Memorandum from Secretary of State George C. Marshall to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachment

DECLASSIFIED E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (E) Dept. of State letter, Aug. 9, 1973 By NLT- HL , NARS Date 7-15-75 DEPARTMENT OF STATE WASHINGTON April 29, 1947 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT SUBJECT: Participation of Non-Governmental Organizations in the Special Session of the General Assembly The question arises as to the attitude of the United States toward requests of non-governmental organizations (particularly Jewish and Arab) to present their views to or to be represented in the forthcoming special session of the General Assembly. The Department of State considers that the United States position should be based upon the following principles: a. That the General Assembly should maintain its position that only Member governments have a right to take part in the discussions of the General Assembly, whether in plenary session or in committee of the whole; representation in the General Assembly of other than Member states is not provided in the Charter and would be contrary to the nature of the Organization. b. That, since the task before the special session of the General Assembly is the procedural one of appointing and instructing a committee to prepare for the consideration of the question of Palestine at the next regular session, no occasion should arise for the presentation of the views of non-governmental organizations to the Assembly. C. In general, written communications to the Secretary General should be dealt with by the Secretary General in accordance with exist- ing practice under which lists of such communications are circulated and the communications themselves are available to any Member requesting them. An exception has arisen because of the intention of the Secretary General to refer two letters from the Jewish Agency and the Hebrew Com- mittee for National Liberation to the President of the General Assembly; this exception is dealt with in the Annex hereto. d. National non-governmental organizations and individuals should be encouraged to transmit their views to their respective governments and not to the United Nations. Governments may, of course, present such views to the General Assembly. e. The CONF IDENTIAL