Panamanian Conference.
The most important conference of the American states during 1939 was the Consultative Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics held in Panama Sept. 23-31. It was called, in keeping with engagements reached at the Buenos Aires and Lima Conferences, to consult in view of the outbreak of a general European war and its potential menace to American peace. All the American states were represented. A large number of declarations and resolutions resulted, of which the most important were: The Resolution on Economic Cooperation, which established an Inter-American Financial and Economic Advisory Committee to recommend measures best calculated to protect inter-American commercial and financial relations against the immediate difficulties of the war and to increase and strengthen them permanently for mutual benefit; the Joint Declaration of Continental Solidarity, re-affirming the Lima declaration of American solidarity; the General Declaration of neutrality, which set forth standards of conduct to be followed by the American states as neutrals, a series of neutrality measures for enforcement in accordance with international law and provision for supplementing them as the war continues; and, finally, the Declaration of Panama, based upon the principles that the war should not jeopardize the right of the Americas to self-protection nor interfere with or destroy their normal relations, and that consequently belligerent activities should not take place within waters adjacent to the American continent. Accordingly, the American governments will consult whenever necessary to determine measures essential to its observance (as they did on Dec. 23); in particular it provides that the republics may patrol 'either individually or collectively, as may be agreed upon by common consent,' the waters adjacent to their coasts within an area carefully defined in the declaration, in which they will try to secure freedom from war activities through joint representation to the belligerents. The resolution on the Humanization of War, concerning among other things the use of 'forbidden methods,' and that on Contraband of War, which deplored the inclusion of foodstuffs, clothing and peacetime raw materials as depriving civilian populations of their normal means of subsistence, deserves special mention. See also INTERNATIONAL LAW; PANAMA; UNITED STATES: Foreign Relations; URUGUAY.)
Conference of the National Committee for Intellectual Cooperation.
The first American Conference of the National Committees for Intellectual Cooperation met Jan. 6-12 in Santiago, Chile. Sponsored by the League of Nations, the aim of the Conference is better understanding among the American peoples and association of culture on this continent with that in Europe. Many resolutions were adopted, and a grant of forty-two United States' scholarships to Latin-American students was announced.
Housing and Nutrition Conferences.
At Buenos Aires, Oct. 2-7, was held the First Pan American Housing Conference following resolutions of the Seventh and Eighth Pan American Conferences. This Conference has undertaken a practical study of the hygienic, economic, and social aspects of the low-cost housing program. A feature of the meeting was the housing exhibit arranged by the Argentine Government, including a comprehensive exhibit collected by the United States Government. Likewise in Buenos Aires, a regional meeting of representatives from national nutrition committees in the Americas began on Oct. 9, under the auspices of the League of Nations, with the official representation of the United States and the other American states. Discussion centered upon a general examination of nutrition problems in the Americas, with a view to effecting a freer exchange of technical information.
Economics.
A meeting of Treasury Representatives of the American republics was held at Guatemala City, Nov. 14-21, following a recommendation of the Lima Conference. It is expected that periodic informal meetings will ensue, in order to afford discussion of technical subjects interesting to treasuries. Special emphasis will be placed upon an examination of problems relating to monetary, foreign exchange and banking policy. Many resolutions were adopted.
In accordance with a resolution of the Panama Meeting of American Foreign Ministers, the Inter-American Financial and Economic Advisory Committee was set up and convened in Washington for its first meeting on Nov. 15. The Committee, consisting of one expert representing each republic, exists to establish close and real cooperation among the American states for protecting their economic and financial structure, maintaining their fiscal equilibrium and stable currencies, and promoting and expanding their industries, agriculture and commerce.
Cultural, Municipal and Labor Conferences.
A series of four conferences arranged by the United States Department of State on inter-American relations in the fields of art, music, education and books, libraries and translations, took place in Washington for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of peace and friendship among the American nations and by stimulating private initiative in the various fields of cultural relations. The conferences were, on art, Oct. 11-12, on music, Oct. 18-19, on education and inter-American cultural relations, Nov. 9-10, and on books, libraries and translations, Nov. 29-30. From each conference resulted resolutions and projects, and continuation committees to carry on the work.
The first meeting of the Pan American Commission on Intermunicipal Cooperation ended in Chicago on Nov. 25. The Commission, consisting of one member from each of ten American republics, exists as the executive body of the Pan American Congress of Municipalities. It completed plans for creating unions of cities in each of the twenty-one American states for mutual cooperation, and drafted model by-laws for them. A board of five in each republic is to be appointed to establish a union — already such an organization exists in the United States, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Mexico. The Commission recommended a permanent secretariat for each union, as well as for its own organization, in order to continue research, publish bulletins and promote cooperative study and action on municipal problems.
