U.N. STUDYING LEGALITY OF U.S. CUTBACK ORDER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000201110028-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: March 9, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000201110028-6
Pi~~
ARTICLE A~4IS
ON P4rr
NEW YORK TIMES
9 March 1986
U.N. Studying Legality of U.S. Cutback r er
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Special to The New York Times
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., March 8
- High-ranking United Nations offi-
cials said today that they were investi-
gating the legality of the United States
order to the Soviet missions to reduce
their personnel by more than a third.
"This thing is quite a sensitive mat-
ter and our legal counsel is studying the
matter," said Virendra Dayal, an aide
to Secretary General Javier Perez de
Cuellar. "We shouldn't comment
rashly or at random on this one. It is too
complicated."
Mr. Dayal and other United Nations
officials said they believed the United
States move, which will cut the perma-
nently assigned staffs of the missions
of the U.S.S.R., the Ukraine and Byelo-
russia from a total of 275 to 170 by April
1, 1988, was unprecedented.
Under the arrangements that led to
the creation of the United Nations at
the end of World War II, the Soviet
Union is represented not only by a dele-
gation from its central government,
but by delegations from the Ukraine
and Byelorussia, two of its 15 constitu-
ent republics, on the ground that these
areas suffered particularly from the
German invasion during the war.
The United States has occasionally
expelled individual diplomats from
United Nations missions for specific
reasons, but never ordered an overall
cut in the size of a mission. Mr. Perez
de Cuellar was informed of the decision
by an American delegate, Herbert S.
Okun, on Friday.
The legality of the decision rests on
three documents drafted soon after the
United Nations was founded in 1945, ac-
cording to experts in international law.
They are the General Convention on
Privileges and Immunities of 1946, the i
Headquarters Agreement of 1947 and a
1947 report of the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee.
Most improtant is the Headquarters
Agreement, a contract signed by the
United Nations Secretary General and' ican research organization, said:
the United States Secretary of State "It was something of a shotgun ap-
dealing with the privileges and im- proach, but it is perfectly justifiable for
munities of United Nations headquar- the United States to set some sort of
ters. limits on the activities of foreign na-
None of these agreements put a spe- tionals serving in their missions to the
cific limitation on the size of a mission United Nations perticularly in this case
to the United Nations, although they where we have reason to believe that
raise questions about individuals who members of missions have been en-
are considered to have abused their gaged in improper activities. The ques-
privileges and immunities. Among the tion it raises is what kind of precedent
steps that can be taken is expulsion of it sets in setting a numerical ceiling for
the individual. missions."
A process is established by which the
Secretary of State must approve such
steps and must consult with the mem-
ber state involved, or the Secretary
General.
Even if the United Nations deter-
mines that the American decision is
illegal, there is nothing it can do to stop
it, according to legal experts. There is
no provision in the agreements on what
a member state can do to prevent an
expulsion.
'No U.S. Interference'
Richard C. Hottelet, a spokesman for
the American mission, said, "The
Headquarters Agreement says that
there shall be no United States interfer-
ence except on matters relating to na-
tional security."
The fundamental justification for the
United States decision is national se-
curity, he said.
Western diplomats and experts in
multilateral affairs agree with the
United States view that there is no rea-
son why the three Soviet missions com-
bined should be more than twice as
large as the next largest mission.
Edward C. Luck, president of the
United Nations Association, the Amer-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000201110028-6