United Nations Special Committee on the Balkans

In 1946, the Greek Government sought the intervention of the SC to halt Albanian, Bulgarian and Yugoslavian support to communist guerrilla fighters, which were allegedly destabilizing the Government. In response, the SC authorized a COI (S/RES/15), but when the COI confirmed evidence of external support for the insurgency, the SC was unable to reach agreement on subsequent action, with numerous draft resolutions either being vetoed by the USSR or failing to gain sufficient votes (S/404; S/471; S/486; S/552).¹ As a result, on 15 September 1947, the SC decided to remove the matter from its agenda and pass it to the GA (S/RES/34).² The GA adopted resolution 109 (II) on 21 October 1947 with 40 votes for, 6 against and 11 abstentions, calling for establishment of relations amongst the four countries, for conventions to regulate common frontiers and for actions to address displaced populations (A/RES/109(II)). The resolution also authorized the creation of a Special Committee tasked with overseeing compliance with the resolution and working with the parties (ibid., paras. 8–9). This would become known as UNSCOB. UNSCOB could only function with the consent and cooperation of the four Governments – cooperation which it did not receive – and therefore it was extremely limited in its actions.³ Also notable in terms of demonstrating complementarity with the SC, the members of UNSCOB were comprised of delegates from SC Member States, with the exception of the USSR and Poland, which declined to take the seats held open for them on the Special Committee (A/935, paras. 11–13).