The Second Regional Labor Conference, under the International Labor Organization, opened at Havana Nov. 21, with 131 delegates and advisers from 16 American states, observers from countries not members of the I.L.O., and 30 representatives from the organization in Geneva.
Conferences on Refugees.
At a meeting in London, Feb. 10-15 of a sub-committee of the (Evian) Intergovernmental Committee on Political Refugees, Sir Herbert Emerson, the League High Commissioner for Refugees from Germany, became director of the Evian Committee. The two organizations will continue their separate existence under a single head. The Evian body decided to continue discussions with the German Government in the hope of facilitating Jewish emigration on the basis of the unacceptable German proposals for financing emigration, because of the urgent need of finding new homes for more than 150,000 to 200,000 Jews in the next three to five years. The Committee received offers from the Dominican Republic, which was prepared to take 100,000 refugees, and from the Philippine Islands, which could take about 1,000 refugees a year. Meetings of the officers of the same Committee took place at Washington on Oct. 17-18, and 26. At the meeting of the Coordinating Committee on Oct. 26, emphasis was laid upon the urgent need for further openings for the permanent settlement of refugees included within the Committee's present mandate and upon the fact that involuntary migration might be greatly increased. The survey of all possible openings for such migrations will continue, with special attention to possibilities for development of natural resources. The Committee heard a report on the current situation and discussed ways in which it might be met, with particular attention to the new aspects due to the war. The 'short-range problem,' including the emigration of those individuals and families who are now in countries of temporary refuge and who should be placed in permanent domiciles as rapidly as possible, could be best solved partly by individual immigration and partly by the initiation of immigration projects. Engineering and economic studies have been completed and practical steps, including financing, are being taken in initiating settlements.
Anglo-Palestine Problem.
Under the auspices of the British Government, a conference met in London Feb. 7 to consider the situation under the British mandate in Palestine. Jews were invited, both Zionists and non-Zionists, and Arabs from Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Transjordan. Jews and Arabs did not meet together, but in two groups simultaneously. The conference failed to bring any solution which was either workable or satisfactory to the two factions. The Jews demanded fulfillment by Great Britain of their obligation, under the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate, to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine, and refused any solution which would condemn them to a minority status. The Arabs refused to recognize the validity of either of these documents, denying that they ever had done so, and they asserted that independence was promised to them in the British Government's pledge of Oct. 24, 1915, and later, in return for their aid in the World War. Since the conference failed, the British then formulated a plan, published May 17. Neither side approved this proposal. The Jews condemned it in certain aspects more than the Arabs as contradicting the mandate since it denied three fundamental rights of Jews — the right of return to Palestine, to settle throughout Palestine, and of free development of their natural life. The Arab Higher Committee declared that the former attitude of the Arab delegations would be maintained since the new policy was based on proposals which all the Arabs had rejected in London. They held that Great Britain had no right to frame the constitution, which should have been done by a national assembly, and that Jewish immigration should be prohibited, since they denied the right of Jews to even one third of the population.
Zionist Congress.
The Twenty-first Zionist Congress, meeting at Geneva during August, discussed the solution proposed by the British regarding Palestine. Dr. Weizmann reported on the situation in Palestine, emphasizing the unsatisfactory character of the British proposal, as well as the need of avoiding all forms of violence which might lead to civil war. The Congress felt that its schemes for settling 100,000 people within a relatively short time in Palestine were made impossible by Great Britain, which had the duty of facilitating Jewish immigration regardless of the present emergency. At the concluding session Dr. Weizmann declared that in the existing international crisis the Jews, even with their grievances as to Palestine, stood behind Great Britain and would fight with the democracies.
Other Conferences.
The Eleventh Congress of the Universal Postal Union sat in Buenos Aires for seven weeks during April and May. Its work was devoted to purely technical features of international postal distribution. The new convention embodying its results was not signed by Germany, Italy, Hungary, Spain and San Marino because it contained the name of Czechoslovakia as member of the Postal Union.
The Biennial Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce met June 26-30 at Copenhagen. It passed unanimously a resolution that the business men of the six great powers ought to collaborate in evolving a plan of adjustment which would give all countries a fair opportunity to share in the world's resources.
Four conferences meeting in Switzerland were The Triennial Congress of the International Federation of Trade Unions at Zurich, July 5-8; the Eighth International Conference on Public Instruction at Geneva, July 17; the Thirty-first Esperanto World Congress at Berne, July 29-Aug. 5; and the Fifteenth International Conference on Documentation at Zurich, Aug. 10-13. See also DENMARK; GUATEMALA; NORWAY; SWEDEN.
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