LEGAL COMMITTEE CONCLUDES DISCUSSION OF UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Press Release
GA/L/3113

LEGAL COMMITTEE CONCLUDES DISCUSSION OF UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

As delegations generally hailed the legislative achievements of the Decade on International Law (1990-1999), several speakers in the Sixth Committee (Legal) this afternoon stressed the need for the views and concerns of developing nations to be better reflected in future codification efforts.

The representative of India said developing countries were hampered from participating effectively in the United Nations forums where international legal instruments were negotiated. That was due to their lack of expertise, paucity of domestic financial resources and difficulties in coordination among government agencies. Issues of concern to them were not being given the requisite weight and priority. The goal of achieving a universal international legal framework with wide subscription from all parts of the international community was becoming more distant.

The representative of Malaysia, speaking on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), also pointed to the need for broader participation in the elaboration of international law. She said that the views of as many countries as possible should be taken into consideration and greater effort made to reach consensus, particularly on controversial issues, so that the texts of treaties would reflect that consensus, making them more conducive to universal acceptance.

As the Committee concluded its discussion this afternoon of the United Nations Decade of International Law, considerable attention was also given to recent centennial commemorations of the first Hague Peace Conference. The representative of South Africa also pointed to the need for greater efforts to achieve universality, noting that the 1899 gathering had been motivated by the concerns of European nations who had seen their continent ravaged by war; Africa and most other continents had been excluded from it.

The South African speaker drew particular attention to the failure of the Hague Conference and the Second Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention to give adequate attention to internal conflicts. “Frequently”, he said, “states are reluctant to concede that there is a state of conflict, with the result that combatants in internal armed conflict are categorized as transgressors and criminal terrorists, and treated as such by the government of the day, which is completely contrary to the rules of international

Sixth Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/L/3113 10th Meeting (PM) 19 October 1999

humanitarian law”. It was especially important that those rules become relevant to the new century, to the African continent and to his subregion. States should continue to add substance and content to those rules, which, once updated, must be made accessible to soldiers.

Statements were also made by the representatives of Hungary, Croatia, Mozambique, Nepal, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Ukraine, Iraq, Guatemala, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Bolivia and Belarus.

An observer for the World Intellectual Property Organization also made a statement.

The Sixth Committee will meet again at 10 a.m.tomorrow, Wednesday, 20 October to begin discussion of two reports of the Preparatory Commission of the International Criminal Court.

Committee Work Programme

The Sixth Committee (Legal) met this afternoon to conclude its discussion of activities, organized under the auspices of the United Nations Decade of International Law.

The Committee is considering a report from the Secretary-General on the Decade (document A/54/362), a report from the Netherlands and the Russian Federation on the centennial celebrations of the First International Peace Conference (document A/54/381), and a letter from Bangladesh on the agenda adopted by The Hague Appeal for Peace Conference (document A/54/98).

The General Assembly declared 1990-1999 the Decade of International Law with the intention of promoting acceptance of and respect for the principles of international law; promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes, including resort to and full respect for the International Court of Justice; encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification; and encouraging the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law.

Statements

JAYA PARTIBAN (Malaysia), speaking on behalf of the Association of South- East Asian Nations (ASEAN), said international law had always played a crucial role in preserving global peace and security by promoting friendly relations among countries. The ASEAN had adopted a comprehensive approach to regional security and had established a network of mechanisms and treaties, and a dispute-resolution mechanism for economic agreements. To promote wider acceptance of international law by the international community, the views of as many countries as possible should be taken into consideration and greater effort should be made to reach consensus, particularly on controversial issues, so that the text of treaties would reflect that consensus, making them more conducive to universal acceptance.

She noted with appreciation that the United Nations Programme of Assistance on the teaching and study of international law continued to award fellowships on an annual basis from voluntary funds. More qualified individuals from developing countries should be granted such fellowships.

The current financial situation of the United Nations made it difficult to continue to obtain additional funding from the regular budget for maintenance and improvement of the United Nations’ on-line services, she observed. Therefore, the proposal to charge a user fee was welcome. However, those fees should be reasonable and there should be special consideration, including free access for user from the developing countries.

