INTERNATIONAL COURTOFJUSTICE
Peace Palace, 2517 KJ The Hague. TeL(31-70-302 23 23). Cables: lntercourt, The Hague.
Telefax (31-70-364 99 28). Telex 32323. Internet address ; http; Il www.icj-cij.org
Communiqué
unofficial
for immediaterelease
No. 99/15
22 April 1999
Difference Relating to Immunizy from Legal Process
of a Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Hu man Rigbts
Court to give its Advisocy Opinion on Thursday 29 April 1999
THE HAGUE, 22 April 1999. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principaljudicial
organof the United Nationswil live its Advisory Opinio.ithe case concerning the Difference
Relatingto Immunity from Legal Process of a Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human
R..ighon Thursday 29 April 1999.
A public sitting will take place at0 a.rn. in the Peace Palace at The Hague, during which
thePresident of the Court, Judge Stephen M. Schwebe1, will read the Advisory Opinion.
Background information
The request for an advisory opinion was presented to the Court in August 1998 by the
Economie and Social Couneil (ECOSOC), one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The case relates to Dato' Param Curnaraswarny, a Malaysian jurist who in 1994 was appointed
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers by the Commission on Human
Rights, an organof ECOSOC.
Mr. Cumaraswarny currently faces severa! lawsuits fileinMalaysian courts by different
plaintiffs for damages in a total amount US$ 112 million. The plaintiffs assert that he used
defamatory language in an interview he gave in 1995 to International Commercial Litigation
magazme .
• However, according to the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,
Mr. Cumaraswamy spoke in his official capacity Special Rapporteur and was thus immune from
legal processy virtue of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
Moves by the United Nations Secretary-General to ensure respect for this immunity-did not
lead, in his view,appropriate intervention by the Malaysian Government in the Malaysian courts.
By an Order dated 10 August 1998, Judge Shigeru Oda, the senior judge, acting as President
of the Court, decided that the United Nations and the States parties to the Convention on the
Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations (the interpretation or application of which is the
sourceof the difference) were likely to be able to furnish information on the question submitted to
theCourt by ECO SOC. He fixed7 October 1998 asthe time-limit within which written statements
on the question could be submitted to the Court.
Besides the United Nations Secretary-General, the following States submitted written
statements within the time-limit fixed:ta Rica, Gennany, Italy, Malaysia, Sweden, the United
Kingdom and the United States of America. Greece submitted a written statement after expiry of
thetime-limit,butfilingwasauthorized. writtencommunicationwas alsoreceivefrom Luxembourg. - 2 -
Further, as provided by the Order of 10August 1998, the United Nations Secretary-General
and the above-mentioned eight States were given until 6 November 1998 to file written comments
onthe otherwritten statements. Besiclesthe United Nations Secretary-General, the following States
submitted such written comments: Costa Rica, Malaysia and the United States of America.
Hearings were held from 7 to 10 December 1998, during which the United Nations,
Costa Rica, Italy and Malaysia made oral submissions.
*
NOTE FOR THE PRESS
1. The public sitting will be held in the Great Hall of Justice of the Peace Palace in
The Hague, the Netherlands. Mobile telephones and beepers are allowed in the courtroom provided
they are turned off or set oo silent mode. Any offending deviee will be temporarily retained.
2. Members ofthe Press will be entitled to attend on presentation of a press card. The tables
reserved for them are situated on the far left of the public entrance of the courtroom.
3. Photographs may be taken for a few minutes at the opening and at the end of the sitting.
Television crews may film, but advance notice should be given to the Information Office (see
paragraph 8).
4. In the Press Room, located on the ground floor of the Peace Palace (Room 5), the reading
of the Advisory Opinion will be relayed through a loudspeaker.
5. At the end of the sitting, a press release, a summary of the Advisory Opinion and the full
text of it will be distributed in the Press Room.
6. The above-mentioned documents will be simultaneously available on the Court's website
(http :/lwww.icj-cij.org).
7. Members of the Press who wish to make telephone calls may use the phone located in the
Press Room for collect calls or the public telephones in the Post Office in the basement of the Peace
Palace.
8. Mr. Arthur Witteveen, Secretary of the Court (tel: 31-70-302 2336), and •
Mrs. Laurence B1airon, Information Officer (tel: 31-70-302 2337), are available to deal with any
requests for information and for makîng arrangements for television coverage.
Difference relating to immunity from legal process of a Special Rapporteur - Court to give its Advisory Opinion on Thursday 29 April 1999