Deletion of 'enemy State' clauses in Charter to be considered.

• Position: Charter of the United Nations

The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, as it concluded its annual session (27 February-10 March, New York), recommended to the General Assembly the adoption of a resolution which would recognize that the "enemy State" clauses, maintained in the UN Charter for 50 years, have became obsolete.

Under the terms of the draft resolution, the Assembly would express its intention to initiate the procedure set out in Article 108 to "amend the Charter, with prospective effect. by the deletion of the `enemy State' clauses from Articles 53, 77 and 107, at its earliest appropriate future session", the Special Committee reported (A/50/33).

According to Article ,3, the term "enemy State" applies to "any state which during the Second World War has been an enemy of any signatory of the present Charter", that is of the 51 original members of the UN.

In submitting a draft resolution on deletion of those clauses for adoption by the Assembly, the Special Committee stated that substantial changes had taken place in the world since 1945 when the UN Charter was enacted. The States in question were UP) Members and represented a "valuable asset in all the endeavours of the Organization", it stated.

In 1994, by resolution 49/58, the Assembly had asked the Special Committee to recommend the "most appropriate legal action" to be taken on the issue at its fiftieth session.

Article 108 states that amendments to the Charter "shall come into force for all Members of the United Nations when they have been adopted by a vote of two thirds of the members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two thirds of the Members of the United Nations, including all the permanent members of the Security Council".

The Special Committee, established in 1974 under Assembly resolution 3349 (XXIX), has never before recommended that the Charter be amended, although numerous discussions were held regarding amendments.

Among the Committee's achievement are: the 1982 Manila Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes: the 1988 Declaration on the Prevention and Removal of Disputes and Situations Which May Threaten International Peace and Security and on the Role of the United Nations in this Field; the 1994 Declaration on the Enhancement of Cooperation between the United Nations and Regional Arrangements or Agencies in the Maintenance of...