INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE HAMPERED BY BUDGET CONSTRAINTS, COURT PRESIDENT TELLS LEGAL COMMITTEE

30 October 1997

Press Release
GA/L/3050

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE HAMPERED BY BUDGET CONSTRAINTS, COURT PRESIDENT TELLS LEGAL COMMITTEE

19971030 Says Court Faces Largest Workload Ever with Inadequate Staff; Committee Continues Discussion of International Law Commission Report

The International Court of Justice, now facing the largest workload in its history, had been severely hampered by budget constraints. The Court's President, Stephen Schwebel, told the Sixth Committee (Legal) this morning. Judge Schwebel said that, at a time when the international community was considering the establishment of other international courts, it was important to ensure the International Court of Justice received adequate funding. The Court had been severely affected by the budget reductions taking place throughout the United Nations system. Due to budget constraints, no clerks or legal interns had been assigned to judges and the Court had inadequate translation staff to meet its demands. Those factors affected the Court's productivity, he said. During the Committees continued consideration of the report of the International Law Commission, several representatives said the 27 draft articles prepared by the Commission to protect the nationality of people affected by the succession of States was a significant step in affirming the right to nationality. The draft articles and a draft preamble were adopted by the Commission during its forty ninth session, which was held in Geneva from 12 May to 18 July. The representative of Thailand said the right of every person to a nationality was a fundamental principle and it was the core principle of the draft articles. The prevention of statelessness was a corollary to that right and the draft articles accordingly declared the State's obligation to take all measures to prevent statelessness. The representative of Indonesia said that international law had a significant role to play in cases of nationality in relation to succession of States. It was important that provisions of the draft articles on the subject reflected an appropriate balance of interests among individuals and the States concerned. The Commission should finalize its work on the subject and fill any important gaps in the law. Statements were also made by the representatives of Mexico and Niger. The Secretary-General of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee also spoke. The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its consideration of the report of the International Law Commission.

Committee Work Program

The Sixth Committee (Legal) met this morning to continue its discussion of the report of the International Law Commission on the work of its forty- ninth session (document A/52/10). (For background see Press Release GA/L/3049 issued 27 October.)

Statement by the International Court of Justice President

STEPHEN SCHWEBEL, President of the International Court of Justice, said that in recent years the court has been busier than ever before in its history. There were currently eight cases on the Court's docket that sounded modest, until one looked at the complexity of the cases, the work and time required to consider them and the constraints on the Court's resources. "The Court's docket was substantial, consequential and broad," he said.

The recent cases before the court had included cases brought by: Bahrain, involving problems of territorial claims; the United States and the United Kingdom against Libya dealing with the safety of civil aviation, extradition and terrorism; and Iran against the United States regarding an attack on an Iranian oil platform during the Iran-Iraq war. The Court also recently considered cases involving the former Yugoslavia, Cameroon and Nigeria and Canada. In 1997, the Court was occupied in the case involving Hungary and Slovakia, in which a judgement was given last September.

Despite the Court's competence in dealing with those cases, it had been severely hampered by budget constraints, he continued. The Court was entirely dependent on the United Nations for its funding and it had been severely affected by the budget reductions taking place throughout the United Nations system. At a time when the international community was considering other international courts, it was important to make sure there was adequate funding for the supreme judicial organ of international law -- the International Court of Justice.

If the Court was more adequately funded, it could deal more adequately with the cases on its docket, he said. It currently had insufficient staff to handle publicity about the Court. The judges, unlike their counterparts in other courts, had no clerks or legal interns assigned to them and the small legal staff at the Court was devoted to helping the Court as a whole. Also, the translation staff was inadequate for the demands placed upon it.

All those factors had a bearing on the rate of productivity of the Court, he said. Another factor affecting the speed at which the Court could process cases was that State parties typically required many months or even years to prepare their case. In the Lockerbie case, for example, parties required three years to prepare their documents and oral arguments. The process could also be prolonged if there were challenges to the Court's jurisdiction in a case, which required a separate judgement.

The Court also had the responsibility to examine and apply the large volume of treaties and documentary annexes on international law, he said. The

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Court had to translate all of those, examine them and digest it in preparing for a hearing. That made up a very large part of the work of the court.

Translation was also a difficult factor in the Court's work, he said. All documents and materials had to be in both English and French. It must also be kept in mind that, for some of the Court's members, neither English nor French was their native language. That meant it took longer to act on documents and the Court could not move faster than any of its members. Financial restraints were such that translation services could not be given to any cases that were not immediately before the Court. Due to the general limits on resources, the Court could normally handle the active phase of only one case at a time.

