501.AC/5–2347: Circular airgram
The Secretary of State to All Diplomatic and Consular Officers
A United Nations press release of May 5, 1947, states that a United Nations laissez-passer will be issued to officials in the United Nations Secretariat, including Judges and members of the International Court of Justice, when they are journeying outside the continental limits of the United States and that it will serve as a valid travel document in Member States which are parties to the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. Special travel certificates will be given to experts who are travelling on United Nations business without being staff members.
The laissez-passer is described as being bound in blue leather, with the United Nations emblem embossed in gold on the cover showing the seal of the United Nations radiating light, and surrounded by a rainbow. The document contains 30 pages of a new prismatic, forgeproof paper, on the first page of which will be a photograph of the official to whom issued and will bear the United Nations seal; other pages will contain spaces for visas. The laissez-passer will be valid for a prescribed period, usually one year, and will be printed in the five official languages of the United Nations, English, French, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. The authority for issuing the laissez-passer is found in [Page 41] Article VII of the draft Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, adopted by the General Assembly on February 13, 1946.
Section 24 of Article VII, of the Convention states:
“The United Nations may issue United Nations laissez-passer to its officials. These laissez-passer shall be recognized and accepted as valid travel documents, by the authorities of Members, taking into account the provisions of Section 25.”
The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations was submitted by the Department on May 12, 1947 to the Congress for approval by joint resolution with the statement that the following interpretation would be given to Article VII, Section 24:
“This language (used in Section 24) does not authorize or require, and is not interpreted by the Department of State as authorizing or requiring, the United Nations or any member state to issue or accept a document which is a substitute for a passport or other documentation of nationality; it provides only for a certificate attesting to the United Nations affiliation of the bearer in respect to travel and will be accepted by the United States as such a document. Thus Article VII, if approved, will not amend or modify existing provisions of law with respect to the requirement or issuance of passports or of other documentation evidencing nationality of citizens or aliens.”
American diplomatic and consular officers, until notified to the contrary, will be guided by the statement last quoted and should not place any kind of non-immigrant visa in the spaces provided for visas printed in a laissez-passer issued by the United Nations.