T.N. CHATURVEDI (India) said that the United Nations played a central role in the development of international law, through the Sixth Committee and special conferences that provided a forum for negotiation of legal instruments. Although the United Nations was principally responsible for a number of important international negotiating forums, it had not been possible for it to ensure that all States, particularly the developing countries, participated effectively. Lack of expertise, paucity of domestic financial resources and difficulties in coordination among different governmental agencies adversely affected the participation of the developing countries.

Further, he continued, the process of negotiation of multilateral treaties was becoming a matter of increasing concern to those countries, given not only the lack of opportunity to negotiate, but also the fact that issues of concern to developing countries were not being given the needed weight and priority. The goal of achieving a universal international framework with wide subscription from all parts of the international community was becoming more distant.

The topics before the International Law Commission required careful deliberations in the Commission and in the Committee, he said. Response from governments was essential to enable the Commission to arrive at widely acceptable formulations, but not all States were able to respond regularly and on time to the questionnaires that were circulated. As a result, the Commission’s work was becoming more and more reflective of the interests and views of a select group of States who were able to coordinate their positions and present them with a certain unity of purpose.

He expressed concern over the increase in the workload of the International Court of Justice without a proportional growth in its resources and the slow pace of translation of the Treaty series.

ZSOLT HETESY (Hungary) said his country aligned itself with the statement of the European Union. The report of the Secretary-General on the Decade would serve as an invaluable reference document for many years to come. He highlighted a number of regional and international symposia and conferences organized in his country in connection with the Decade, which had taken place recently and were, therefore, not reflected in the report: the Conference on the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Case; the sixteenth International Congress on Penal Law; a symposium on international humanitarian law on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Geneva Convention; an international conference on the ratification of the Statute of the International Criminal Court; and the nineteenth biennial Conference on the Law of the World.

He drew particular attention to the symposium on held last month in Budapest on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Geneva Convention. There, participants had pointed out that despite the extensive body of international humanitarian law, civilian populations continued to suffer in contemporary armed conflicts. The importance of effective enforcement of international humanitarian law had been a recurrent theme. Participants had stressed that States must ensure national implementation of international humanitarian law through the adoption of appropriate legislative, administrative and practical measures, including the dissemination, study and teaching of humanitarian law in both the military and civilian contexts.

It was expected that the Hungarian Parliament would adopt a decision to republish the four Geneva Conventions in one legal document in the near future, he said. Among the new measures to ensure better implementation of international humanitarian law in Hungary, the establishment of an inter- ministerial commission on humanitarian law deserved particular attention.

TANIA VALERIE RAGUZ (Croatia) said the Decade would be remembered most of all for the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, which represented a new stage of a new world order that would profoundly influence domestic and foreign policies, and relations between States. However, the enormous progress made in international criminal law did not mean that significant progress had been made in other fields of international law. For example, one objective of the Decade had been the peaceful settlement of disputes between States, including acceptance of the “optional clause” of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. Regrettably, however, some countries had disregarded the option of peaceful settlement and had violated international law, particularly international humanitarian law, to accomplish their political agendas.

She said the response of the international community, in some cases, had been swift and decisive. The Decade had witnessed the establishment of ad hoc tribunals aimed at suppressing a general culture of impunity towards the most heinous crimes. Croatia had been among the countries that had turned to the World Court to judge breaches of the Genocide Convention committed on its territory by the forces of a neighbouring country.

Her country had always fervently supported full and expeditious access to United Nations documentation for all. In that respect, it attached great importance to the depositing of multilateral treaties with the Secretary-General and the distribution of the United Nations Treaty series on the Internet. Since demand had now surpassed the site’s capacity, additional funding from allocated human and financial resources was essential. The Secretary-General’s suggestion to keep to a minimum the number of potential subscribers with free access to the on-line Treaty Collection was prudent, and if fees should be levied, those should derive from the widest group of users, in order to be economically feasible.

CRISTIANO DOS SANTOS (Mozambique) said that remarkable advances had been made in the development and codification of international law during the Decade. Those achievements were a direct result of the labours of the Sixth Committee, the International Law Commission, and the many international organizations that had shown a strong commitment to the purposes of the Decade. The Office of Legal Affairs deserved a special mention, as well.