Despite those problems, the Court was examining ways to improve its efficiency, he added. While its working methods were well suited to the difficult tasks before it, the Court would reconsider its methods in order to accelerate its productivity without harming its quality.

BOUBACAR TANKOANO (Niger), following the statement by the President of the International Court of Justice, asked what action the Court could take in cases where a State with veto power in the Security Council and another without such power, failed to carry out their obligations under judgements of the Court.

Replying, Judge SCHWEBEL said parties were bound by the Court's judgement. Article 94 of the Charter provided that if a party to a case before the Court failed to comply with a judgement, the other party might have recourse to the Security Council. The Council might then, if necessary, make recommendations or decide what measures to take to give effect to the Court's decision. He said that provision of the Charter had been invoked only a few times and then ineffectively.

He added that other provisions of the Charter that had been dormant for years had suddenly become effective, because of political developments. The Court had no power to enforce its decisions. In a vast majority of cases, however, parties in cases before the Court had faithfully carried out their obligations.

Statements

BERNADO SEPULVEDA (Mexico) commended the report of the International Law Commission and paid tribute to its Chairman, Alain Pellet. The Commission's work on nationality in relation to succession of states, especially that of its Special Rapporteur on the subject, Vaclav Mikulka, was of a high calibre. He appreciated the balance in the rules regarding succession of States. He said article 27 of the draft text on nationality of natural persons in relation to the succession of States should be retained.

The draft article should be complemented with rules regarding legal persons. He urged the Commission to continue its work on the draft articles.

The issue of reservations to normative multilateral treaties deserved

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special attention, he said. The Commission's preliminary conclusions were premature. He would have preferred an exchange of views beforehand. Human rights monitoring bodies were unable to challenge decisions of governments regarding their reservations to certain treaties. The issue should be carefully reviewed and new formulations developed. He called for close consultations between member States and the Commission on the Commission's future work on the topic.

On the subject of State responsibility, he said it was preferable that comprehensive criteria be adopted to define its scope. Also, the question of protecting the agents of international organs should be further studied, in the context of the Commission's discussion of diplomatic protection. He said the Commission should be flexible in its selection of topics, as some issues had been on its agenda for decades. He hoped the Commission's future contribution would be in keeping with its notable achievements of the past fifty years.

CHARIVAT SANTAPUTRA (Thailand) said the right of every person to a nationality was a fundamental principle and it was the core principle of the 27 draft articles on the nationality of natural persons in relation to the succession of States, adopted on first reading by the International Law Commission. The prevention of statelessness was a corollary to that right and the draft articles, accordingly, declare the State's obligation to take all measures to prevent statelessness. The right to nationality was further enhanced by provisions for the exchange of information, consultation and negotiation between States. That interaction among States in cases of succession would be helpful in preventing or resolving any detrimental effects of succession.

Another important aspect of the draft articles was their attention to cases where the unity of a family would be impaired by the succession of States, he continued. Although it was preferable that a family acquired the same nationality, it was not necessary to formulate strict rules on it, as long as acquisition of a different nationality did not prevent family members from remaining together or being reunited. With regard to children born after the succession of States, the articles also attempted to bridge the gap in cases where the parents of children died while the process of nationality approval was still pending.

RICKY SUHENDAR (Indonesia) said his delegation agreed with the Commission that in cases of nationality in relation to succession of States, international law had a significant role to play. It was important that the draft articles on the subject reflect an appropriate balance of interests among individuals and the States concerned. His delegation hoped that the Commission would finalize its work on the subject to fill any gaps in the law.

On the issue of reservations to treaties, his delegation agreed that the regime laid down by the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties should be preserved. The regime could almost be viewed as establishing rules of customary law. A guide on the subject would prove useful to States in

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determining their practice regarding reservations. The question of State responsibility should be dealt with in a broader context, taking into account the interests of developing countries.

TANG CHENGYUAN, Secretary-General of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, said the organization's activities were primarily directed towards the progressive development of international law and its codification. It considered legal problems referred to it by member governments and followed the work of the International Law Commission and the United Nations. In partial fulfilment of its functions, the organization had over the last forty years cherished the very fruitful cooperation it had forged with the Commission. Recommendations of the Consultative Committee had been treated with respect by the Commission and reflected in its work.

The raison d'etre of the Consultative Committee continued to be to consider questions that were before the Commission and to assist in adjusting international law to the requirements of a worldwide community, he said. The Committee did not reflect any ideological slant or bias in its legal moorings and had contributed, along with the Commission, to the development of international law and its codification. As an advisory body, the Committee assisted member governments in preparing their detailed notes and comments on the draft articles adopted by the Commission.

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