A/39/PV.53 General Assembly

I have to inform the Assem- bly of the death last Monday of Mr. Constantin Stavropoulos in his native country, Greece. 2. Mr. Constantin Stavropoulos was Under-Secre- tary-General for Political and General Assembly Affairs, Legal Counsel of the Organization, Acting United Nations Commissioner for Namibia from 1967 to 1969 and the first Spec~al Representative of the Secretary-General for the UN of the Sea. Mr. Stavropoulos's association with the activities of the United Nations was one of extraordinary distinction and spanned a period of almost 40 years. A member of his country's delegation to the Preparatory Com- mission ofthe United Nations in the 1940s, he was in the service ofthe United Nations from 1946 to 1974. He returned in 1974 to his country, Greece, and served as a distinguished Ambassador and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. His association with the United Nations, however, was to continue in many ways, in particular through his participatiol1 in the Conference on the Law of the Sea and as a member of the International Law Commission. 3. Belonging to the generation that saw the demise of the League ofNatim~s and the collapse of the rule of law, Mr. Stavropoulos was given the unique opportunity to witness and participate in the rebuild- ing of the rule of law, in the birth of the United Nations and in the great conferences on the codifica- tion and progressive development of international law that were to follow. His dedication and devotion to the rule of law in international relations, to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and to the important role of international or~anizations will never be forgotten. All who had the pnvilege and joy of knowing Mr. Stavropoulos will remember his warm human qualities, his command- ing knowledge of the United Nations and, above all, his wisdom and integrity. 4. On behalfof the General Assembly, I should like to request the representative of Greece to transmit to the Government of Greece and to the family of Mr. Stavropoulos our expressions of profound sympathy. 5. May I now ask representatives' to stand and observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of Mr. Constantin Stavropoulos. The members of the General Assembly observed a minute of silence. NEW YORK

Allow me, on behalfofmy delegation, to express my deep gratitude to you, Mr. President, for your very kind words on the announcement of the death of Mr. Stavropoulos. I should also like, through you, Sir, to express my thanks to the Assembly for observing a minute of silence in tribute to the deceased. I shall certainly convey the condolences of the Assembly to my Government and to the family ofMr. Stavropoulos. I am sure they will be very deeply appreciated.

The General Assembly will now proceed to the election of five members of the International Court of Justice for a nine-year term commencing on 6 February 1985. The terms ofoffice of the following judges expire on the previous day: Mr. Taslim Olawale Elias, Mr. Manfred Lachs, Mr. Hermann Mosler, Mr. Shigeru Oda and Mr. Abdallah Fikri EI-Khani. 8. In connection with the election, I should like to bring the following matters to the attention of the members of the General Assembly. 9. First, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 264 (Ill), a State which is a party to the Statute ofthe International Court ofJustice but not a Member of the United Nations may participate in the election in the General Assembly in the same manner as the States Members of the United Na- tions. On this occasion, I am happy to welcome here the representatives of Liechtenstein, San Marino and Switzerland. 10. Secondly, I should like to confirm that at this time, but independently ofthe General Assembly, the Security Council is proceeding to elect five members of the Court. This procedure is in accordance with Article 8 of the Statute of the Court which provides that: "The General Assembly and the Security Coun- cil shall proceed independently of one another to elect the members of the Court." Accordingly, the results of the voting in each ofthese organs will not be communicated to the other organ until the voting in both organs is completed. 11. Finally, I should like to draw the attention ('r> the members of the Assembly to the documents relating to the election. The list of candidates who • Resumed from the 34th meeting. 36 14 11 9 7