Opinion, of the appointment of its representative to the Treaty Commissions, the Court is now called upon to answer Question III in the Resolution of the General Assembly of October 22nd, 1949, which reads as follows:

[Here follows the Court's reasoning by which it reached its conclusion.]

Consequently, Question III must be answered in the negative. It is therefore not necessary for the Court to consider Question IV, which requires an answer only in the event of an affirmative answer to the preceding Question.

For these reasons,

THE COURT IS OF OPINION,

by eleven votes to two,

that, if one party fails to appoint a representative to a Treaty Commission under the Peace Treaties with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania where that party is obligated to appoint a representative to the Treaty Commission, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is not authorized to appoint the third member of the Commission upon the request of the other party to a dispute.

Done in French and English, the French text being authoritative, at the Peace Palace, The Hague, this eighteenth day of July, one thousand nine hundred and fifty, in two copies, one of which will be placed in the archives of the Court and the other transmitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

BASDEVANT,
President.
E. HAMBRO,
Registrar.

Judge KRYLOV, while joining in the conclusions of the opinion and the general line of argument, declares that he is unable to concur in the reasons dealing with the problem of international responsibility which, in his opinion, goes beyond the scope of the request for opinion.

Judges READ and AZEVEDO, declaring that they are unable to concur in the Opinion of the Court, have availed themselves of the right conferred on them by Article 57 of the Statute and appended to the Opinion statements of their dissenting opinion.2

1 A Decade of American Foreign Policy, p. 150.

2 International Court of Justice Reports, 1950, pp. 231-254.

J. B. E. H.

7. RESOLUTION 385 (V) OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NOVEMBER 3, 19501

The General Assembly,

Considering that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international co-operation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion,

Having regard to General Assembly resolutions 272 (III) and 294 (IV)2 concerning the question of the observance in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to its decision in the latter resolution to submit certain questions to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion,

1. Takes note of the advisory opinions delivered by the International Court of Justice on 30 March 19503 and 18 July 1950 to the effect that:

(a) The diplomatic exchanges between Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania on the one hand, and certain Allied and Associated Powers signatories to the Treaties of Peace on the other, concerning the implementation of article 2 of the Treaties with Bulgaria and Hungary and article 3 of the Treaty with Romania, disclose disputes to the provisions for the settlement of disputes contained in article 36 of the Treaty of Peace with Bulgaria, article 40 of the Treaty of Peace with Hungary, and article 38 of the Treaty of Peace with Romania;

(b) The Governments of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania are obligated to carry out the provisions of those articles of the Treaties of Peace which relate to the settlement of disputes, including the provisions for the appointment of their representatives to the Treaty Commissions;

(c) If one party fails to appoint a representative to a Treaty Commission under the Treaties of Peace with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania where that party is obligated to appoint a representative to the Treaty Commission, the Secretary-General of the United Nations

1 General Assembly, Official Records, Fifth Session, Supplement No. 20 (A/ 1775), p. 16. See also statement of Oct. 2, 1950, by Ambassador Cohen; Department of State Bulletin, Oct. 23, 1950, p. 666.

2 A Decade of American Foreign Policy, pp. 1170-1171 and 1173–1175. 3 Supra, doc. 4.

4 Supra.

See the U.S. notes of Mar. 29, 1949, to Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania (A Decade of American Foreign Policy, pp. 1159-1165); the Hungarian note of Apr. 8, 1949, to the United States (ibid., pp. 1167-1169); the Rumanian note of Apr. 18, 1949, to the United States (ibid., pp. 1169-1170); the Bulgarian note of Apr. 21, 1949, to the United States (ibid., pp. 1165-1167); the U.S. notes of May 31, 1949, to Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania (ibid., pp. 1171-1173); the U.S. note of Aug. 1, 1949, to Hungary (similar notes were sent to Bulgaria and Rumania; Department of State Bulletin, Aug. 15, 1949, p. 238); the U.S. note of Sept. 19, 1949, to Rumania (similar notes were sent to Bulgaria and Hungary; ibid., Oct. 3, 1949, pp. 514-515); the U.S. note of Jan. 5, 1950, to Rumania (similar notes were sent to Bulgaria and Hungary; supra, doc. 3); and the U.S. note of Apr. 26, 1950, to Hungary (similar notes were sent to Bulgaria and Rumania; supra, doc. 5).

is not authorized to appoint the third member of the Commission upon the request of the other party to a dispute;

2. Condemns the wilful refusal of the Governments of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania to fulfil their obligation under the provisions of the Treaties of Peace to appoint representatives to the Treaty Commissions, which obligation has been confirmed by the International Court of Justice;

3. Is of the opinion that the conduct of the Governments of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania in this matter is such as to indicate that they are aware of breaches being committed of those articles of the Treaties of Peace under which they are obligated to secure the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms in their countries; and that they are callously indifferent to the sentiments of the world community;

4. Notes with anxiety the continuance of serious accusations on these matters against the Governments of Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, and that the three Governments have made no satisfactory refutation of these accusations;

5. Invites Members of the United Nations, and in particular those which are parties to the Treaties of Peace with Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, to submit to the Secretary-General all evidence which they now hold or which may become available in future in relation to this question;

6. Likewise invites the Secretary-General to notify the Members of the United Nations of any information he may receive in connexion with this question.

