more than a Russian colony. Pearson, about to leave for an official visit to the USSR, asked the head of the Canadian delegation to the UN, Paul Martin (Sr), to discuss with the Soviet representative Pearson’s travel plans and also whether the deadlock could be resolved. Pearson’s idea and Martin’s diplomacy led to a package deal in which 16 new nationsF7 were admitted to the UN on December 14, 1955 and which ultimately paved the way for future growth of the organization. Images and Quotes
Footnotes F4 UNRRA focussed on the repatriation of those who wished and were able to return to their countries of origin. A separate international institution, the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (1939-46), was responsible for finding emigration opportunities abroad for other refugees. In December 1946, both organizations were succeeded by a non-permanent specialized agency of the United Nations, the International Refugee Organization (IRO), which was responsible for all activities concerning refugees. In 1951, this organization was absorbed into a permanent specialized UN agency,the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which continues to protect the interests of refugees. [Back] F5 The Commission ultimately concluded without result in 1947. [Back] F6 During 1947, politics and rapid changes in the atomic energy field led to the decline of UK-USA-Canadian cooperation and information exchange on military and civilian applications of atomic energy to a negligible level. After seven years, in 1954, full USA-UK information exchange was re-established. By that time, Canada had chosen not to develop military applications of atomic energy and was focussing on a civilian power programme. [Back] F7 The 16 new nations admitted to the UN on December 14, 1955 were: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ceylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Rumania and Spain. [Back] References 21 United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), The Story of UNRRA,UNRRA Office of Public Information, Washington, 1948, p 3 [Back] 22 Lester Pearson at a UNRRA Council meeting, 1944. Source: Dr. Jahn’s presentation speech for Nobel Prize, p 3 [Back] 23 United Nations High Commission for Refugees, An Instrument of Peace, UNHCR, p 95 [Back] 24 Lester Pearson, op.cit. -Mike, Vol. I, p 256 [Back] 25 Lester Pearson, ibid., p262 [Back] 26 Lester Pearson, ibid., p268-69 [Back] 27 Lester Pearson, ibid., p270 [Back] 28 Lester Pearson, ibid., p267 [Back] 29 Lester Pearson, ibid., p272 [Back] 30 Lester Pearson, ibid., p264 [Back]
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