While globalization made cooperation among nations an imperative, he said, war and violence were still ravaging many parts of the world, claiming millions of lives and causing social and economic havoc. “If we truly want to reverse this situation, all nations of the world must guide their relations by the principles and rules of international law and solve their disputes by peaceful means as proposed in the Decade’s main purposes.” During the Decade, his country had ratified several international instruments and had organized a seminar on the role of international law in Mozambique.

Furthermore, he recalled, in May of this year, Mozambique had hosted the first meeting of States parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines. Although the Decade was approaching its end, its purposes remained as valid as they had been 10 years ago. Every peace-loving nation must remain committed to its goals.

RAM JANAM CHAUDHARY (Nepal) cited the codification of the many legal instruments concluded during the Decade as significant achievements. In line with the objectives of the Decade, Nepal had ratified and signed a number of international treaties and conventions, including important human rights instruments.

However, he said, codification alone would do little without due observance and compliance in a real sense. Therefore, encouraging the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law at all levels was very important. Nepal itself was in the process of harmonizing its national provisions to bring them into line with the provisions of the international treaties and conventions.

Nepal had also given priority to the translation of international instruments into its national language, he said. Stating that his country’s commitment to human rights was firm and occupied a central place in State policy, he expressed particular appreciation for the Assembly’s adoption of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

GAILE RAMOUTAR (Trinidad and Tobago) said that, during the Decade, measures had been undertaken at all levels to promote the acceptance for the principles of international law. However, it was not sufficient for States to adopt conventions. That was just a first step, which did not ensure respect for humanitarian law. What was necessary to demonstrate genuine acceptance of, and respect for, the principles of international law was the political will to ratify or accede to those conventions and agreements that had yet to enter into force, and the willingness to adhere to the legal commitments that had been made. The adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was a highly significant achievement of the Decade. Her country had ratified that Court’s Statute in April and had been working to encourage other States of the region to do the same.

At the subregional level, work on establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice, to be located in Port of Spain, had been approved by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government. It was expected that its statute would be open for signature early in the year 2000. It would be a court of original jurisdiction with respect to the interpretation and application of the Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the CARICOM regional integration movement. It would also serve as a court of final appellate jurisdiction.

In the settlement of disputes, States should make every effort to avail themselves of available legal mechanisms, she said. She expressed concern at the inadequate resources with which the International Court of Justice was required to function. That problem was rendered more acute by the Court’s increased workload. She hoped that appropriate measures would be taken by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) to ensure an adequate budget for the Court.

BOCCHIT EDMOND (Haiti) said the declaration of the Decade had been a forceful and definitive manifestation of the conviction felt by States that an interdependent world needed to be built on the basis of international law. However, a number of tragic events had occurred since then, including wars, violations of human rights and human rights violators enjoying empunity. The establishment of tribunals to punish those responsible for crimes against humanity, the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, and new mechanisms to address international trade questions attested to the efforts to address troubling issues.

Current mechanisms had not been effective because of the lack of manifest political will, he said. The international community must understand the need to find immediate responses to the appalling events currently wracking the world.

He said the Security Council was too slow to respond to situations that were urgent. There was a need for new mechanisms to ensure the rapid deployment of a security presence to allay the agony of people in situations of suffering. There was also a need to adhere to the sacrosanct principles of law. Nations had often sought to cloud those principles to satisfy other interests. Too often there was a passive reaction to desperate situations of violence. Too many tragedies had taken place that “we were unable to prevent”. Would there be others? The rule of law was the only way to prevent anarchy. There could be no peace or lasting freedom unless States agreed to comply with common rules. The choice was, thus, between the rule of law and the rule of the jungle.

VASYL KORZACHENKO (Ukraine) welcomed the progress achieved during the Decade in the promotion of means of peaceful settlement of disputes. The growing recourse by States to such means was seen, in particular, in the increased caseload of the International Court of Justice. The adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court was not only a major development in the field of international humanitarian law, but also a major building block of the future system of international security for the next century.

Ukraine agreed with the view that disarmament and arms control efforts were being conducted in a fragmentary way, he said. The application of international law in disarmament matters was not universal. The absence of a comprehensive approach had led to a number of setbacks and the resumption of an arms race in several regions. Real and effective disarmament and non- proliferation would not be possible if they were pursued in isolation, as though they were unrelated to other aspects of global détente. Disarmament and non- proliferation should be part of a wider system of instruments in the maintenance of international peace and security. There was a need to start elaborating legally binding international security agreements for States that had renounced nuclear weapons.

