Interpretation of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania - Background information

I~JT&S~ATIO~~C AOLU2TOF JUSTICE

Peace Treaties with Buharia. Hwiaaw and Romanis*

The advisory case concerning the Interpretation
of Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and
RomâniaI1 tri11 be before the Court in public hearing
at the Peace Palace on Tuesday, Februarg 2&h, 1950,
at 11 am.

.
The following background information has been
prepared by the Press Officer of the U.N. In-
format ionCentre , London. '

The Hague,February 25th, 1950.

311the backgroundof the issue coming up before the International.
Court of ~ustice-fqr an advisory Opinion next Tuesday is the question
which was discussed by the Gencral Assvmbly lastspring andgain Ln
autumn in oonnection with ths "Trial of Churçh Leaders in Bulgaria and
Hungary" andthe 7f0bsemance in Bulgc,.ria, Hungary and%mania of Human
Rights andFundamenta lrcedomsll. It is clearly understood, howevar,
that the Court is not qected to go lntothe substance of the matter,
nhich is the alleged violation of the hum rights provisions of the
UnitedNations Charter and the Peace Treeties; The Coud 's advisory
opinion is chiefly sought on certain legal questions concerning the
application and th^workvlgof the rnachinzry that has been designed

undes the Peacs Treaties for the settlemen tf disputes betwen the
parties concerned.

Four questions have been put to the Court by thc Gerieral Assem'oly
last autm. They a5m at cstablishing (1) whether there exist any
disputes; (2) if so, whether thare is any obligation on the of
the three Governments concerned to brbg the Peace Treaty provisions for
the sattlernent of thssc disputes into play; and (3) whst unilatsral.
action, if any, cm be takcn for this purpaso by th8 other Pzlrtles ta
the Trcaties if the -three Government,~ conczrned refuseto CO-operat ,e

As Fzr 2.5the UnitedNations was concerned, the issue dirst cLmic

up when Australla a~d Bolivia asked the spring 1949 session of the
General Assembly to include in its agenda items with regard ta the
trials of Church leaders in Bulgaria and EIungary, In the face of
opposition, rnainlyf rom the Sovict Union,the Àssmbly decided to discuss
the question md t ben, on @ri1 30th- 19.49i ,t adopted a resolution
.in which it expressed Itdeepconcern at the .. , alleged violation of
hmm rightstr.in Bulgaria md Hmgary. Ths resolution refcrred to the
hmn rights provisions of thePeacc Treaties md' the United Nations
Ghartcr,cnd recalled th2tone of the purposes of the United Nations ,
was the promotion and encouragement of respect for human rights and
fundmentd freedoms for a,li,

Ageinstthjs, th< legality af the debate before the Assembly wd

the subsequent request to the Court were contested by the Soviet Union
and othors, including tho Govzrnment s concerned, on thc grounds that
theywerc attempting to deal with a m~ttcr hich wzs a purely domestic
concem. By embarking on a discussionof thc subjoct md then by askingthe Court for an advisory opinion, the Assombly was intcrfering
in intzrnd affairs, it ws stcted, and violzting Article 2 pcregr~ph 7
'of the Charter which zxpr8ssly provided th?% 'Inothing in th Chwter
sh~ll authorizsth? United Iktions to inturvcne in matters aich era
essenticJ1y within the domcstic jurisdictio of any St~te". IXIdeny-

ing the campetence of tha ~seembly it hcs dso bcen pointcd out that
the Pzaço Treatias providedthir own pfocedurcad thcreby did in fact ,
bar the Goneral Asssmbly znd'the Court from concùrning khemsei-v~s'~5th the
' issue. As for the specific position of thc Court, its competenc os
alsoquzstioned on the ground th?<t the throe States concorned were neither
mcmbzrs of thc United Nations nor Fatles to the Court's Statute,

