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324 THE LEGAL STATUS Of- I'HE ARABIAN GULF STATES

Satisfaction with the Secretary-General's role in the settlement of
the Bahrain question was expressed by several delegates during the
debate which followed the endorsement by the Security Council of
Mr. Winspeare's report on Bahrain.
It is noteworthy that when the USSR Representative, Mr. Malik,
spoke in that debate, he emphasised the fact that his Government's
disagreement with the Secretary-General on procedural matter, in
connection with his action on the problem of Bahrain, did not in
anyway, affect the Soviet Union’s support of the substance of the
question under discussion namely, the conclusions of the
Secretary-General’s Personal Representative on the status of
Bahrain. To this effect, Mr. Malik stated that the aspiration of
Bahrain to achieve full independence and sovereignty, “without
foreign intervention and pressure, so that it could decide its
relations with other states and peoples is an entirely understandable
and entirely justified aspiration,” and has been noted in the report
under discussion as one of its major conclusions.1
Both the Spanish and the French Representatives in the above
debate expressed the views that the procedure adopted by the
Secretary-General in the Bahrain question constituted “departure
from United Nations customary practice in such matters”. As
regards the Spanish Representative, Mr. de Pinies, he drew
attention to “the special nature of this case”. He distinguished
between the British Government’s position as a protecting Power in
Bahrain and its position as “an administrating Power” in other areas
under colonial rule. Accordingly, the Spanish Representative stated
that
“the situation of the United Kingdom vis-a-vis Bahrain is not that of an
adminstrating Power but that of a protective Power.’’

He continued:
“The General Assembly, which on a number of occassions when
considering territories to be decolonized has said it was in favour of the
principle of self-determination or in favour of territorial integrity, has not
stated its views on Bahrain and has not done so because Bahrain has never
been defined as a territory to which chapter XI of the charter should apply.
Therefore, it is not covered by resolution 1514 (XV) and neither has the
Committee of Twenty-four, a subsidiary body of the General Assembly,
ever considered this matter’’.2
Bearing in mind the position of the Spanish Government in

1. Verbatim Record of the 1536th Meeting of the Security Council. U.N.
Document, S/PV. 1536 (11 May 1970), pp. 38-40.
2. Ibid, pp. 33-34-35. It is to be noted that resolution 1514 (XV), referred to in the
above quotation, concerns the question of “granting independence to colonial
countries and peoples”. For the text, see Y.U.N. 1960, pp. 49-50.