No judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter: ‘the Court’) has ever given rise to such commotion in the Netherlands as has the judgment of 23 October 1985 in the Benthem case. In this respect it even exceeded the judgment of 24 October 1979 against the Netherlands in the Winterwerp case, and the judgment of 13 June 1979 against Belgium in the Marckx case, both of which also had very far-reaching consequences for Dutch legislation and legal practice.

The Mekong river, with a length of 4,200 km, is the main watercourse in South-East Asia, flowing from the north-eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau at an altitude of 5,000 m into the South China Sea near Ho-Chi-Minh Ville. Its drainage basin of nearly 800,000 km is larger in area than France and includes Kampuchea, most of Laos and parts of the other four riparian countries, i.e., the People's Republic of China, Burma, Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In its course it constitutes parts of the boundaries between the People's Republic of China and Burma, Burma and Laos, Laos and Thailand and Laos and Kampuchea. Its flow increases considerably during the rainy season (May-October), raising the water level at Phnom-Penh by 16 m and flooding the Central Plain of that country, thereby trebling the surface of the Tonlé-Sap (Great Lake) and the Delta in Southern Vietnam. With an annual average discharge of about 475,000 million cubic metres, it is the eighth largest river in the world.

The Middle East has experienced more peacekeeping activity, both in volume and variety, than any other region in the world. At the present time the United Nations Interim Force in the Lebanon (UNIFIL) is active in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) is maintaining its vigil on the Golan Heights, the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) are stationed in the Sinai, and Observers of the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) are serving in various sectors of the Middle East.

I am going to start with a sentence in Dutch: ‘Och, het volkenrecht laat zich kneden, zoals men wil!!’ (‘Oh, you can mould public international law as you like!’).

Since time immemorial, provisions contained in the resolutions of the Central Commission (CC) for the Navigation of the Rhine used to be brought into effect in the Netherlands by Order in Council. This concerns the Regulations for the Navigation of the Rhine which are published as an annex to the relevant resolution in the Protocols of the CC.

A West German contractor, Peters, tendered for work in Kerkrade, the Netherlands, and commenced performance. He had omitted to inform the Zuid-Nederlandse Aannemers Vereniging (contractors association) of which he was a member, and to attend its ‘pre-tender meeting’. At that meeting a tender charge was determined which became due from Peters to the ZNAV according to its articles of association. Not being prepared to pay, he was sued in the District Court of 's-Hertogenbosch for the balance of his current account, to which he was also debited with his subscription fee of Dfl. 25,- for the current year.