In 1986 Egypt and Israel agreed to submit for resolution by binding arbitration the boundary disputes involving the location of 14 demarcation pillars along their shared border on the Sinai Peninsula. A five-member tribunal (Tribunal), appointed and empowered under provisions of the 1979 Treaty of Peace Between Egypt and Israel (Treaty), and authorized by the Compromis to adopt only locations proposed by one of the state parties, held (4-1): that the Egyptian position is to be accepted on the most important dispute, the location of the southernmost pillar denoting “Ras Taba on the western shore of the Gulf of Aqaba”; and, with respect to the 13 remaining pillars in an uninhabited desert region, the position of Egypt is to be accepted in nine instances and that of Israel in four. Professor Lapidoth dissented from the decision as to the pillars in the Taba and Ras el Naqb areas.

The second session of the International Telecommunication Union’s World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) on the planning of the geostationary satellite orbit (GSO) for space telecommunications was held in Geneva from August 29 to October 6, 1988. This conference, known as the “Space WARC,” completed a long process of international negotiations. It established a new regulatory regime for satellite telecommunications, the primary commercial use of outer space, that should be effective for at least 20 years.

A recent meeting of governmental and indigenous nongovernmental experts in Geneva paved the way for more direct indigenous participation in United Nations decision making, and challenged the international community to harness multilateral development assistance for the promotion of indigenous peoples’ rights.