11 JANUARY 1946, Page 4

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

WITH U.N.O. formally in being, and the League of Nations pre- paring to hand over to its successor its personality and appur- tenances, the question of the future of the League buildings at Geneva begin to assume some urgency. What is to happen to them? That they are not to be the headquarters of U.N.O. has already been de- cided—for better or worse. But it does not follow that U.N.O. has no use for them. It is to be hoped on the contrary that it has. With the headquarters of the organisation planted in the United States, where the Food and Agriculture organisation is also domiciled, it is plain justice and plain expediency that some principal organ of U.N.O., in addition to the Court of International Justice, should be established in Europe. There may, of course, in time be a European Regional Council ; if so, the buildings at Geneva—which, after all, are the finest for their purpose existing in the world—would be the natural home for it. But there is another, and in some ways a better, possi- bility. The Security Council must sit at the seat of the Organisation ; that is provided in the Charter ; but nothing has been decided about the Social and Economic Council, a body of tremendous potential importance, and likely to be concerned for years to come more with the problems of Europe than with any other part of the world. It would quicken European interest in U.N.O. considerably if this important branch of its activities found a home on European soil. And if on European soil Geneva, with ideal accommodation waiting, would seem to be the obvious place.

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