November 1, 1995

Statement by Mr. Pieter Kruger of the delegation of South Africa

...To attain this goal will entail work on a different basis than that of this year's work. Not changing the working method would result in a mere rehash of work already done and serve no useful purpose. We therefore strongly support the General Assembly extending a mandate to a preparatory committee to build on the work completed thus far through the drafting of a text to be adopted at a diplomatic conference in the near future. The future work of the committee should be based on the draft statute of the ILC, the reports of the Ad Hoc Committee, as well as the comments made by Member States and relevant organizations.

How the work of the preparatory committee is conducted in 1996 would then be crucial and in this regard we are open to discussion. We think that it will be most beneficial for the preparatory committee to hold three two-week sessions during the course of 1996. We would also stress the necessity of advanced notice on when particular issues are going to be discussed, since this will ensure that delegations are prepared for each particular meeting.

It is true that work cannot be rushed on a complex topic such as this. However, it is also true that work expands in direct relation to the time available to do it in. If no time limit is set for the convening of a diplomatic conference, we could procrastinate forever in the guise of doing very thorough work. We therefore are of the opinion that the diplomatic conference should be convened during 1997. This should afford the preparatory committee sufficient time to complete its work.