South West Africa (Ethiopia v. South Africa) - Hearing of 15 March 1965

The follovnng information from the Begistrg of the Intern.stional
Court of Juatice is comrnunicated to the Press:

When he opened the hearing on 7111onday,15 Maxch 1965, at 3 p.m,
for the oral presentstion of their arg-ments on the nerits by the
hrtiea in the South YNest Africa cases (~thicipia v. South Africa;
Liberia v. South Africa) , the President of the ~nyernational Ccurt

of ~ustiCe made the f olloming statement:

The Court is asserribledtoday to deal with the merits of the Scuth
West Afsics cases between Ethiopia ana Liberia on the one hand and South
Africa on the other. Before, however, opening the oral proceedingsin
the second phase of these cases, it is fittingthat, as the President
of its principal judicia2, organ, 1 should briefly nark the twentieth
anniversaryof the United Nations.

WTthin a fsw monthst~renty years niIl have elapsed since the
delegates of fifty nations, meeting in the United Nations Conference on
Intsrna,tional Organi~ation nt San Francisco,signedthe Charterof the
United Nations and the Statute of this Court on 26 June 1945. Born of a
brave affirmation,made in the dark haws of a ivorld at war by a handful
of nations, of their intention to work togeth& with other free yecples
to mintain internnti~nal peace and security, to Save mnkind frcm the
catastrophe of rvar, so that al1 rnight enjoy the bleasings af peace and
thereby the benefits of ecanomic "andsoclal security,social pragress

and better standards of life in larger freedon, the idea was taken up
nad elaborated by the po;,versv~hich assu~:ed the name of United Nati.ons.
Then finally the San Fra~icisce Conference vas held ; the Charter vmS
adoptedand the Organizstionbegsn ta £uncticn.

In the twenty years since 1945 the Unlted Maticns , thcugh it has' not
yet in 811, pc-rhaps in many, respects fulf illed the hopes of thosc rvho
cvnceived it, h~s nonetheless in other important buk not alr-mys
spectaculc2i- naya suxpassedthese hopoo. The United Nations, still,

after all, in its formativeyears, has not been spared growing gains and
crises, but in surmcjunting tliern,as there are gcod reasons to believe that
it vil1 continue to do, it hao develùped a str~ng,vital personality of
its ovm as Sn expressionof the 1-forldcommunity, an essentialingreclient
of modern civilization.

No human instituticn car1 ever be perfect. The UnitedNaticns is
indeed a human institution, born ao it was of the fearc, the hopcs and

beliefs of countlesomillionsof people. That it is such an institution
must alv~ays be borri~ in mlnd when out of impatience 07 ether motivati~n
criticism'is frum time to time directed at it. The vast majcrity cf the
peuples of the world have faith in the Orgnnization. Yet they? for the
mort part, are mutsd in the exprrssion cf their faith, as those $-[hhoave
faith in anything so often are. 1% is the voics of the critic r-rhich
mkes itself heard. Criticiam ihere must of course nlways be. Et is
the very life blood uf existence, jurt as, indced, is self-criticisn,
Pirithout criticism no human institutionmay possibly be inpr*ived, mr! 1
am far from saying thet the Charter of the United mations, or the

Organisationor its constituentorgans and agencies, are beyond valid
criticism.

The .,., The future of the United Nations and the extent to which its noble
purposeswill, In the end, be accomplished or frustrated, will depend
directly upon the degree to whichnations,obligatedta accomplish those
purposes,in reallty devotethemselvea to that ecconiplishment, jus* as,
in a lesser degree, it mil1 depend upon the zeal and devotion of a11 ~vho
immediately serve the United NationsOrganizatian and ita variouaorgans
and agenciea.

It ia in the nations of the world who are Members of the United
Nations; it is in tbose who directly serve the Organization; it is in
the profound hope that the high ideals which inspired the concept cf
nations miting fax peace against the appnllingdevastationand horror~
of nar wou'5d be served by al1 nations whatever and wherever they my be,
that so many millions of people throughzut the r~o~ld have repoaed their
faitk. Thnt faith muot not be allomed to niCher ai-my.

Perhapsa measure of the justification for faithin the future of

the UnitedNations can be gained by comparing for a moment the state of
the world in 1965, twenty years after the birth of the DnitedNations, ~5th
the situationtwenty years nfter the cornin@: into force of the Coveizant of
the League of Nations, Then the Second World War had already broken out,
and no-one could tell what uight nat be engulfed in its course. The
world tmentyyesrs after the creatiun of the United Nations, despite the
difficult and constantprobleas which confront it, despite the autbreaks
frum time to time of armed conflict in different areas of the globe -
whichUYlkappily ctïintinuetc occur - is nonetheless a world which I-ias been

spued the scourge of a nosld iirar, Huwever great the problems ~111ich
still cal1 for laseing aoluticns, this simple fact bears silent mitnass
to the degree of eff ectlvenesn and determination with which the purposes
of the UnitedNationshave been pursued, and that in the face of situations
infinitely mcre compl~x than those inherited by the League community
nfter the Firat World War,'

