Economic and Social Council

Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labor: Following the practice adopted at its first session, the second and third sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labor were held in private; Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar (India) served as chairman and rapporteur for both sessions. The principal item on the agenda of the second session – New York, June 2–July 1, 1952 – was the study of replies of governments to the questionnaire submitted after the first session and of documentation submitted by the Secretariat and non-governmental organizations. Replies had been received from 42 states and 16 non-governmental organizations. The committee decided to extend from March 31, 1952, to June 15, 1952 the time limit for reception of material or requests for hearings and later decided to interpret this limitation flexibly, especially if the evidence offered aimed at rebutting other evidence before the committee. Requests for hearings were granted to the Association of Former Political Prisoners of Soviet Labour Camps, Council of Free Czechoslovakia, Estonian Consultative Panel, Hungarian National Council, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, International League for the Rights of Man, Latvian Consultative Panel, Lithuanian Consultative Panel, National Committee for a Free Europe, and the Rumanian National Committee. The committee authorized its chairman to prepare letters, for consideration at a later session, informing individual governments of the allegations made against them.