Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide - The Court will hold a series of public hearings beginning 10 April 1951

-ommuniqué Noj 51/5. .
maf f iciâl

The following information from the Registryof the International

Court of Justice has bcen comicated to the Press :

The International Court of Justicewill hold a series of public

:! L L hearings beginning ~uksda~, Aprjl 10th, at 11 a.rn,, in order to hear

oral statemcnts: relevant to the rcquestfor Advisory Opinion submittad

to the Court by the ~cnerjl ~sscrhbl~ of the Unitod Nations on the

question of rescmrations to th^Convention on the Prevention and

Punishont of tho crhc of Gonocide. Oral stntcments w111 bo mdc

!b on behalf of the Szcratary-Gonors ol the Unitcd Nctions and on

bohalf of thoGov~rnmcnt sf the United Kingdom, France and Isracl,

Thc Haguc, 5th April, 1951.

A note giving s rough background of the ensa is communicated

harowitb(overlan )f. Annux to Communiqu Méo. 51/$

(Unoff îial) .

Nota on tha Raqusst for Advisory Opinion on tho question of
Rcsorvntions to tho Convontion on thc Prcvcntion and Pwiishmant
of thc Crirnc of Gcnocidc .

Tho questions submitted to the Court by the Gcnural Assombly of tha
United Nations, in its Rcsolution of tho 16th Novanber, 1950, sro formulatod
ns follows :

Illnso faran conccrns the Convontion on the Pr~vontion and
Puiishment of the Crh~ of Gunocida in tha cvsnt of a Ststa
r~.tifylng or ncceding to tho Convontion subjcct to n rcsesvation
m~daaither on ratificztion or on acczssiono ,r on signature
f ollowcd by r7.tificntion:

1, Cm tho ru?sarving Stntu ba ragnrdod a3 being a party to
tho Convcntion whilcstill m.intaining its rescrvetioi nf
the reserv~tioi ns objsctcd to by onc or moreof thc partios
to the Conrsunticiil but not by othsrs ?
d
II, If the nnswcr to question 1 is in the affimq.tivc, wh3t is
the cffect of the resarvation as botwocnthe rescrving State
md :
a) Qhcp?.rtlos which object Lo the rescrv:tio n
b) Thosc whick occeptit ?

III. .7ihct would be the logaloff cct n s regards the mswar bo
qucstlon 1 if an obJection to a resorrration 5s mda :
5) By a signatory which hm not yst rntificd ?
b) By n Stctc cntitled to sis or accede but which hcs
not yot dono sa

One can EZC th~t these purolylcgal qrrastions rcfor cxclusivel yo
roserv.n.tionsto the Convention on thc Preventhon p,nd hishmcnt of tba
thLs was çtmltilnterab Convention which was approvûd
Crimeof Gcnecide;
by the Genernl Assembly on the 9th Dccember, 1948, in Paris,2nd nhich
came hto offect an the 12th Jmucry, 1951.

After noticoa h2d bccn eivun by thc Rrgistrar, in canformitpwith 4
Arti~~1.o66 of the Stltuto of tho Court, the Rùgistryrccciv+:d written
statemonts from the Socret~~ry-C-marc1 of tho Unitcd Nations 2nd from
th> Govcrrimonts of the U.S.S.R., the Kingdom of Jordan, the Unitsd Stztcs
of Am:~rica, the Unitnd Kingdom, Isr?.cl, PoZmd; thc Rcpublic of Czecho-
slovnkis, tho Nothcrlands, Rmiz, thc Ukraininn S.S.R., Bulgnric, the
Byelorussia n.S.R., ,uid the RepuJ-iLicof the Philippines, ar,d nlsa from
two htormtionsl organisations, namely, the lntcrnstiona labour Officc
and tho Org,lniz~.tionof .hcricnn Stntcs .

Furthermore ,han thu oral discussions bogb on tha 10th April,
Dr. Kerno, Assistant Sccrctnry-G~ncr al the Unit cd Nations in charge
of the Legzl Dopartmont, will siilbmitan oral stctsment ta the Court on
behalf of th¢ Socrctary-Gmersl of the Unitad Nctior,~ and MF, Gi G,
Fitzmuricn, Second Lcgnl Adviser to tha British Foroign Office,
fiidCharles Rousseau ,rofossor ,ltthe Faculte de Droit in Paris,
Assistant Leen1 Adviserto theFrench I'I5nistry of Forci@ Aff~irs, and
Mr, Shabtai Roscnnc, LegclAdviserLo the IsruoZi Ministry of Foreign

Affairs, wLll p-ddress the Court md éxpound thc views held, on the
quostion before the-Court, by thcir respective Governments.