GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTES CONCURRENTLY WITH SECURITY COUNCIL TO ELECT GONZALO PARRA-ARANGUREN OF VENEZUELA TO WORLD COURT

Press Release
GA/9051

GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTES CONCURRENTLY WITH SECURITY COUNCIL TO ELECT GONZALO PARRA-ARANGUREN OF VENEZUELA TO WORLD COURT

The General Assembly this morning, acting concurrently with the Security Council, elected Gonzalo Parra-Aranguren of Venezuela to the International Court of Justice to serve the remainder of the term of Judge Andres Aguilar Mawdsley, of Venezuela, who died on 24 October 1995 and whose term would have ended on 5 February 2000.

Elections to the Court require an absolute majority in both the Council and the Assembly, voting independently. In the Assembly voting, Mr. Parra- Aranguren was elected on a second ballot. He had obtained 73 votes out of a total of 145 valid ballots cast in the first round, and 97 of a total of 143 in the second. The required majority was 94. Mr. Parra-Aranguren was elected on the Security Council's first ballot. The other candidates were Judges Julio A. Barberis of Argentina, and Franscisco Villagran Kramer of Guatemala.

Since 1985, Mr. Parra-Aranguren has been a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. He has also been a member of the Legal Advisory Committee of Venezuela's Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1984, and on the Legal Advisory Council of the National Congress since 1990.

In other actions this morning, the Assembly decided to include in the agenda of its fiftieth session three additional items concerning the financing of three peace-keeping missions: the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina; United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES); and United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP). The three new items were allocated to the Assembly's Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

In addition, the Assembly decided to reopen the item concerning financial reports and audited financial statements and reports of the Board of Auditors, in order to consider a report on the inventory control system for non-expendable property at Headquarters.

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Also this morning, the Assembly President, Diogo Freitas do Amaral (Portugal), informed the Assembly that 39 Member States were in arrears in the payment of their financial contributions to the United Nations within the terms of Article 19 of the Charter. The representative of Syria spoke on a point of order concerning that issue.

At the outset of the meeting, the Assembly observed a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of the late King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho, who died on 15 January. Statements expressing condolences to the Government and people of Lesotho and to the bereaved family were made by the representatives of the United Republic of Tanzania (on behalf of the African States), India (on behalf of the Asian States), Belarus (on behalf of Eastern European States), Colombia (on behalf of Latin American and Caribbean States), Portugal (on behalf of Western European and Other States) and the United States, as the host country. The Permanent Representative of Lesotho, Percy Metsing Mangoaela, expressing gratitude, said his country had lost one of its most illustrious sons.

The Assembly will next meet on a date to be announced.

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Assembly Work Programme

The General Assembly resumed its fiftieth session this morning to elect a member of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and to consider requests by the Secretary-General for the inclusion of three additional items concerning financing of peace-keeping operations.

The Secretary-General requests that the three new items be allocated to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). The missions concerned are the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (document A/50/238/Rev.1); the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) (document A/50/239); and the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) (document A/50/240).

Also before the Assembly is a letter from the Chairman of the Fifth Committee, Erich Vilchez Asher (Nicaragua), addressed to the Assembly President (document A/50/884) requesting that agenda item 113, on financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors, be reopened, in order to consider a report on the inventory control system for non-expendable property at Headquarters.

Candidates and Election Procedure of World Court

Meeting concurrently with the Security Council this morning, the Assembly will elect a member of the International Court of Justice to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Judge Andres Aguilar Mawdsley, of Venezuela, on 24 October 1995. In accordance with the Statute of the International Court, the person elected to fill the vacancy will serve for the remainder of Judge Mawdsley's term, which would have ended on 5 February 2000. Judges on the International Court hold nine-year terms.

The candidates for election are Julio A. Barberis, of Argentina, nominated by the national group of Argentina, Bulgaria, Colombia, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland and Switzerland; Gonzalo Parra- Aranguren, of Venezuela, nominated by the national group of Ecuador, Italy and Venezuela; and Francisco Villagran Kramer, of Guatemala, nominated by the national group of Guatemala and Mexico.

Article 2 of the Statute of the Court states that judges are to be elected, regardless of their nationality, from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law. According to a note of the Secretary-General (document A/50/866-A/1996/52), invitations were extended to national groups of States parties to the Statute to nominate candidates for the position not later than 2 February 1996.

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Another note by the Secretary-General (document A/50/867) contains the curricula vitae of the candidates. Mr. Barberis, a Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Buenos Aires, is also a Judge at the International Labour Organization (ILO) Administrative Tribunal (Geneva), as well as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (The Hague), of the International Law Institute and of the Spanish-Portuguese-American Institute of International Law, Madrid.

Mr. Barberis served as Argentina's representative at numerous negotiations and international conferences on the use of international rivers, environmental protection and the exploitation of natural resources. He was a consultant at the Institute for Latin American Integration and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the 1970s; legal adviser to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and to the United Nations on questions relating to international water resources. He is a member of the International Council of Environmental Law (Bonn) and of the International Association for Water Law (Rome).