Anotherand, it =y be, more tangible meaaure of the continuing need
of the peoples of the vmrld for the United Nations,and their confidence
in its ability to assisethem in fulfillingtheir aspirations, is

provided by the growth in its membership, The original membership ims 51.
It is nrJw niore than tr~ice that nimber. TiJorç:interesting $erkedp~ than .
the mere figures,and hearteningas tangible procf that the spirit of the
Charter hae continued to operato,is tlle kind of Menber the figurez
represent. Of the 51 original Mcmbers, Less than a dozen were from the
ancient centres of civilizütion in dsia, Africa and the Middle %et.
Nore than half the total Members nom corne from these areas. Of the
Stateo which have joined the Organizatian since it wcts founded, nealy 50,
that is to cay nea~ly ao many as the original membership,have acquired
s-hatehood since 1945. In becoming IiiIemberathey have reaffirmed in thob

otvn name the determination of the original peoplcs of the United Nations,
as cxpressedin the vexy first words of the Charter signed twenty yems ago,
"to save succeedinggenerations from the scourge uf cmx ... and to
establish condit ions under which justice and respect for the obligations
arising from treatiesand other sources'ofinternational law Gan be
maintained".

One of the first purpoeeeof the Organization, set out in the firat
article of the Charter,is "to bring about by peace£ulmeans, and in
conformitg witb .the principles of justice and international ha, .,

adjustrnent or set tlement of international disputes or situations which , might Lead to a breach of the peace''. 13 pursuancc of this puri?ose,
the Charter estsblished this Court, an independent judicial body, as the
principal jridicial organ »Ï the UnitedNations, and by basing its Statute
upon that of the PermanentCourtof Internat icnal Justice, md.e possible

a continuity and stability of jurisprudence in international edjudic~~tion
rrhich now exiends over more thm forty yesrs, This Court,in wl-mm, zs
a whole, its Statute requires that "the representstion of the main foms
of civilization anclof the principal legal systemsof the ~rorld shculd be
assuredfl, is, again in the ;:orda of ita Statute, l'permanently in sessicn"
in order to play its part in furthering the purposes of the Organization,
by psrforming its funetion .f deciding objectivelyand "in accordzncn witK
interizati na1 1-rir"the dispute-s rkich are submi tt ed to it , and by so doing ,
contribiztirig to the nis.inteizance of xorLd peace .

It is, O£ cours^, self evident that al1 dtsyutes between nations are
not susceptible of resolutionby judicial means. It is, hoeever, equally
evident tbt the functionsof this Court may be invokedmore frequently
than they me, if not in final settlernent 'of all the issuesin disputes
betv~een nations,at least, oiithe judicial levelsin clarification of
certainissues involved, so rendering diaputesmore anemble to complete
0 and final settlement, It is to be obscrved thzt Lhe Charterenjoins the
settlement, by peaceful means,of disputes the cantinuame of which is
likely to endanger the maintenanceof international peace and security,

and lays it down that legal disputes between States ahould be refcrred,
as a general rule, to this Court to be dealt with In accordance with
international Iaw.

This unique and psrmanently constituted judicialmeans of
implementing n vital Charter purpose stands ever xeady at the service
of the members of the world community. Note for the Fress

The Press Room is Roon 5. There are six telephone booths in
the Peace Palace Post Office. Reprcsentatives of the Press may be
present at cach public sitting and ail1 find cùpies of the verbatim
transcript of the proceedings in the Press Boom et the beginningof
the marning following the sittings held on Tuesday-Friday, and at the
begiming of Tuesday afternoon in the case of sittingsheld on Iblanday.

Copies will also be available at the International Press Centre
"Nieutvspoort", Hof singel12, The Hague, in the evening of the day
of sittings held from Tuesday to Friday, and at lunchtirne on Tuesday
in the case of sittinga held onIvionday. fiench tranelation wai12
be avai1abX.e at the ame placee approximtely 24 hours latex.

Routine daily comnuniqués indicatingthe name of the dayis
speakers and the time of the next public sitting will not be issued,
except that the time of the next public sittirig will be given by

communiqué ~~henever it is fixed for a date other than the follol-ring
working day .

In accordancewith the Courti s decision authoriaing the pleadings
and annexcd docunients in the South West Sfrics cases $0 be made
accessible to the public as from the commencenent of the oral
proceedings on 15 Mach 1965, tws sets of these documents have been
placed in the Press Room. lhernbers of the Pre~s are asked to
CO-operate in respecting the request stmiped on these documents

that they should not be xenoved £rom the Press Roem, as the Registry
has not auffîcient stocks to replace any missingvolumes. Copies
have also been placed in the Pcace Palace Library.

The Hague, 15 hlarch 1965,