LEGAL COMMITTEE DISCUSSES PLANS TO MARK CENTENNIAL, IN 1999, OF FIRST INTERNATIONAL PEACE CONFERENCE
Press Release
GA/L/3042
LEGAL COMMITTEE DISCUSSES PLANS TO MARK CENTENNIAL, IN 1999, OF FIRST INTERNATIONAL PEACE CONFERENCE
19971015 Draft Resolution Would Invite Netherlands and Russian Federation to Work on Programme of Action for Worldwide ObservancesThe Sixth Committee (Legal) this morning continued its discussion of the United Nations Decade of International Law, 1990-1999, with the representative of the Netherlands introducing a draft resolution on the centennial celebration of the First International Peace Conference and the closing of the Decade. He also introduced a draft text on the Programme of Action for the centennial celebration.
The draft text on action to be taken on the 1999 centennial celebration (document A/C.6/52/L.2) would have the General Assembly welcome the programme of action which aims at contributing to the further development of the themes of the first and the second International Peace Conferences and which could be regarded as a third International Peace Conference. The themes were the armament question, humanitarian law and the law of war, and the peaceful settlement of disputes.
By the draft resolution, the Assembly would invite the Netherlands and the Russian Federation, co-hosts of the celebration, to proceed with the implementation of the programme of action, and for States to participate in the activities and to take appropriate measures to ensure universal participation, including by representatives of the least developed countries.
The programme of action for the celebration, detailed in document A/C.6/52/3 introduced this morning, includes the centennial Peace Conference to be convened from 17 to 19 May 1999 at The Hague. In addition, events will take place all over the world with a possible link to the 1899 Hague Peace Conference, or any of its themes. A number of activities were also scheduled for the final year of the Decade of International Law. Non-governmental organizations would have the opportunity to express their commitment to the causes that will be addressed during the centennial discussions.
The representative of the Netherlands said the first Hague Peace Conference was generally regarded as the cradle of multilateral diplomacy,
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a tradition to which the United Nations was the present-day heir. It was also the first multilateral diplomatic effort to develop and codify certain rules of international law. The centennial celebrations would reflect on the achievements of the themes of the first two International Peace Conferences, as well as of their lacunae and failures.
Other representatives also affirmed the importance of drafting guiding principles for international negotiations which Mongolia had proposed. The representative of Singapore said it was necessary to develop those principles, but they should allow for the application of international law without the exercise of political influence. They should also afford both big and small countries a level playing field. The representative of New Zealand also welcomed the Mongolian proposals, particularly, the "levelling of the playing field" it offered to small countries.
The representative of Viet Nam, speaking on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam -- said that one of their goals for the Decade was to work toward the codification of legal rules, regulations and principles in the search for viable solutions to challenges facing the interdependent world.
Statements were also made by the Russian Federation and Egypt.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. Friday, 17 October, to continue its consideration of the United Nations Decade of International Law.
Committee Work Programme
The Sixth Committee (Legal) met this morning to continue its discussion of the United Nations Decade of International Law (1990-1999), focusing on a ction to be taken in 1999 dedicated to the centennial of the first International Peace Conference which took place at The Hague in 1899, as well as the closing of the Decade. It will also continue its consideration of a proposal by Mongolia for the drafting of guiding principles for international negotiations. Among documents before the Committee are a draft resolution (document A/C.6/52/L.2) and a Programme of Action for the Centennial (document A/C.6/52/3). (For background information, see Press Release GA/L/3041 of 14 October.)
Statements
JAAP RAMAKER (Netherlands), on behalf of the co-hosts of the 1999 centennial celebrations, the Russian Federation and the Netherlands introduced the draft resolution on action to be taken dedicated to the 1999 centennial of the First International Peace Conference and to the closing of the United Nations Decade of International Law. He also introduced the Programme of Action for the celebration of the centennial of the First International Peace Conference.
He said the Conference resulted in the well-known 1899 Hague Conventions and Declarations on the three Hague themes -- the armament question; humanitarian law and the law of war; and the peaceful settlement of disputes. In 1907, the Second International Peace Conference was held which, in its final document, called for the Third International Peace Conference, to be held in 1915, to finalize the development and codification of international law on those themes. The third conference never took place due to the outbreak of the first world war, he said.
The first Hague Peace Conference was generally regarded as the cradle of multilateral diplomacy, a tradition to which the United Nations was the present-day heir, he stated. It was also the first multilateral diplomatic effort to develop and codify certain rules of international law. Work on codification and progressive development of international law had been resumed only under the United Nations. The first Hague Conference institutionalized the peaceful settlement of disputes by establishing the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
He said the centennial celebrations would reflect on the achievements of the themes of the first two International Peace Conferences, as well as on their lacunae and failures. The Programme of Action fully took into account the role of the General Assembly in the development and codification of international law, as laid down in Article 13 of the Charter. Costs of
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centennial activities would be borne by the organizers of the various events, not by the United Nations, he said.
