International Refugee Organization

Ratification by the fifteenth nation, Denmark, of the IRO Constitution on August 20, 1948 brought the Organization into official existence by fulfilling the constitutional requirement stipulating that fifteen nations contributing 75 percent of the operational funds needed by IRO must ratify the Constitution before the Organization could undertake autonomous operations. Following this ratification, the Preparatory Commission of IRO began its seventh and last meeting in Geneva on September 10, 1948, to complete arrangements for the convening of the IRO General Council. The commission 1) decided to convene the first session of the General Council on September 13, 1948; 2) requested the Executive Secretary to submit to the General Council for its consideration an amended text of the staff regulations and the draft financial regulations for IRO; 3) took note of the allocation of funds for the quarter from 1 July to 30 September, 1948; 4) noted with satisfaction the report of the Review Board for Eligibility Appeals; 5) decided not to establish a “date line†for the admission of new cases; and 6) adopted the provisional agenda for the first session of the General Council. On September 11 the chairman declared the final session of the Preparatory Commission for the International Refugee Organization closed, noting that it had fulfilled the duties assigned to it under the Agreement on Interim Measures.