On December 9, 1988, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, without a vote, a “Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.” The preparation of this text was started in 1976 within the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the Commission on Human Rights. On the basis of a project prepared by Mr. Erik Nettel of Austria, the Sub-Commission approved a Draft Body of Principles in 1978. After being submitted to the General Assembly’s Third Committee, it was referred to a working group, which considered it in 1980 but could not complete its task. The item was then moved to the Sixth Committee, which entrusted it to an open-ended working group. This working group met during every session of the General Assembly from 1981 until 1988, and slowly progressed toward the completion of its task.

This treaty between the (East) German Democratic Republic and Hungary concerning visa requirements was deposited with the United Nations in accordance with Article 102 of the UN Charter. When the Government of Hungary decided to permit East Germans visiting Hungary to emigrate to the Federal Republic of Germany (West), the authorities in Budapest informed the East German authorities that the treaty had become inoperative. Among the reasons cited was its inconsistency with the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, to which Hungary had acceded on March 14, 1989.

In 1987 I drew attention to a report published in 1986 by a member of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the United Nations, recommending a number of changes, some of them fundamental, in the presentation by the International Court of Justice of its judgments and advisory opinions. I indicated the principal objections that the Court had expressed on those recommendations, and pointed out that the implementation of some of them could constitute violations of the Charter, of which the Statute of the Court is an integral part. The matter was also the subject of a resolution adopted on April 9, 1987, by the American Society of International Law, reproduced in part in note 30 on page 695 of my Note. It is now possible to bring the story up-to-date and close an unfortunate chapter in the history of the Joint Inspection Unit.