Befora the spring session of the Assembly finished, a àiplomztic
correspondenc ,on trie question had been initinted by the UnitedKingdom
2nd t hc United States, whose Governments at the bcgiming of April 1949
addressed notes to Bulgariz, Hqary and Rommia, aileging a number of

violations of the human rights articlos of the feace Treaties and calling
upon those Govm=unents for n remedy. Thisaction was describeâ as an
openuig step towards setting th2 Trezty proccduro in motion, according
to which (11my dispute conc~rning the interpretation or execution of
the Sreaty, which isnot settled by direct diplornatic negotiatian ,sshall
be referred to tkc Throe Heads of Mission; (2) any dispute, not reaolved
by thm nithin a poriod of two months shall bi:referred to a Commission
composedof one represontstiv of oach pa&y znd a third rnember eelected
by mutuaï agreement of thc two pnrties from nation~l's of a third country;
ad (3) shoüld the two parties fail to ares within a pariod of one
month upon the appointment of the third manber, the Secretzry-General

of the United Nations m2y bc requestsdby cithsr pzrty to mske the
appointment,

The attarnpts to Znvoke the Trcaty machinory for the sdttlernent of
disputes did not prevail, The Soviet Union md tha three countries con-
cerned malntained theirpositions. This was the situation when thé
Assemblytook the mettcr up =ain in autumn 1949. Aner alengthy
debate the Assmbly then adopted on October 22nd,1949, a~esolution~ in
~ich it ~xpressed its continuing interest in the mettar md it also
wiiced the opinion thzt l'therefusalof the Goverments to cooperate in
its efforts to cxminz the grnve charges with regard to the observmce
of hman rights and fundanentai freedomsjustifies this concern of the
Gencrd A~sembLy~~.
By the sane resolution the Assemblyalso decided
to subrnit fo~ questions to thc Internntiond Coud of Justice, These
questions read as follows:

"1. Do the diplornatic exchmges betw~en Bulgcria, Hungary and
Romania on .theon2 hand and certain Allied and Associated Powers
signatories to the Treaties of feace on the other, concernin he
irnplementation of Article 2 of thheTraaties with BulgariLa and
Hungzry md Article 3 of the Treatywith Flomania,disclose disputes
subject to the provisions for the scttlem~nt of disputescontalned
in Article 36 of the Treaty of Peace with Bulgzria,Article 40 of
the Treaty of Peacc with Hqary, end Article 38 of the Trsaty of
Peacc with Rornania?I1

In the event of sn affinnetive reply to question1:

1 Arti-ihc Govament s of Bulgzria, 3ungasg ad Ramania
obligated toarry out th¢ provisions of the Articles refefred Lo in
1, including thc provisions for the ?vppaintmcnt of their
represcn &tives to the Treaky Commi~sions?~~ In the event of an affimztive raply to question II and if within
thirty dzp from the date whzn the Court delivsrs its opinion,
the Government concernod have not notified the Szcratary-Generel
that thzy have zppointed thzir represent,?tives to the Treaty
Commissions m,d the Secretery-Genard hes so advised the Intsr-
nat ionzl Court of Justice :

1. If one party fails to ~ppoint a representztiv te s
Trexty Commissio nnder the Treaties of Peace withBulgeria,
Hungary endrom mi^ wh~rethzt party is ebligated £3 appointa
representative to thc Treaty Conmissioni ,s ,the Secret ary-Generd
of the United Nations authorized ta zpgoint tha third nembar of
the Commission upon the rekest of the obhar party to a dispute
according to the provisions of tha respective Treaties?"

h the event of an affinnetive rcply to question III:
I
flIV. Wauld a Treaty Commission compossd of a representative
of one party and a third membcr appointad by the Secretary-Generd
of the Unltcd Naticns constitute a Commission ,thin thc maning

of the relevant Treaty artfclcs,competent to make a definitive
and bhàing decision in ssttlment of a dispute?"

At the. Court1s publichearings on Tuesday Dr,Ivm Korno, United
Netians Assiatmt Sacretary-Generfa or Pegal. matbers, is expected to
make astatement on behalf of the Secretzry-General. Oral. statements
will then be made on behalf of the United ~ingdorn(by llr.G,G.Pitzmauricej
and by thé United States (Mr. Benjmin V.Cohen) . The public hearhg is
likely to last two or three days,

Written st~tement have JO far been submitted by the Govermments
of Australia B,ulgaria, Byelorussia Snoviet Socialist Ftepublic, Czecho-
slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Ukrainim Soviet Socialist Republic, United
Kingdom, United States of herica and the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics ,