Secretariat

Annual Report of the Secretary-General: Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold reviewed the UN role in world affairs in the introduction to his twelfth annual report, covering the period from June 16, 1956, to June 15, 1957. Stating that during the period under review the UN had been confronted with some of the most difficult situations it had been called upon to meet since 1945, Mr. Hammarskjold first reviewed UN activities with respect to the Palestine question, the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), the Suez Canal, and the Hungarian question. He stated that UNEF had been important as a pre-condition for the maintenance of quiet in the area of its deployment, and that the governments' attitudes underlying the development of peace in that area had been encouraging, but that at the same time there had been few, if any, signs of further progress. The Secretary-General felt that the UN could help by lending its influence, its presence, and the processes of diplomacy, as well as by providing an objective judgment of the rights and interests involved. Its primary obligations with respect to the Palestine question consisted of working toward a restoration of the Armistice Agreements and of helping the Palestine refugees. The Secretary-General reported that UNEF would be thoroughly studied, should the UN wish to build an agreed stand-by plan for a UN peace force that could be activated on short notice in future emergencies to serve in similar ways. He noted the services of the UNEF Advisory Committee established by the General Assembly and recommended in the execution of future mandates of this kind the appointment of similar “select committees†.