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Nations Unies UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION MONDIALE ORGANIZATION DE LA SANTÉ ЕВЗ/26 7 January 1949 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH EXECUTIVE BOARD Third Session ASSISTANCE TO THE UNITED NATIONS IN RELIEF FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES Pursuant to the decisions taken by the Executive Board at its second session,1 the Director-General presents his report on assistance to the United Nations for relief to Palestine refugees # 1 Relations with the United Nations 1.1 The decision of the Executive Board on this matter was conmuni- cated to the Secretary-General by cable and letter, on 30 October 1948, the day the resolution was adopted. 1.2 On 22 November the General Assembly adopted a resolution on 2 Assistance to Palestine Refugees which contained the following clauses: "The General Assembly "Requests the Secretary-General to take all necessary steps to extend aid to Palestine refugees and to establish such administrative organization as may be required for this purpose, inviting the assistance of the appropriate agencies of the several Governments^ the specialized agencies of the United Nations� the United Mations International Childrens Emergency Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the League of Red Cross Societies and other voluntary agencies" "Requests the Secretary-General to appoint a Director of United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees, to whom he may delegate such responsibility as he may consider appropriate for the over- all planning and implementation of the relief programme；” The Assembly also agreed to the convoking》 at the discretion of the Secretary-»General of an ad hoc advisory committee nominated by the President of the General Assembly; and urged "WHO and other specialized agencies^ UNICEF and other appropriate organizations, "acting within the framework of the relief programme, promptly to и contribute supplies^ spécialisai personnel and other services . .• . * 1.3 In the above-mentioned resolution, the Assembly approved the \ EB2/96 Revol page 9 ^ UN document A/731 expenditure of 恭29,5P0，000 (plus 恭500,000 for administrative costs) to provide relief for 500,000 refugees for the nine months from 1 December .... ...- 1948 to 31 August 1949. It established for this purpose a Special Fund, ‘ to which Governments were urged to make contributions in kind or in Funds； and authorized an advance of $5,000,000 from the Working Capital , Fund of the United Nations for immediate operations. 1»4 In pursuance of these decisions, the Secretary-General of the United Nations undertook negotiations with voluntary relief agencies concerning their participation in field operations in Palestine. Upon receiving a report on this subject from the WHO observer at the General Assembly^ the Director-General wrote to the Secretary-General of the United Nations the foilowingí "With reference to the problem of the Palostine Refugees> I would once again draw your attention to the position of the World Health Organization in this matteг• This is very concisely set.out in the resolution adopted by the Executive Board during the course of its second, seësiori held from 25 October to 11 November, 1948.• H From thi苕 you will see that the World Health Organization is ready and willing to undertake'responsibilities in connexion with the health of these refugees. To be more specific, I may tell you that I am in a position to appoint a Health Officer, to be in charge of all the health aspects of this problem^ and an efficient assistants Expenses beyond this would require to be borne from the Funds allocated by the Assembly. "工 would draw your attention to the advisability, when planning, of consulting this Organization at the earliest possible, moment, so that there shall be no misunderstanding of responsibilities and no undue divergences of technical opinion/. A direct approach to the World Health Organization by the International Red Cross for assistance, since the WHO has no available funds for this purpose, and since the International Red Cross Organizations are international non- governmental organizations which have recently•been brought into w relations with the World Health Organization, could be embarrassing. 1.5 In reply, the Secretary-General wrote, on 7 December 1948, as follows : fî , I am most grateful for your letter of 3 December. The resolution adopted by the Executive Board of the World Health Organization at its second session was welcomed by my colleagues and myself when we were assisting the General Assembly in the preparation of its plans for Palestine Refugee Relief. We now hope in the very near future to discuss with you appropriate arrangements' under which we may benefit from the co-operation which the.World Health Organization has so generously offered. The newly-appointed Director of United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees., Mr. Stanton Griff is, looks forwa'rd to conferring with you for this purpose when he proceeds to • • Geneva at the end of this week. • « . With reference to the last paragraph of your letter, the direct approaches for assistance to the World Health Organization will certainly be raade by me or by the Director on my behalf, in accordance with the General Assembly's resolution. r "I do waixt to make it clear, however,\ tíí0t under, the United Nations Relief Programme,the International Red Cross Committee,the League of Red Gross Societies and the American Friends Service Committee have been given complete responsibility for operations in the field. Apart therefore, from any requests for assistance to the Director himself, my approaches to you and to other specialized agencies with a view to obtaining your participation in the planning of operations, and thereafter your advice and belp^ would b e made ,fi n consultation with and on behalf of those organizations. 1.6 The United Nations Director of RPR is to be.responsible for the procurement and shipping of the supplies which will be obtained from the contributions of governments and from other sources. The provisions • ... _ • concerning co-operation with other agencies 'may be summarized, as follows: ..... ... , •’......... ... The Intemationâl Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies‘aro recognized ад th# sole responsible operat- ing and distributing agencies of the United TIations refugee relief - programme•； offers of assistance from other voluntary agencies are to be referred to the international Red Cross orgapizatioás, which may accept or reject such offers. 1.6.2 Participation of the specialized agencies in the United Nations relief programme is to be'subject to the general rule stated .in para- graph 1.6»1 above. Their participation is to be sought as may appear appropriate and benificlal; however， it is understood that this parti- cipation "will be under the direction and control of the International Committee of the Red Gross and the ..League of Red Cross Societies, throi^i whom (the specialized agencies) will submit such operational or-finan- cial reports as are required and agreed between the Director of United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and the League and International Comiiiittee of the Red Cross". .... �. ! 1.6.3 The three voluntary agencies mentioned in the Secretary-General s •. ._••... ••.‘ ‘. letter which is quoted above, will operate as equal and'autonomous partners having full responsibility in their respective .fields as follows s , ；^ . ..... • ..... ..、 International Red Cross Committee t to -conduct relief operations in the northern and central areas of Palestine. League of Red Cross Societies? to support and assist the national Red Cross Societies of the Arab countries concerned .. 、 * ' - . - -. : •- American Friends Service Committee ？ to conduct relief operations in the southern Palestine area. •• ». 1.7 It is clear from the above that the decision of the Secretary- General regarding relief to Palestine refugees was made without consul- ting WHO on the health aspects of this problem. It is to be noted that there was complete understanding between the Director of Relief of the United Nations Mediator's Office and the Director-General concerning the importance of the health aspects, and that the Director-General took all measures which he considered warranted, in.accordance with Articles I and IV of the Ш0ШО Agreement,. to call to the attention the Se ere t ary~Gener al the position of MO on this subject. ; 1.8 The General Assembly, on 11 December 194в, created a Conciliation Commission to replace the Office of the Mediator in Palestine, and elected France, Turkey' and the United States of America to appoint members to' the new Commission. The principal functions of the Commission are to negotiate a settlement in Palestine, supervise the United Nations Administration in Jerusalem and propose a statute for a ‘ permanent international.régime for the region of Jerusalem. The Commission was instructed, inter alia , to "facilitate the repatria- tion, reestablishment and economic rehabilitation of the refugees .... and to maintain liaison with the United Nations Director of Relief for Palestine Refugees and through him with the appropriate United Nations bodies and specialized agencie s.“ 1.9 After consultation between the Directors and other responsible officers of UNRPE and WHO, the Director of UNRPR addressed to the Director-General the following letter, dated 17 December 1948： *Palestine Refugee Relief" "Further te our enversation on this subject, I have to inform you that X wish to obtain the services of a senier public health expert with particular knowledge of conditions
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