Page 193 - Law of Peace, Volume ,

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The Admissibility of Hearings of Petitioners by the Com- contract disputes. This tribunal restored the employees to
mittee on Southwest Africa Opinion (1955- 1956). 155 On their position.
June 1, 1956, the Court again had to reconcile the restric- The General Assembly asked the Court ifit was bound
tive provisions of its frrst opinion with the practice of the by such a decision of a tribunal it had created, or whether
General Assembly in permitting oral hearings on South- it could look upon such a decision as a recommendation.
West Africa. The League had only utilized written peti- The Court replied that the General Assembly had created
tions. The Court said that nothing prevented the League an independent and truly judicial body pronouncing final
from having oral hearings. Furthermore, the refusal of the judgments without appeal and that its judgments were
Union of South Afiica to cooperate with the General As- therefore bindii on the General Assembly.
sembly made oral hearings useful in keeping the General
The Judgments of the Administrative Tribunal of the ILO
Assembly informed of events in South-West Africa.
upon Complaints made against UNESCO Opinion
The Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and (1 955- 1956). 158 The ILO (International Labor Organiza-
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Opinion tion) had established an administrative tribunal to settle
(1950- 195 1). 156 Reservations to multilateral treaties had disputes between ILO and its employees. UNESCO ac-
long presented a problem. The Latin American nations, cepted the jurisdiction of this tribunal. The tribunal gave
starting about 1926, developed the practice of permitting four judgments in favor of four American employees of
reservations. A reserving state was a party to the conven- UNESCO who had refused to answer a questionnaire
tion as to those signatories which accepted the reservation, form or to appear before the International Organization
it was not a party as to those which did not. The League of Employees' Loyalty Board of the U.S. Civil Service. The
Nations on the other hand pursued a policy that all sig- statute setting up the tribunal permitted its decision as to
natories must agree to the reservation before the reserving its own jurisdiction to be challenged by the using agency.
state can become a party to the treaty. In the event of such a challenge the dispute would be set-
The Genocide Convention was drafted under the tled by the International Court. UNESCO challenged the
auspices of the U.N. When it was opened for signature jurisdiction of the tribunal on the ground that the
several states signed with reservations. The General As- employees had no legal right to a renewal of their con-
sembly asked the Court what practice it should follow. On tracts and hence there was no nonobservance of the terms
May 18, 1951, the Court replied that reservations are per- of the contracts.
mitted if they do not go to the main objectives or^ the con- The Court held that the tribunal did have jurisdiction to
vention. It is up to each signatory to judge for itself if the hear the complaints in question because UNESCO had
reservation is compatible with the convention. The told its employees that fixed term contracts would be
reserving state is a party to the treaty as to those states renewed.
which consider the reservation compatible with the main The case is interesting because it shows an instance of
objects of the treaty, it is not a party as to those states the Court acting as an appellate tribunal in an actual dis-
which do not think the reservation compatible. The result pute between an international organization and private in-
is almost the same as the Latin American practice. The dividuals. The general rule is that only states may be par-
Court rejected the League policy which required ties before the Court. Here, the practical effect of the
unanimity of acceptance by all signatories. This freedom Court's willingness to give an advisory opinion in the cir-
to make reservations was purchased at the price of the cumstances of this case is to relax that general rule.
unity and internal coherence of mulitlateral treaties. The Constitution of the Maritime Consultative Organiza-
The Effect of Awards of Compensation Made by the tion Opinion (1 959-1 960). 159 Under Article 28(a) of the
United Nations Administrative Tribunal Opinion Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization,
(1 953- 1954). 157 The employment contracts of several a Maritime Safety Committee of 14 members was to be
American employees of the Office of the Secretary elected. Not less than eight of those elected were to be
General were terminated by the Secretary General with- from "the largest ship-owning nations." When the fust
out their consent. The United States was desirous of the election was held on January 15, 1959, neither Panama
termination because of suspected disloyalty to the United nor Liberia was elected although both were in the fust
States. These employees appealed to the United Nations eight of the nations with the largest registered tonnage.
Administrative Tribunal, which had previously been es- The Court refused to permit the Inter-Governmental
tablished by the General Assembly to hear employment Maritime Consultative Organization to look behind the
registered tonnage to actual ownership. It was evident that
many ships were merely registered in Liberia and Panama
--
155. 119561 I.C.J. Rep. 23; digested in 50 Am. J. Int7 L. 954
(1956).
1;6. [I9511 I.C.J. Rep. 15; reported in 45 Am. J. In17 L. 579 158. [I9561 1.C.J. Rep. 77; digested in 51 Am. J. Int'l L. 410
(1951). (1957).
157. [I9541 I.C.J. Rep. 46; digested in 48 Am. J. Int'l L. 655 159. [I9601 I.C.J. Rep. 150; digested in 54 Am. J. Int'l L. 884
(1954). (1960).