Unhappily, 1974 saw the frustration in the Senate of a major effort by the Administration and a wide spectrum of legal and other community groups as well as leaders in the Senate to secure approval of the Genocide Convention. However, progressive organizational and procedural changes were made in the Department of State. Human rights officers have been named in each geographic bureau. A new post was established in the Legal Adviser's Office Assistant Legal Adviser for Human Rights. In response to the sense of the Congress, expressed in legislation and otherwise, that economic and military assistance should be denied or reduced to countries engaged in serious violations of human rights, and in execution of U.S. obligations under Articles 55 and 56 of the U.N. Charter, the Department of State and AID initiated a worldwide practice of systematic reporting on human rights practices. Department of State procedures respecting the law of treaties were also revised in 1974. The Department published a revised Circular 175 Procedure which included changes on guidelines to be considered in determining whether an agreement should be concluded as a treaty or on some other basis, new provisions concerning consultation with the Congress and calling attention to the Case Act, and new clauses facilitating public comment on treaties and agreements. There were innumerable events of international legal significance in other areas of United States practice. Several agreements were concluded with respect to environmental and health affairs, as well as scientific, educational and cultural matters. Important claims settlement agreements were entered into with Peru and Czechoslovakia, although the latter agreement was required by Congress to be renegotiated. In the area of peaceful settlement, the Senate adopted several resolutions on the strengthening and increased use of the International Court of Justice. The United States actively participated in efforts to revise the laws of war. In the area of private international law, there were judicial decisions of importance for international commercial arbitration. 1974 was thus an eventful year for the United States in the practice of international law. While developments were not uniformly favorable, the underlying trend was in the direction of a more thoroughly developed structure of international legal relationships, bilateral and multilateral. MONROE LEIGH Legal Adviser Department of State WASHINGTON, D.C. § 3 Jurisdiction Based on Agreement with the Territorial State § 4 Jurisdiction Based on Universal and Other State Interests 263 275 |