INTERNATIONAL COURT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26285, 17 October 1946, Page 7

INTERNATIONAL COURT

Access by Spain Opposed STRONG ATTACK ON REGIME War-time Activities Recalled (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) ' NEW YORK, Oct. 15. Poland sought to bar Spain from access to the International Court when the Security Council considered the conditions on which the court should he open to States not parties to the Statute. After the Council had unanimously adopted the expert committee’s recommendations on the subject Dr O. Lange moved that the conditions should riot apply to States the regimes of which were installed with the help of armed forces of countries which fought against the United Nations as long as those regimes were in power. He explained that the motion was directed specifically at the Franco regime in Spain, which had been rejected from membership of the United Nations and which Poland believed incapable of carrying out international law. Mr Herschel V. Johnson (United States) said that his country opposed admitting Spain to the United Nations while the Franco regime remained, but it considered the Court to be in a different category because fundamental justice must be upheld, unaffected by political considerations. Even criminals were entitled to justice. The Court should have the widest possible jurisdiction over international legal disputes. Mr A. Gromyko, supporting Dr Lange, said it was impossible not to regard the issue as political. The Security Council would make a serious mistake if it opened the door of the International Court to Franco and his clique. The Polish motion was defeated by seven votes to four, Russia, France and Mexico supporting Poland. '