1

8. NOTE FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE RUMANIAN CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES AT WASHINGTON, MARCH 18, 1952 2

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of the Rumanian People's Republic and transmits herewith, for the information of the Rumanian Government, three copies of Department of State publication No. 4376 entitled "Evidence of Violations of Human Rights Provisions of the Treaties of Peace by Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary, submitted by the United States Government to the Secretary General of the United Nations pursuant to the resolution of the General Assembly of November 3, 1950, Volume I, Violations by the Rumanian Government, Freedoms of Expression and of Press and Publication," together with three copies of a supplement containing facsimile reproductions of original exhibits included in English translation in Volume I. Volume I was

2

1 Corneliu Bogdan.

5

Department of State Bulletin, Mar. 31, 1952, pp. 496–497.

The actual title of this publication does not contain the word "Government" after "United States."

'Resolution 385 (V); supra.

'Department of State publication 4376A.

415900-57-vol. 2-28

submitted by the United States Government to the Secretary General of the United Nations on November 16, 1951, and the supplement is being submitted presently.

The Secretary of State takes this occasion to note that the Rumanian Government has referred to the contents of Volume I, following its submission to the Secretary General of the United Nations, as "a collection of lies and falsifications." Such references were made by the Rumanian Government in a declaration in its controlled press on December 6, 1951.

This declaration the Rumanian Government repeated in a volume distributed by it during the meeting of the last General Assembly of the United Nations in Paris, entitled "The Aggressive Policy and Machinations of American Imperialism Against the Rumanian People's Republic."

The attention of the Rumanian Government is called to the fact that of the eighty-nine exhibits, with sub-exhibits, constituting the evidence offered by the United States Government to support its charges that the Rumanian Government has violated the provisions of the Treaty of Peace by which the Rumanian Government undertook to secure the enjoyment of freedom of expression and freedom of press and publication in Rumania, sixty-five, including sub-exhibits, are reproduced in the supplement in facsimile of the original form. These sixty-five include articles or statements by Soviet Communist authorities (four exhibits), quotations from the Rumanian Constitution (three exhibits), quotations from the official Rumanian Government press or Rumanian newspapers appearing during the period when the press has been under the Rumanian Government's control (six exhibits), and official legislation and decrees of the Rumanian Government as published in the official gazette, "Monitorul Oficial" or "Buletinul Oficial," and similar government publications (forty-six exhibits). Since these sixty-five exhibits, including sub-exhibits, have been in documents believed to be official, the Rumanian Government is invited to specify which, if any, of these exhibits it charges fall in the category of "lies and falsifications" and to specify further the respects in which the "lie" or "falsification" is comprised."

The remaining exhibits offered by the United States Government as evidence in Volume I consist, for the most part, of certain affidavits or declarations sworn to before persons authorized to administer oaths in various countries. These include forty documents, including sub-exhibits. If the remarks of the Rumanian Government were intended to apply to these latter exhibits, the Rumanian Government is invited to specify which of them it believes fall into the category of "lies and falsifications," giving again the respects in which the "lie" or "falsification" is comprised.

If, on the other hand, the Rumanian Government does not contend that the excerpts from its official publications, or from the writings of Communist leaders, or from the Rumanian Press, contained in the exhibits, have in fact been forged or otherwise falsified by the United States or by others, but means only that the Rumanian Government differs in the interpretation thereof, or if the Rumanian Government,

while not charging that the signatures of affiants have been forged or falsified or that the affiants have wilfully lied, differs with respect to the facts to which the affiants have testified, the attention of the Rumanian Government is called to the introductory statement of the United States Government in Volume I as follows (page vi):

The Rumanian Government is invited to offer in any appropriate way such evidence in the legal sense as it may have in rebuttal and to submit that evidence to further objective verification.

The United States Government has looked in vain in the publications of the Rumanian Government on this subject to which reference has been made above for the submission of any evidence in any legal sense; it has instead found unsupported conclusions, unresponsive and irrelevant assertions, always without factual proof, and statements which, insofar as they might be relevant, the United States would be prepared to demonstrate, in any appropriate forum governed by rules of legal procedure, to be false.

It is clear to the United States, as it must be to objective persons examining these documents, that the failure of the Rumanian Government to meet the issues of fact and of law in this matter, coupled with that Government's evasion of its established legal duty to submit these issues for trial by the Commission provided in the Treaty of Peace, or by any other judicial body, constitute an unquestionable admission by the Rumanian Government that the charges made by the United States against that Government were correct, that the evidence submitted by the United States amply sustains its charges against the Rumanian Government and that, therefore, the Rumanian Government stands convicted in accordance with the normal legal rules obtaining in civilized countries of violating the Treaty of Peace by wilfully and systematically denying to its citizens and other persons in its jurisdiction the enjoyment of elemental human rights and fundamental freedoms which the Rumanian Government pledged. The Secretary of State takes this occasion to repeat what he said. in submitting Volume I to the Secretary-General of the United Nations:

From its past performance one may expect the Rumanian Government-and the other accused governments to say, always in general terms, that the charges to which this first installment of evidence relates have not been proved and that its persecutions have been directed solely to the suppression of Ñazism and Fascism and to make other self-serving statements of sweeping generality. This will not do. Verifiable facts are called for from the accused, not mere conclusions nor name calling. The truth is that, since the charges and the evidence in support thereof relate to facts localized in the territory of Rumania, their truth or falsity in the event of dispute may best be determined by inquiries on the spot in Rumania and in Hungary and Bulgaria. Were the accused governments sincerely concerned with establishing the truth, they would welcome an arbitral commission of the kind stipulated by the Treaty of Peace. In this case, the commission would receive the testimony of officials of the Rumanian Government concerned with press, radio, books, theater, book publishing and similar matters; it would question other persons within Rumania having testimonial qualifications and otherwise make the dispassionate, careful inquiry which civilized nations expect of judicial tribunals, attended by effective assurances to witnesses against intimidations or reprisals. This the accused governments have thus far refused to permit. The refusal of the accused governments to respect their treaty obliga