Editorial Note
The United States Alternate Representative, Benjamin V. Cohen, in Committee I of the United Nations General Assembly on November 10, asked for continuance of the mandate of the United Nations Special Committee on the Balkans for another year, unless the Special Committee could finish its task earlier. Even after dissolution of the Special Committee, Mr. Cohen said, its observation function should be continued in a limited way. He stated that the Interim Committee of the United Nations General Assembly should be able to arrange for the observation function to the extent deemed necessary with observers still in the area reporting to the United Nations Peace Observation Commission established by General Assembly Resolution 377 (V) of November 3 on “Uniting for peace.” (See United Nations document A/C.1/SR.392, paragraphs 18–22; the Department of State Bulletin, February 26, 1951, pages 346–347; and volume II, pages 303 ff.)
The proposal for extending the mandate of the Special Committee on the Balkans was one of three draft resolutions recommended by [Page 438] Committee I on the question of “Threats to the Independence and Territorial Integrity of Greece” (United Nations document A/1536). The General Assembly adopted the three recommended resolutions on December 1: Resolution 382 A (V) on the repatriation of Greek military personnel detained in countries north of Greece excepting Yugoslavia; Resolution 382 B (V) on the continuance of the Special Committee on the Balkans until the sixth session of the General Assembly in 1951; and Resolution 382 C (V) on the return to their parents of Greek children from the countries harboring them (United Nations document A/1584; the Department of State Bulletin, February 26, 1951, page 348; and United Nations document A/1775, pages 14–15). The General Assembly rejected two Soviet draft resolutions on granting general amnesty by the Greek Government and discontinuing the Special Committee (United Nations documents A/C.1/623 and A/1560), and on repeal by the Greek Government of death sentences on 19 Greek nationals (United Nations document A/1569).