S/PV.3443 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them document S/1994/1188, which contains a note dated 20 October 1994 by the Secretary-General concerning the date of an election to fill a vacancy in the International Court of Justice. This note explains the need for this item on our agenda. The recent death, on 28 September 1994, of Judge Nikolai Konstantinovitch Tarassov has created a vacancy in the International Court of Justice which has to be filled. Judge Tarassov, a member of the International Court of Justice, had a long and distinguished career in the service of the Court and of his country in the field of international law and diplomacy. He represented the former USSR in numerous United Nations bodies. From 1968 to 1972, he was a member of the Commission on Human Rights and the Committee for Sanctions against Southern Rhodesia. He was also a member of the USSR delegation to numerous sessions of the General Assembly, including the fifth special session on South-West Africa, in 1967, and the fifth emergency special session on the Arab-Israeli conflict, in 1967. In his personal capacity, he served with distinction as a member of the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as well as of the International Civil Service Advisory Board from 1970 to 1972. Judge Tarassov was also head of the USSR delegation to the Vienna talks on mutual reductions of force and armaments in Central Europe from 1976 to 1981. He was a distinguished member of the Russian International Law Association. Judge Tarassov was indeed a most distinguished international lawyer and jurist, and an eminent judge. His Judge Tarassov was elected as a member of the International Court of Justice on 9 December 1985. He was re-elected as of 6 February 1988 for a further period of nine years. His term of office would have expired on 5 February 1997. Under Article 14 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Security Council is to fix the date for the election to fill the vacancy in the Court. As I reported to members during our prior consultations on this matter, the election should take place on 26 January 1995 at a meeting of the Security Council, and at a meeting of the General Assembly at its forty- ninth session. Members of the Council have before them document S/1994/1189, which contains the text of a draft resolution prepared in the course of the Council’s consultations. May I take it that the Council is ready to proceed to a decision on the draft resolution? There being no objection, it is so decided. In the light of the consultations which I have held, it is my understanding that the Council is ready to adopt the draft resolution contained in document S/1994/1189 without a vote. There being no objection, it is so decided. The draft resolution has been adopted as resolution 951 (1994). The Security Council has thus concluded its consideration of the item on the agenda.