Sketching out details of the programme, he said they entailed -- in its first phase -- reports on each of the themes of the 1899 Peace Conference to be drawn up by six highly regarded experts in each of those disciplines. Those rapporteurs had already taken up their duties. In the second phase, the reports would be discussed in conferences and seminars worldwide in all relevant circles, be it professional, academic or diplomatic; governmental and non-governmental. Those worldwide discussions would start in the second trimester of 1998. Parallel to the regional discussions, and in order to pass on the results of one round of discussions to the other, he said an Internet website would be set up. Those discussions would culminate in the third phase which would be expert meetings -- the actual commemorative events -- in The Hague, Netherlands, and St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. The Hague and St. Petersburg events, scheduled for spring and summer 1999, would be hosted by the Governments of the Netherlands and the Russian Federation, respectively.
The results of the centennial discussions might indicate possible ways ahead on the issues identified for consideration by the fifty-fourth General Assembly session at the closing of its Decade of International Law -- the fourth phase of the centennial agenda. Those results, he said, might also be forwarded to other relevant forums, such as the twenty-seventh International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference to be held in Geneva, also at the end of 1999.
He urged Member States to assist the organizers of regional conferences to ensure universal participation.
IGOR PANOVKIN (Russian Federation), supporting the statement of the representative of the Netherlands, went on to outline activities planned or already undertaken in his country to mark the centennial. A decree on the centennial had been issued by the President of the Russian Federation, and the local government of St. Petersburg had been instructed to ensure the implementation of the events planned for that city. The Russian national committee on the celebrations was doing quite a significant amount of work, holding a number of conferences and meetings including a seminar of Russian and American participants. An International Law Association meeting was planned for the Russian Federation, and he foresaw the publication of its proceedings. A conference on the Law of the Sea was scheduled for the end of the year. He said the resolution on the centennial by the Committee would contribute to the further development of international law.
NGO QUANG XUAN (Viet Nam) spoke on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consisting of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. He said that, in Southeast Asia, potential
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conflicts should be settled amicably through cooperation and dialogue and that principle was enshrined in ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation of 1976. ASEAN also established the ASEAN Regional Forum to promote negotiations and cooperation in resolving issues of particular interest to its members.
One of ASEAN's goals for the United Nations Decade of International Law was to work toward the codification of legal rules, regulations and principles in the search for viable solutions to challenges facing the interdependent world. ASEAN members had participated in the codification of international law and in seeking possible initiatives to strengthen the United Nations system for the maintenance of international peace.
JOANNA FOO (Singapore) said the increased application of international law could reduce the need to refer disputes to a third party. Instead of referring to a third party, such as the International Court of Justice, negotiations based on codified international law could often be fruitful. Too often, however, negotiations reached an impasse because parties disagreed on what could and could not be done in negotiations. It was not only timely but also necessary to develop a set of guiding principles for international negotiations. Those principles should allow for the application of international law without the exercise of political influence and they should afford both big and small countries a level playing field.
LAMIA MEKHEMAR (Egypt) hoped the colloquium on the progressive development and codification of international law, scheduled for 28 and 29 October, would achieve its objectives and that legal scholars would benefit from it. Egypt supported the computerization of the treaty documents and hoped it would help ease access to them. While recognizing the need to recover some of the costs of accessing those documents through the introduction of user-fees, she affirmed that the Internet access could not replace published texts. The costs should not affect the access of Least Developed Countries to those instruments. The issue of user-fees properly belonged to the Fifth Committee, which was the competent body to discuss it, she added.
She said the Mongolian proposal on the drafting of guiding principles for international negotiations deserved careful consideration in the Committee's working group. Egypt welcomed the initiative of the Netherlands and the Russian Federation on the celebration of the centennial of the first International Peace Conference and would participate in the working group on the subject.
FELICITY WONG (New Zealand) welcomed the computerization of the various multilateral treaty texts, describing it as an important development. It had been fascinating to see delegates during negotiations accessing legal instruments on the Internet. She saw the development as democratization of access to information. She commended the Office of Legal Affairs, and the
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Legal Counsel in particular, for computerizing the treaty texts. She also welcomed the Mongolian proposals on the drafting of guiding principles for international negotiations, particularly the levelling of the playing field it offered to small countries.
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