The United Nations and Economic Development
| Published date | 01 April 1961 |
| Author | J.N. Reedman |
| Date | 01 April 1961 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786100200301 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
125
THE
UNITED
NATIONS
AND
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
Dr.
J.
N.
REEDMAN
Director
of
the
United
Nations
Information
Centre,
London.
ggINCE
its
beginning,
the
United
Nations
has
been
deeply
involved
m
questions
of
economic
development
of
less-developed
areas.
The
Charter
of
the
United
Nations,
signed
in
San
Francisco
in
1945,
foreshadowed
this preoccupation
without
laying
down
any
precise
lines
of
action.
One
of
the
aims
of
the
United
Nations
laid
down
in
the
Charter
is
&dquo; to
promote
social
progress
and
better
standards
of
life
and
larger
freedom &dquo;
and
one
of
its
functions
is
&dquo; to
employ
international
machinery
for the
promotion
of
the
economic
and
social
advancement
of
all
peoples &dquo;.
Article
66,
Paragraph
2
states
that
the
Economic
and
Social
Council &dquo;
may,
with
the
approval
of
the
General
Assembly,
perform
services
at
the
request
of
the
members
of
the
United
Nations,
and
at
the
request
of
the
Specialised
Agencies &dquo;.
In
pursuit
of
these
general
aims
and
on
the
basis
of
the
authority
thus
defined,
the
United
Nations,
together
with
the
related
Agencies,
has
developed
a
variety
of
activities
and
procedures,
not
all
of
which
could
have
been
foreseen
in
the
confused,
if
hopeful,
days
of
1945.
Looking
back
after
more
than
15
years,
the
increasing
pre-
occupation
with
the
problems
of
economic
development
seems
natural
enough.
After
all,
the
signatories
of
the
Charter
saw
the
importance
of
these
problems,
even
at
a
time
when
for
many
of
them
the
rehabilitation
and
restoration
of
normal
life
after
years
of
dislocation
and
destruction
by
war
were
the
most
immediate
con-
cern ;
while
during
their
earliest
meetings,
the
General
Assembly
and
the
Economic
and
Social
Council
were
much
exercised
by
problems
of
the
aftermath
of
war,
attention
was
focused
sharply
on
questions
relating
to
under-developed
areas.
This
fact
is
partly
the
reflection
of
the
numerical
weight
of
the
less-developed
countries
among
the
United
Nations-a
weight
which
has
enormously
increased
with
the
growth
of
membership
from
an
original
50
to
99
in
1960,
almost
all
the
newer
members
being
countries
whose
major
economic
concern
is
for
their
own
rapid
economic
development.
Partly,
however,
it
is
a
measure
of
the
importance
with
which,
from
the
first
days
of
the
United
Nations,
the
more
highly-industrialised
countries
have
regarded
the
growth
of
less-developed
countries.
For,
despite
wide
differences
of
view
which
have
sometimes
been
evident
on
specific
questions,
on
methods
and
on
procedures,
a
perusal
of
debates
in
the
Economic
Committee
of
the
General
Assembly
or
in
the
Economic
and
Social
Council,
reveals
a
common
acceptance,
both
of
the
general
objective
and
of
the
need
to
pursue
it
with
urgency.
To continue reading
Request your trial