Page 173 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

THE PRESENT LEGAL POSITION Ill
1962, to apply the Agreement on a dc facto basis for a period of two
years, as provided in (/>) above. The two-year period was to run from
19 June 1961, the date on which Kuwait formally assumed full
responsibility for her international relations. After the expiry of this
period, Kuwait opted to join the GATT under Article XXVI 5(c),
through the United Kingdom’s sponsorship.1
3. The Geneva Conventions relating to (a) the amelioration of the condi­
tion of the wounded and sick in armed forces in the field, (b) the ameliora­
tion of the condition of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of
armed forces at sea, (c) the treatment of prisoners of war, and (d) the pro­
tection of civilian persons in time of war, signed at Geneva on 12 August
1949.2
At the time of the deposit of the instrument of ratification of the
above four conventions on 23 September 1957 the United Kingdom
made the following declaration to the Swiss Federal Political Depart­
ment:
The United Kingdom . .will apply each of the above-mentioned Conven­
tions in the British Protected States of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the
Trucial States to the extent of Her Majesty's power in relation to these
territories.3
4. Supplementary Convention on the abolition of slavery, the slave trade
and institutions and practices similar to slavery, done at Geneva on
7 September 1956.4
The United Kingdom ratified this convention on 30 April 1957, the
same date on which it entered into force. And on 6 September 1957
the United Kingdom had, in compliance with the convention’s terri­
torial application Article 12(2), notified the Secretary-General of the
United Nations of its extension to ‘Bahrain, Qatar, The Trucial
States (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah,
Sharjah and Umm al-Qaiwain)’, as being part of those ‘other non­
metropolitan territories for the international relations of which the
United Kingdom is responsible’.5 Similarly, under this Article the
United Kingdom extended the convention to Kuwait on 21 October
1957.6 After her independence, Kuwait ceased to be bound by this
convention under the procedure mentioned above. It was therefore

1 Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kuwait.
2 U.N.T.S. vol. 75, p. 85, vol. 78, p. 366, and vol. 84, p. 414.
3Ibid.,vol. 278, pp. 259-66.
4 U.N.T.S. vol. 266, p. 40; U.K.T.S. No. 59 (1957), Omul. 257.
5 U.N.T.S. vol. 276, p. 370. It is to be noted that Article 12(2) under which the
convention was applied to the Gulf States provides for obtaining the consent of
the non-metropolitan territory concerned before applying the convention to it.
c U.N.T.S. vol. 278, p. 313; U.K.T.S., No. 59 (1957), Cmmt., 257.