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agreement in any particular case and without prejudice to security considera- tions, to avail itself of the assistance of the Trusteeship Council in dealing with those matters which would otherwise be dealt with by the Trusteeship Council.
57. In trust territories not designated as strategic areas, it is expressly pro- vided that the administering authority should ensure that such territories should play their part in the maintenance of international peace and security, and that for this purpose the administering authority may make use of volunteer forces, facilities and assistance from the territory in carrying out its obligations towards the Security Council, as well as for local defence purposes and the maintenance of law and order. This is a striking change from the provision of the Covenant which prohibited the Mandatory from raising forces or constructing fortifications and bases in the trust territories except for purposes of local defence.
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58. The absolute requirement of an open door", which was a feature of A " and B" Mandates is now made subordinate to the interests of the inhabitants of the territory. But subject to this paramount considera- tion it is laid down that there must be equal treatment in Trust territories for all Members of the United Nations and their nationals in social, economic and commercial matters.
59. Chapter XIII describes the composition and functions of the Trustee- ship Council which is designed to replace the Permanent Mandates Commis- sion of the League. It differs from that body, however, in a number of ways. As one of the Principal Organs of the United Nations, comparable with the Economic and Social Council, its status is higher than that of the Permanent Mandates Commission. The Trusteeship Council is, like the Permanent Mandates Commission, to consist of persons specially qualified for its work, but, unlike members of the Permanent Mandates Commission (who served as individuals), the members of the Trusteeship Council will be repre- sentatives of the Governments concerned. In the Permanent Mandates Commission, members who were nationals of mandatory powers had to be in a minority. Half of the members of the Trusteeship Council, on the other hand, will represent Governments administering trust territories. The remain- ing half will consist of representatives of such of the states with permanent seats on the Security Council as are not administering trust territories, together with a sufficient number of representatives of other countries elected by the General Assembly to ensure that the total membership is equally divided between countries which administer trust territories and countries which do not.
60. Each Government administering a trust territory will be required, as were the mandatories under the mandate system, to present an annual report to the United Nations on the basis of a questionnaire drawn up in advance by the Trusteeship Council. The Assembly and, under its authority, the Trusteeship Council is also empowered to receive petitions and examine them in consultation with the administering authority. This is a specific recognition of the practice adopted by the League. The Assembly and Trusteeship Council are also empowered to arrange for periodic visits to the trust terri- tories at times agreed upon with the administering authority. Provision for such visits did not exist under the mandate system.
Chapter XIV. The International Court of Justice.
61. While the Court is governed by its Statute which is annexed to the Charter, it was desirable to include provisions in the Charter itself to show its connexion with the United Nations and to enable the latter body to carry
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out the functions assigned to it in the establishment of the Court. provisions of importance were placed in the same Chapter.
Other
62. The International Court of Justice is a new creation. It was felt that the disadvantages of continuing the existing Permanent Court of International Justice outweighed the advantages. But the Statute of the new Court is based on the Statute of the old Court, and may in a sense be looked upon as its successor (Art. 92). It is provided in Article 37 of the Statute that, where treaties or conventions in force contain provisions for the reference of disputes to the old Court, such provisions shall be deemed, as between the Members of the Organisation, to be applicable to the new Court. The creation of a new Court will necessitate steps being taken to terminate the old Court as part of the process of winding up the League of Nations.
63. An Article corresponding to Art. 13 (4) of the Covenant of the League of Nations, by which States undertake to comply with decisions of the Court, has been inserted, and the Security Council has been given more power to take action, in case such an undertaking were not carried out, than was given to the Council of the League of Nations in a corresponding situation (Art. 94).
64. The position of other tribunals is safeguarded (Art. 95).
65. Not only are the General Assembly and the Security Council given the right to request advisory opinions on any legal question from the Court, but the same right is extended to other organs of the United Nations and specialised agencies which may be so authorised by the General Assembly concerning questions within the scope of their activities (Art. 96).
Statute of the International Court of Justice.
66. The new Statute follows very closely, in form, substance and language, the Statute of the old Court, although a certain number of drafting improve- ments have been made. Proposals for reducing the number of judges and for altering the system for the nomination and election of judges were not adopted. In particular, the system of double election by the Assembly and Council, which is at best calculated to ensure a representative distribution of seats coupled with the election of the strongest candidates, is retained. A proposal for instituting an age limit for judges was defeated, and so also were proposals for making the jurisdiction of the Court ipso facto compulsory in respect of all parties to the Statute. In this connexion it was thought preferable to keep the existing system whereby it is open to countries voluntarily to accept the com- pulsory jurisdiction of the Court by making a declaration to that effect, and provision is made for applying to the jurisdiction of the new Court the large number of declarations already in existence accepting the compulsory jurisdic- tion of the old one.
67. A substantial alteration has been made in the system whereby all the judges of the Court (subject to re-election) retine simultaneously at the end of every period of nine years, which, if a sufficient number of judges was not re-elected, was liable to cause a serious break in the continuity of the Court. This is replaced by a provision for the retirement of one-third of the Court every three years.
68. The special Chambers for labour and transit cases set up by the old Statute were abolished. Instead, provision has been made by which the Court can itself constitute special Chambers for the hearing either of particular cases or of panticular categories of cases.
69. The seat of the Court is the same as for the old Court, namely The Hague, but provision is made whereby it can sit elsewhere whenever it con- siders this desirable,