717 



UN is 'the last best hope for peace,' " '"" the public opinion poll was 

 registering public disenchantment concerning- the peacekeeping ma- 

 chinery of the UN, not the success or lack thereof of the World Healtli 

 Organization. Tlie AVHO and other UN specialized agencies are ex- 

 tensions of national government on an international scale, but they 

 are not charged with keeping the peace. As Mar}- Ellen Caldwell 

 states, their goal and their performance is in an entirely different 

 sphere : 



* * * It is essential to recall that protection and preser- 

 vation of human life and welfare was, and continues to be, 

 their ultimate goal. During the past twenty-five years, most 

 of these organizations have been concerned with using the 

 benefits of science and technology in the global public interest, 

 and protecting the world community against detrimental ef- 

 fects from that same science and technology.'"^ 



One of the Lodge Commission's solutions to the disparity between 

 voting jiower and financial responsibility at the UN (and the solution 

 couhl apply to WHO) is: 



- * * weighted voting in the T"N system that will moi"e ade- 

 quately reflect power and responsibility in the world and 

 seek arrangements for more reliable and equitable methods 

 of financing the organization."- 



With respecr to weighted \oting and financial responsibility, it 

 is intere-^ting to note that the International Office of Pul)lic Health 

 (tlie Paris Oifice 11)07 to 1946) had adopted such a provision. Par- 

 ticipating states could l)e placed in any one of six categories (repre- 

 senting 1 to 6 votes) depending on the amount of annual contribution 

 which they proposed to pay. In spite of the adjustment of voting power 

 to the amount of annual subscription — in spite of important decisions 

 taken at even' session of the 0-jf.ce. no A'ote was ever taken during 

 the entire course of the organization's forty-year history. According 

 to Goodman tliis is — 



* * * a unique record and one to be remembered in these 

 days of ingenious devices to overcome the transparent 

 anomaly thnt the voice of Ruritendras or Mato should be 

 equal that of the USA, the I\SSR, Great Britain or France."'^ 



POLITICAL I'RORLEMS IX THE EASTEKN MEDITERRAXEAX REGIOX 



The most durable political quarrel within WHO, the roots of which 

 lie Avell outside the central organization, concerns the Regional Com- 

 mittee for the Eastern Mediterranean. Arising out of the fact that 

 WHO is organized into semi-autonomous decentralized regions, it has 

 been the main i)roblem to emerge from the regional concept, virtually 

 paralyzing tlie operation of WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Commit- 

 tee. The problem, strictly political, is that of Israel versus the Arab 



100 '•|_'x Weak. Nixon Told by Lodge." op. cit. 



'"1 Mary Ellen Caldwell. "The UN and Science : Past and Future Implications for World 

 Health." American Journal of International Law (Vol. 64. September 1970), page 172. 

 102 .x-N Weak. Nixon Told by Lodge," op. cit. 

 ^™ Goodman, "International Health Organizations and Their Work," op. cit., page 94. 



