Gone are the days when the Court's docket was virtually empty.

In recent years, the Court's docket has grown significantly and a number of disputes have been settled, but resources remain scarce.

The cases included on the docket over the last year illustrate the variety of international disputes that are customarily referred to the Court.

We must take note of this year's remarkable accomplishments by the Court, which has reduced the number of cases in the docket from 21 to 12.

As is stated in the report, 21 contentious cases were pending in the Court last year, whereas in the 1970s it had only a few cases on its docket.

Although it still represents a substantial amount of work, 12 cases is indeed a perfectly reasonable number of cases to have on the docket of the International Court of Justice.

But perhaps the greatest significance of these cases lies in their very presence on the docket of Europe s highest rights tribunal. A decade ago, few minority victims would have been inclined or able to seek legal remedies for discrimination.

If all of the remaining cases in which there are pending 11 bis motions are successfully referred, a total of 11 accused or 10 additional cases will be removed from the Tribunal's docket, and that will certainly accelerate the Tribunal's work.

In the Case concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Swordfish Stocks in the South Eastern Pacific Ocean, a case which is still pending on the docket, Chile and the European Community have taken advantage of the ad hoc system.

As a result of the Court's efforts, the total number of 21 cases on the docket of the Court, which I reported to the Assembly a year ago, had dropped to 11 by the end of the period under review.

Notably, the Court significantly reduced the number of cases on its docket by rendering 10 final judgments eight in cases concerning the legality of the use of force, one on the issue of certain property, and one concerning a frontier dispute.

In addition, we relied to a large extent on the 8,000 page Lebanese case docket handed over to the Commission in order to understand the dimensions of the case, to draw up a preliminary list of potential witnesses and suspects and to focus on possible leads to pursue.

If all of the cases in which there are pending 11bis motions are successfully referred, this will remove 11 more accused or 10 additional cases from the Tribunal's docket in total (this includes Zelenović currently in the custody of Russia and Lukić currently in the custody of Argentina).

With regard to the territorial dispute with Singapore concerning sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge, currently on the Court's docket, we wish to assure the Assembly that, consistent with its abiding respect for international law, Malaysia will fully respect the Court's decision on the case.