INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION OPENS FIFTY-FIRST SESSION AT PALAIS DES NATIONS IN GENEVA
Press Release
L/2924
INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION OPENS FIFTY-FIRST SESSION AT PALAIS DES NATIONS IN GENEVA
19990504 Experts To Focus on State Responsibility, Nationality In Relation to Succession of States, and Reservations to TreatiesGENEVA, 4 May (UN Information Service) -- The fifty-first session of the International Law Commission, a panel of 34 experts serving in their individual capacity, began on Monday, 3 May, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
The Commission will focus on three topics this session: State responsibility, nationality in relation to succession of States and reservations to treaties.
The annual seminar of the Commission will also be held from 14 June to 2 July in conjunction with the session. Young government officials and university professors are invited to attend this seminar which includes attending the meetings of the Commission in the mornings and attending specially organized courses in the afternoons.
Among the first responsibilities of the Commission will be filling three vacancies. Luigi Ferrari Bravo was elected Judge of the European Court of Human Rights in April 1998; Mohamed Bennouna was elected Judge of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in October 1998; and Vaclav Mikulka was appointed Director of the Codification Division in January 1999, thus, their three posts became vacant.
At its first meeting, the Commission elected Giorgio Gaja (Italy), Maurice Kamto (Cameroon) and Peter Tomka (Slovakia) to fill the three vacancies.
With regard to the issue of State responsibility, the Commission at the last session had before it the comments and observations received from governments on the draft articles provisionally adopted on first reading. It also had before it the first report of the Special Rapporteur which dealt with general issues relating to the draft, the distinction between "crimes" and "delictual responsibility", and articles 1 to 15 of part one of the draft. This session, the Commission is expected to finish its second reading of the draft which, among other things, deals with general principles on responsibility and the consequences of their violation.
Concerning nationality in relation to the succession of States, the Commission at its last session considered two options, the first consisted of expanding the study of the question of the nationality of legal persons beyond the context of the succession of States to the question of the nationality of legal persons in international law in general; the second consisted of keeping the study within the context of the succession of States, but going beyond the problem of nationality to include other questions such as the status of legal persons and possibly also the conditions of operation of legal persons flowing from the succession of States. Taking into consideration the comments of governments, the Commission will continue this year the consideration of draft articles.
Another topic which will be considered by the Commission is reservations to treaties, and it will have before it the fourth report of the Special Rapporteur, on the topic. At its last session, the Commission considered the third report of the Special Rapporteur which was divided into two chapters. The first was devoted to the earlier work of the Commission on the topic, and the second to the definition of reservations (and interpretive declarations) and to reservations (and interpretative declarations) to bilateral treaties. The Commission will continue to consider guidelines under this topic, focusing on alternatives to reservations and the formulation and withdrawal of reservations, interpretive declarations and objections to reservations.
Other topics to be taken up by the Commission include international liability for injurious consequences arising out of acts not prohibited by international law (prevention of transboundary damage from hazardous activities); diplomatic protection; unilateral acts of States; and jurisdictional immunities of States and their properties. The programme, procedures and working methods of the Commission and its documentation, cooperation with other bodies, and other business are also on the agenda of the Commission.
The Commission will meet at the Palais des Nations until 23 July.
Background Information on Commission
The Commission was established by the General Assembly in 1947 to codify customary international law and to promote the codification and progressive development of international law in areas where customary law did not exist or had not sufficiently evolved. Its expert members represent the world's principal legal systems. The Commission also designates Special Rapporteurs to prepare reports and draft articles on topics chosen by the Commission itself or referred to it by the General Assembly.
During the preparation of draft articles, the Commission solicits the views of governments. After completing work on a particular topic, it may call on the General Assembly to convene an international conference of
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plenipotentiaries to incorporate the drafts into multilateral agreements. At other times, the Assembly may simply take note of the Commission's work and bring it to the attention of Member States for consideration.
The following are some of the international instruments which have emerged as a result of the Commission's work: the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations; the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations; the 1969 Convention on the Law of Treaties; the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Person, including Diplomatic Agents; the 1975 Vienna Convention on the Representation of States in Their Relations with International Organizations of a Universal Character; the 1978 Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of State Property, Archives and Debts; the 1986 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties between States and International Organizations or between International Organizations; and the 1997 Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.
Commission Membership and Officers
The five-year terms of the 34 expert members of the Commission, elected by the General Assembly in 1996, will expire on 31 December 2001.
The Commission's members are: Emmanuel Akwei Addo (Ghana), Husain Al-Baharna (Bahrain), Awn Al-Khasawneh (Jordan), Joao Clemente Baena Soares (Brazil), Ian Brownlie (United Kingdom), Enrique J.A. Candioti (Argentina), James Richard Crawford (Australia), Christopher John Robert Dugard (South Africa), Constantin P. Economides (Greece), Nabil Elaraby (Egypt), Zdzislaw Galicki (Poland), Raul I. Goco (Philippines), Gerhard Hafner (Austria), Qizhe He (China), Mauricio Herdocia Sacasa (Nicaragua), Jorge E. Illueca (Panama), Peter Kabatsi (Uganda), James Lulabanzibwa Kateka (United Republic of Tanzania), Mochtar Kusuma-Atmadja (Indonesia), Igor Ivanovich Lukashuk (Russian Federation), Teodor Viorel Melescanu (Romania), Didier Opertti Badan (Uruguay), Guillaume Pambou-Tchivounda (Gabon), Alain Pellet (France), Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao (India), Victor Rodriguez-Cedeño (Venezuela), Robert Rosenstock (United States), Bernardo Sepulveda (Mexico), Bruno Simma (Germany), Doudou Thiam (Senegal), Chusei Yamada (Japan), Giorgio Gaja (Italy), Maurice Kamto (Cameroon) and Peter Tomka (Slovakia).
The Chairman of the fifty-first session is Mr. Galicki. Mr. Goco is the First Vice-Chairman and Mr. Addo the Second Vice-Chairman. The Chairman of the Drafting Committee is Mr. Candioti, and Mr. Rosenstock is the Rapporteur.
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