Mr. Barberis taught at The Hague Academy of International Law from 1983 and 1992, Institute for Advanced International Studies of the University of Paris II in 1986 and 1991, and Inter-American Juridical Committee of the Organization of American States, Rio de Janeiro, in 1986. He was Director of the Research Centre of The Hague Academy of International Law in 1990. A co- editor of the journal Environmental Policy and Law in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1994, Mr. Barberis has published extensively.

Mr. Parra-Aranguren has been a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague since 1985, of the legal advisory committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela, since 1984, and of the legal advisory council of the National Congress (designated in 1990).

He was a member of the legislative committees that drafted the section on Venezuelan nationality for the country's Constitution that was approved in 1961, and of the committee that revised sections of the Code of Commerce dealing with credit instruments and bankruptcy (1963-1965). He participated in the drafting of the law on regulations pertaining to private international law (1963) and its revision two years later. He has represented Venezuela at a number of sessions of The Hague Conference on Private International Law.

Mr. Parra-Aranguren began his legal career as a professor at the Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, where he has been teaching a course in private international law since 1956. He has also taught the same course at Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas since 1957. He was a judge in the Second Court of First Instance (commercial matters), in Caracas (1958-1971); and was first associate judge in the Chamber of Cessation (civil, commercial and labour matters) of the Supreme Court of Justice (1988-1992). Then in 1992, he was elected alternate judge. He has acted as arbitrator, both in

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Venezuela and abroad, and on several occasions testified in foreign courts as an expert on Venezuelan law. He has published several books and numerous articles on such issues as the law of nationality, private international law and international civil procedural law.

Mr. Villagran Kramer, a former Vice-President of Guatemala (1978-1980) and former President of the Council of State (1978-1980), has been a member of the International Law Commission of the United Nations since 1992. He was a member of its working group on the draft statute of the international criminal court (1993-1994), Vice-President of the Commission (1994-1995) and its rapporteur in 1995. He has been a member of the national study group on specific international problems of the Guatemala Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1994. He has participated in meetings and conferences on analysis of bilateral and multilateral problems in many countries in Central America and Europe.

Mr. Villagran Kramer's professional activities include consultancies for the United Nations and the Permanent Secretariat of the General Treaty on Central American Integration. He was also a consultant for the Andean Board of the Cartagena Agreement on the establishment of the Andean Tribunal in Lima (1972-1973). He has taught international law and international economic law in a number of universities and institutions in Venezuela, Belgium, Brazil and Italy.

The procedure for the election, which is outlined in a memorandum by the Secretary-General (document A/50/865-S/1996/51), calls for the General Assembly and the Security Council on the date specified for the election to proceed independently of one another to elect members of the Court. The candidate who obtains an absolute majority of votes, both in the Assembly and the Council, is considered as elected.

The memorandum points out that the consistent practice of the United Nations has been to interpret the words "absolute majority" as meaning a majority of all electors. The electors in the General Assembly are all the Member States, together with Nauru and Switzerland. Accordingly, in the Assembly, 94 votes constitute an absolute majority for the purpose of the election. In the Security Council, eight votes constitute an absolute majority, and no distinction is made between the votes of permanent and non- permanent members. The memorandum states that, in accordance with Assembly resolution 264 (III) of 8 October 1948, Nauru and Switzerland, which are parties to the Statute of the Court, although not Member States of the United Nations, participate in the Assembly in electing members of the Court in the same manner as United Nations Members.

On the voting procedure, it states that if in the first ballot in either the Assembly or the Council no candidate obtains an absolute majority, a second ballot will be held, with balloting continuing in the same meeting

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until a candidate obtains the required majority. After a candidate obtains the required majority in one of the organs, the President of that organ will notify the President of the other organ of the candidate's name. Such notification is not communicated by the President of the second organ to the members until that organ has itself given a candidate the required majority of votes.

If, upon comparison of the name of the candidate so selected by the Assembly and the Council, it is found that the result is different, the two organs will proceed, again independently of each other, in a second meeting and, if necessary, a third meeting, to elect one candidate by further ballots, the results again being compared after one candidate has obtained an absolute majority in each organ. If necessary, the procedure will be repeated until both organs have given an absolute majority of votes to the same candidate.

The memorandum concludes that if, however, after the third meeting the vacancy still remains unfilled, the special procedure set out in Article 12 of the Statute of the Court may be resorted to at the request of either the General Assembly or the Security Council. Article 12 provides for the formation of a joint conference, consisting of three members from each organ, to agree on a candidate to be submitted to the Assembly and the Council for acceptance. If the joint conference is satisfied that it will not be successful in procuring an election, those members of the Court who have already been elected shall, within a period to be fixed by the Security Council, proceed to fill the vacant seats by selection from among those candidates who have obtained votes either in the General Assembly or in the Security Council. In the event of an equality of votes among the judges, "the eldest judge shall have a casting vote".

