Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 March 2016
On July 20, 1962, the International Court of Justice handed down its Advisory Opinion concerning the expenditures of the United Nations for peace-keeping operations in the Middle East and in the Congo. This Opinion is of the utmost importance, since it deals with a question affecting the very survival of the World Organization. The Court was asked to pronounce on the financial obligations of members in the fulfilment of the first purpose of the United Nations: the maintenance of international peace and security. The Opinion also involves the constitutional question of the division of powers between the General Assembly and the Security Council in the attainment of this basic purpose.
1 P.C.I.J. Series B, No. 5 (1923).
2 This repeated reference to “Reports” is an abbreviation for “I.C.J. Reports 1962”.
3 P.C.I.J. Series B, No. 5 (1923), 71.
4 I.C.J. Reports 1947–1948, 61.
5 This repeated reference to “Pleadings” is an abbreviation for “I.C.J. Pleadings 1962”.
6 I.C.J. Reports 1950, 8.
7 (1875) 33 L.T. 450.
8 (1880) 5 A.C. 473, 478.
9 This resolution was adopted by the General Assembly on November 3, 1950, by a vote of 52 to 5, with 2 abstentions. It provided that, if the Security Council failed to discharge its primary responsibility to maintain international peace and security, because of the veto of one of its permanent members, an emergency session of the General Assembly could be called by any seven members of the Security Council or by a majority of the members of the United Nations.
10 Juris-Classeur de Droit International, Vol. II, Fascicule 218, at 7, no. 37.