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tivities of regional bodies established in the region Concerned, or with purely technical activities. The report submitted by the Director-General to the last
had referred to the practice followed in pect of regional conferences and the procedure adopted by other specialised agencies. In the same. connection he drew attention to the solution adopted by the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East which was applicable to a number of associated States.
With regard to the principle of non-discrimination betw indigenous populations, he said that the Belg Government considered that the growing tendency to draw a distinction between indigenous peoples in non-metropolitan territories and the indigenous inhabitants of independent countries was artificial because it took no account of the fact that the fundamental problems to be solved were identical and because it discriminated against the large populations living in self-governing territories. The Belgian Government's support of the proposal of the Workers' group should in no sense be inter- preted as signifying acceptance of a policy of unequal treatment of indigenous populations according to whether they lived in one territory or another.
Mr. Roberts, in reply to Mr. Sen's implied criticism, felt bound to explain that the approach of the Workers' group to the problem was essentially a practical one. What the Workers' group desired was to secure a closer association of the peoples of non-metropolitan territories with the 1.L.O., as quickly as possible. To achieve that the Workers' group had at first proposed that non-metropolitan territories should be given the possibility of becoming full Members of the Organisation. Subsequently it had reduced its demand to that for associated
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membership; that, however, would have required constitutional changes which might not have been readily agreed to and could not have become effective for several years. Having regard in particular to the statement made by Sir Guildhaume Myrddin- Evans at the last session of the Governing Body, it was to be expected that the Workers' proposals would be vehemently opposed by the governments responsible for non-metropolitan territories. It was therefore doubtful whether the necessary majority could have been secured at the Conference to support an amendment to the Constitution, and there was a danger that certain governments might have adopted a critical attitude towards the I.L.O. itself. Without losing sight of the need to associate non-metropolitan territories more closely with the Organisation, there- fore, it had been necessary to take those dangers into account and to approach the problem from a practical standpoint, It was for those reasons that the Workers' group had given careful consideration to the suggestion relating to observer status, which in fact had formed part of the original proposal submitted to the 123rd Session. In comparing the advantages and disadvantages of associate member- ship and observer status, it might be observed that the specialised agencies which had accorded associate membership in certain cases had, to the best of his knowledge, done so only with the consent and approval of the metropolitan power concerned. It was therefore reasonable to suppose that even if the Constitution were amended to provide for associate membership it would still be necessary to obtain the formal approval of the metropolitan government concerned, so that in practice it might happen that after going through all the procedure necessary to secure an amendment to the Constitution not a
single non-metropolitan territory wonbi ip funt bé admitted to associate membership.
Mr. Sen had referred to the safeguards in para- graph (3) of the proposals which he regarded as too far-reaching and perhaps unnecessary. Personally he stood by the words "having regard to the consti- tutional political, economic and social development of any non-metropolitan territory for which that Member State is responsible", which were based on a statement he had made at the 123rd Session. Those words had not been criticised by any member of the Workers' group who might have been entitled to do so, and he hoped that they would not be criticised by members of the other groups. The fact was that the Workers had made a sincere attempt to secure as quickly as possible a closer association with the work of the Conference and with the other activities of the LL.O. for peoples who had been neglected for too long. They had accepted the statements made by the metropolitan powers in good faith. He emphasised that if the proposals were adopted the trade union organisations in the various territories concerned would not remain idle if they found that the governments were failing to take active steps to carry out their promises.
He had regarded it as his duty to explain as clearly and frankly as possible the attitude of the workers, who considered that the proposals sub- mitted were the best practical method of achieving their objective.
Mr. Calderón Puig drew attention to the fact that the American States were at present attending the Tenth Inter-American Conference at Caracas, which had as one of the items on its agenda the question of colonialism in America. He would not raise that question in the Governing Body, which was a universal body, but wished to state that his country had very definite ideas upon it, although it took a realistic view and appreciated the problems with which the administering States were faced.
It appeared that the Workers' group and the various members of the Governing Body concerned had made an appreciable advance towards a compro- mise and that after the consultations which had been held the representatives of the governments concerned were in a position to take a decision on the proposal before them. He noted that in paragraph (2) of the document the Governing Body notes with approval the practice whereby selected non-metropo- litan territories are invited to participate in the work of regional conferences ” but wondered whether that would not mean favouring certain territories · or discriminating against others. For his own part he was not in a position to express a definite view on a document which he had only just received. He would have liked to associate himself with the other members of the Governing Body in a unanimous vote, but the present proposals were very different from those on which he had expressed the detailed views of the Mexican Government at the last session. In the circumstances, and while recognising the sincerity of the efforts made to find a practical solution, he would be obliged to abstain from voting.
Mr. Sen said that there was no difference of opinion between Mr. Roberts and himself with regard to the objective but merely with regard to procedure and tactics. Mr. Roberts had described the present proposals as essentially practical and had implied that if the Workers' group had pressed is original proposals, with which Mr. Sen had fully associated himself, the result might have been an attitude of total obstruction on the part of the metropolitan