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World Court Digest



I. Substantive International Law - First Part
4. SUBJECTS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
4.2. States
4.2.4. Organs

¤ Application of the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide,
Provisional Measures,
Order of 8 April 1993,
I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 3

[p. 11] 12. Whereas in the written observations referred to in paragraph 9 above, Yugoslavia made what it termed "a preliminary objection with regard to the legitimacy of the Applicant", claiming that neither the President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Mr. A. Izetbegovic, who appointed the Agents of that State and authorized the institution of the present proceedings, nor the Government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are legally elected; whereas Yugoslavia claims that the legitimacy and mandate of the Government and the President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina are disputed not only by representatives of the Serb people but also by representatives of the Croat people, and furthermore that the mandate of Mr. Izetbegovic expired on 20 December 1992, and was challenged on this ground by the Prime Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina in a letter to the Chairman of the European Affairs Subcommittee of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee dated 24 February 1993, circulated, at the request of the Prime Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina, by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as a document of the General Assembly and of the Security Council;

13. Whereas the Agent of Bosnia-Herzegovina stated that President Izetbegovic is recognized by the United Nations as the legitimate Head of State of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; whereas the Court has been seised of the case on the authority of a Head of State, treated as such in the United Nations; whereas the power of a Head of State to act on behalf of the State in its international relations is universally recognized, and reflected in, for example, Article 7, paragraph 2(a), of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties; whereas accordingly the Court may, for the purposes of the present proceedings on a request for provisional measures, accept the seisin as the act of that State;