33

2—A 2

Also, before the session of the Assembly, the question had been considered by the Security Council, a sub-committee of which had found " Although the activities of the Franco regime do not at present constitute an existing threat to the peace within the meaning of Article 39 of the Charter and therefore the Security Council has no jurisdiction to direct or to authorize enforcement measures under Article 40 or 42, nevertheless such activities do constitute a situatiuwhich is a potential menace to international peace and security and which therefore is a situation ' likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security' within the meaning of Article 34 of the Charter." The Security Council did not, however, agree on further steps, and at an early stage in the New York Session of the General Assembly the Council removed the Spanish question from its agenda, in order that the General Assembly might be free—as, under Article 10 of the Charter, it would not otherwise have been—to make recommendations on the subject. There was, in fact, no lack of sponsors for the introduction of the subject to the General Assembly. Taking an initiative, which was much remarked and which may be an important precedent, the Secretary-General had himself proposed that the General Assembly should take action ; and the subject was incorporated in the agenda on the motion of Belgium and a number of other countries. The First Committee had before it several draft resolutions, .of which the following were to have the chief effect on its proceedings : (1) A Polish resolution calling for the severance of diplomatic relations with Spain ; (2) A Byelo-Russian resolution calling for severance of economic relations with Spain ; (3) A United States resolution condemning the " Franco Fascist regime," recommending the exclusion of the Franco Government from specialized agencies of the United Nations, and calling on Franco to make way for a democratic Government; (4) A Colombian resolution proposing that the Latin-American Governments should lend their good offices to the Franco Government and the people of Spain with a view to bringing about an acceptable change in the regime, and that the United Nations should defer any other decisions for a year. In the Committee discussion only one delegate, the representative of El Salvador (Dr Castro) made what might be called a defence of Franco ; or, rather, he took absolute objection to the United Nations passing any judgment, let alone proceeding to any action, to the detriment of the Franco regime. His main concern, he said, was the Spanish people and the avoidance of renewed civil war. The institution of the Franco regime had been an event of internal Spanish politics, the aid furnished by Italy and Germany being purely incidental and secondary. Franco