The International Court currently consists of the following 14 members whose terms end on 5 February of the year indicated: Mohammed Bedjaoui, of Algeria (1997) (President); Stephen M. Schwebel, of the United States (1997) (Vice-President); Shigeru Oda, of Japan (2003); Gilbert Guillaume, of France (2000); Mohammed Shahabuddeen, of Guyana (1997); Christopher G. Weeramantry, of Sri Lanka (2000); Raymond Ranjeva, of Madagascar (2000); Géza Herczegh, of Hungary (2003); Shi Jiuyong, of China (2003); Carl-August Fleischhauer, of Germany (2003); Abdul G. Koroma, of Sierra Leone (2003); Vladlen S. Vereshchetin, of the Russian Federation (1997); Luigi Ferrari Bravo, of Italy (1997); and Rosalyn Higgins, of the United Kingdom (2000).

Information on Arrears

DIOGO FREITAS DO AMARAL (Portugal), President of the Assembly, drew attention to a letter from the Secretary-General addressed to him informing that 41 Member States were in arrears in the payment of their financial contributions to the United Nations within the terms of Article 19 of the Charter (document A/50/888).

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He then read out that Charter provision, according to which a Member of the United Nations which was in arrears in its payment of its financial contributions to the Organization should have no vote in the General Assembly "if the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of the contributions due from it for the preceding two full years".

The Assembly PRESIDENT added that since the issuance of the letter, Cape Verde and Honduras had made the necessary payment, bringing the number of those in arrears to 39. The Assembly took note of the information.

According to the Secretary-General's letter, the minimum payments necessary to reduce the amounts owed by those Member States on their contributions so that they remain below the gross amount owed for the preceding two full years (1994-1995) are the following: Afghanistan ($12,552); Bolivia ($18,462); Bosnia and Herzegovina ($517,644); Burundi ($104,780); Central African Republic ($232,680); Chad ($133,880); Comoros ($249,180); Dominica ($35,480); Dominican Republic ($897,722); Equatorial Guinea ($133,880); Gambia ($130,480); Georgia ($3,510,800); Grenada ($118,080); Guatemala ($302,325); Guinea ($82,580); Guinea-Bissau ($133,180); Haiti ($30,580); Iraq ($2,687,518); Latvia ($1,508,305); Liberia ($462,962); Madagascar ($7,380) Mali ($127,980); Mauritania ($133,880); Niger ($133,780); Rwanda ($111,780); Saint Kitts and Nevis ($4,180); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ($19,080); Sao Tome and Principe ($249,180); Sierra Leone ($133,380); Somalia ($401,480); Suriname ($24,780); Syrian Arab Republic ($7,052); Tajikistan ($1,066,808); Turkmenistan ($1,281,270); United Republic of Tanzania ($4,080); Uzbekistan ($926,607); Vanuatu ($43,880); Yemen ($49,280); and Yugoslavia ($9,819,867).

Election of Member of Court

DIOGO FREITAS DO AMARAL (Portugal), the Assembly President, said that in accordance with Assembly resolution 264 (III), a State party to the Statute of the Court but not a Member State of the United Nations, could participate in the Assembly in electing the members of the Court. He therefore welcomed the representatives of Nauru and Switzerland to participate in the election.

The PRESIDENT drew attention to the documents relating to the election to be held concurrently by the Assembly and by the Security Council. He added that, as specified in Article 10 of the Statute of the Court, the candidate who obtained an absolute majority of votes both in the Assembly and the Council would be considered elected. For the present election, 94 votes constituted an absolute majority in the Assembly.

Speaking on a point of order, AHMAD HALLAK (Syria) said his country had paid in full its assessment to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), an amount equal to five times its minimum required to regain the right to vote in the Assembly. The Committee on Contributions

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should be made aware of that fact. He hoped that Article 19 would not be applied, given the importance of electing judges to the Court.

The PRESIDENT said that questions regarding the letter should be referred to the Comptroller of the United Nations. The Assembly would go ahead with the elections, he added.

The President announced the results of the first ballot as follows:

Number of ballot papers: 145 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 145 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 145 Required Majority: 94

Number of votes obtained:

Julio A. Barberis of Argentina: 58 Gonzalo Parra-Aranguren of Venezuela: 73 Francisco Villagran Kramer of Colombia: 14

The PRESIDENT declared that since no candidate had received an absolute majority, a second ballot was necessary.

The results of the balloting were as follows:

Number of ballot papers: 143 Number of invalid ballots: 0 Number of valid ballots: 143 Abstentions: 0 Number of members voting: 143 Required Majority: 94

Number of votes obtained:

Julio A. Barberis of Argentina: 42 Gonzalo Parra-Aranguren of Venezuela: 97 Francisco Villagran Kramer of Colombia: 4

The PRESIDENT then declared that Mr. Parra-Aranguren of Venezuela had obtained an absolute majority in the Assembly and that he had communicated the result of the vote to the President of the Security Council.

He then read out the text of a letter received from the President of the Security Council, which indicated that Mr. Parra-Aranguren had obtained an absolute majority in the Council.

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As a result of the independent voting in the Council and the Assembly, the President announced that Mr. Parra-Aranguren of Venezuela, having obtained an absolute majority in both organs, was therefore elected a member of the International Court of Justice for a term of office expiring on 5 February 2000.

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