unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/24/89)
LEGAL COMMITTEE ELECTS VICE-CHAIRMEN AND RAPPORTEUR Posting Date: 09/24/89 Source: UNITEX Network, Hoboken, NJ, USA Host: (201) 795-0733 ISSN: 1043-7932 Hears Opening Statement by Chairman The Sixth Committee (Legal) this afternoon elected Ernesto S. Martinez Gondra (Argentina) and Vaclav Mikulka (Czechoslovakia) as Vice-Chairmen, and Guillaume Pambou-Tchivounda (Gabon) as Rapporteur. Helmut Tuerk (Austria), the Chairman, was elected on 19 September. The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. on Monday, 25 September, to consider the organization of its work. Statements In an opening statement, Mr. TUERK, the Chairman, said enhanced awareness by States regarding the fundamental importance of scrupulous respect for international law, as well as its progressive development and codification, was essential for speeding up the march towards realization of the age-old dream of a peaceful world, devoting its energies and resources to the promotion of the welfare of mankind. Members of the Committee should contribute to reaching that goal. To achieve the aim of consolidating and expanding the body of universal international law, he continued, it was important that the views of all segments of the international community be taken into account. Only then would legal rules be universally applied and become genuinely effective. The Committee should be committed to proceed in the traditional spirit of mutual understanding and compromise which had characterized its past debates and decisions. He said the agenda of the Committee again contained a number of important questions with legal and far-reaching political implications. He referred particularly to the problem of international terrorism, the questions dealt with by the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations, including the proposal for a commission of good offices, mediation or conciliation within the United Nations, and the drafting of an international convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries. He believed it would be possible at this session to produce a generally acceptable draft convention on mercenaries. The principal aim of the Committee should be directed towards achieving substantive results which would be welcomed by the international community so that the Committee could show it was not an esoteric gathering of academics divorced from the realities of the world, but rather a policy-oriented body of the United Nations making important contributions to the goals of the Organization. Earlier, ACHOL DENG (Sudan), the outgoing Chairman of the Committee, paid tribute to his successor for his professional, intellectual and personal qualities, as well as his previous service in the United Nations. * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | United Nations | FAX: 212-787-1726 patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | BBS: 201-795-0733 patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange | (3/12/24/9600 Baud) -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-