Voting Procedure on Questions relating to Reports and Petitions concerning the Territory of South West Africa - The President of the Court decides that the Members of the United Nations should be enti

I.C.J. Comnuniqué No. 54/23
(Unofficial)

The followinp information ,from the Registry of the International
Court of Justice has been cormynicated to the--;FF@~S:'.
.. .

1; the case rela:ting to the voting procedure on relating
to re~orts an3 netitions concerning the territory of South-West Africa, '
the President of the Interpational Court of Just,ice has decided that
the Mèmbers of the United Nations should be entitled:.-to ,submit. to the
Court, on or before March 15th: 1955, written staternents of their views.

It is knk that 'this case ?as submitted to .the -Court for Advisory
Opinion in ~ursuance of a Resolution sdopted by the General kssembly of

the United Nations on November 23rd, 1954. This Resolution was in the
following teps:.

"The Gene rel Assemblg,

Having accepted, by resolution 449 A. (v) of 13 December
1950. the advisorg opinion of the International Court of Justice
of-li July 1950 iith'respect to South-West Africa,
. .

Havina re~ard, in bartic~ar, to the Court l s opinion on the
peneral question, nameïy, "that South-IJest kfrica is a Territory
under the international Mandate assurned by,the Union of South
Africa on 17 December 1920tt, and to the Courtv1 s opinion on question
(a), namely, "that 'the Union of South Africa continues to have the
international obligations stated in. Article 22 of the Covenant of
the'leape of NatioqS, and in the Mandate for south- est Africa as
well as the obligation to transmit petitions from the inhabitants
of that Territory, the. supervisory functions to be ,exercised by the

United Nations,' to &ich the annual reports and the'petitions a"e
to ,'besubmitted, -&.d'the reference to the Permanent 'Co:u& of'
International .Justice to be replaced by'a reference to ,the
Inte'rnational Court of Justice, in accordance &th Article 7 .of
the Mandate and Article 37 of the.Statute of the Court;", ,
a
ha vin^ emressed, in resolution 749 A (VIII) of 28 ~ovember
1953, its opinion I1that without United Nations supervision the
inhabitants of the Territory are deprived of the international
u
sunervi sion envi saged by the Covenant of 'the League of Nationsl1
and its belief "thet it tmuld not füifil its obligation. towa,rds
the inhabitants of South-West Africa if it were not to assume the
suvervisory responsibilities with regard to the Territory of
South-West Africa ~?Lzil ;.,:re formerly exercised by the League of
NationsH,
. .. ..
, Havina regard to the opinion of the International Court of
Justice that "the degree of supervision to be exercised by tne
Generd Assembly 'should not ... . exceed that tvhich applied under
the Mandates System, and should conform as far 2s possible to the

procedure followed in this respect by the Council of the League of
Nations" md that these observations are particularly applicable
to annual reports and petitionsu, -

ha vin^ adopted,. by resolution (IX) of 11 October 1954, a
special rule F on the voting procedure to be followed by the
Cenerd hssembly in taking decisions on questions relating to
reports and petitions concerning the Territory of South-West Africa, ha vin^ adopted this rule in a desire "to apply, as far as
possible qncl pending the conclusion of an agreement between the
United Nations and the Union of South kfrica, the procedure foïlowed
in that respect by the Council of the League of Nations",

Considéring that some elucidation of the advisory opinion

is desirable,

Reauests the Inbernational Court of Justice to give ..
advisory opinion on the following questions :

(a) 1s the following rule on the voting procedure to be
followed by the General Ass,mbly a correc6 interpretetion
of the advisory opinion of the International Court of
Justice of 11 July 1950:
.- . ....
.
"Decisions 'of the General kssembly.on questions
relating to reports and petitions concerning the
Territory of South-West Africa shal1,be regarded as
. important questions viithin 'the meàning of Article 18,
paragraph 2, of the Charter of the United ,Nations. "?

(b)If this intemretation of the advisory opinion of the
Court is not correct, what voting ~rocedure should be
followed by the General Assembly in taking decisions on

questions relating to reports and petitions concerning
the Territory of South-West Africa?"

The decision taken by the President is based on Article 66,
paragraph 2, of the Statute, which provides inter dia that any State
entitled to appear before the ~ourt:which is considered as likely to
be able to .furnish information on e. question 'submitted for advisory
o~inion shall be notified that the Court will be prepared to receive
a .h~itten statement from it, or to hear an oral statement made on its
behalf . b

Tn the present case, the Registrar, den notifying the Iyembers of
the United Nations of the ?residentls decision, has in'formed them tha-ti
the Court would probably begin the oral proceédings at the end of
bril 1955. . .

The Hague, December lbth, '1954.