He expressed gratitude to the Office of Legal Affairs for its continuous efforts to facilitate access to information on United Nations activities in international law. Given its importance, the United Nations Web site on international law should be further advanced and developed.

RIADH AL-ADHAMI (Iraq) praised the efforts made by States and international organizations in pursuit of the objectives of the Decade. He also thanked the governments of the Netherlands and the Russian Federation for their report on the centennial celebration of the First International Peace Conference. Its conclusions constituted a solid basis for follow-up during the next decade on such issues as disarmament and international humanitarian law.

He said the last decade had witnessed tremendous progress in the development and codification of international law. The United Nations and its organs, including the General Assembly, had played a major role in that success.

Drawing attention to such specific principles of international law as equality in sovereignty, territorial integrity, the non-use of force or threat of force, and the political independence of States, he said, it was not enough for the international community simply to adopt legal instruments and formulate laws to govern international relationships. Without respect for the aforementioned principles, such agreements were made null and void. All States, big and small, should respect the rules of international law. It was regrettable that the international community had witnessed practices which violated those rules. An example of such violations was seen in the action of two permanent members of the Security Council who, without any authorization by the Council, had defined a no-flight zone in his country and had interfered in its internal affairs. Their actions violated the Charter and the norms of international law.

ROBERTO LAVALLE (Guatemala) said the reports before the Committee were an indication of the magnitude of the work that had been done and was still being done in the field of international law. The first International Peace Conference, in 1899, had marked the beginning of the institutionalization of relations among States, in particular, the peaceful settlement of disputes. The topics dealt with at that first Conference continued to hold the same interest and importance for the international community 100 years later. He was pleased to see that reports presented by experts at the commemorative conference were already posted on the Internet. He was encouraged to see the attention given to the need for access by non-governmental organizations to the International Court of Justice.

The comments on internal armed conflict were also worthy of attention, he said. The report by the Secretary-General was rich in information and of great value. He attached special importance to the Decade’s aim of encouraging a wider appreciation and knowledge of international law; there were many that had some familiarity with their own national laws, but were completely ignorant of the most fundamental elements of international law.

ALAIN EDOUARD TRAORE (Burkina Faso) said his country was conscious that the existence of the prerogatives and obligations of State sovereignty derived from international law. Not wishing to list all the instruments to which Burkina Faso was party, he said it was enough to state that there had been a systematic accession to international legal instruments by his country. During this Decade, far too many abuses and violations had taken place. He drew attention to ruptures in peace, the ambivalent attitude by the United Nations in the face of various conflicts and State-led policies of "faits accomplis". The record was far from glorious.

He hoped the next millennium would find a better balance and that international law would be less characterized by power games and based more on the principle of equity and justice. In the future, his country wished to be more involved in drafting treaties and to benefit more from the implementation of established rules.

Burkina Faso favoured an international order that would rule out the dictates of the powerful imposed on the weak, he explained. It also opposed non-compliance with international law and called for all States to take responsibility for the establishment of a world of solidarity.

MUHAMMED ENAYET MOWLA (Bangladesh) said that much progress had been made regarding the objectives of the Decade. There had been serious deliberations on broadening the principles of international law in order to recognize the security and development needs of the human person. The highlight of the Decade had been the adoption of the Rome Statute. He expressed concern about the persisting violence in many parts of the world, and called for further efforts to address that issue.

The regime of international law had been strengthened through codification of treaties in various areas, particularly in the field of environment, human rights, international trade and maritime law. Particularly noteworthy was the adoption of regional instruments. Regional responses could prove very useful in staving off organized crime and halting the proliferation of small arms, as well as promoting development and human rights. As mentioned in the report of the Secretary-General, many initiatives had been taken for dissemination and wider appreciation of international law. However, awareness of international law was not uniform all over the world, especially as there were millions of citizens of developing countries who could not read. National efforts and international cooperation were needed to enable all people to not only be aware of the principles of international law, but also to utilize them effectively.

Bangladesh had circulated a 50-point agenda to heads of State and government at the recent Hague Conference and requested the United Nations to issue it as a United Nations document, he noted.

JORGE OSVALDO ROCHA (Bolivia) stressed that his country was deeply committed to the norms of international law. Accordingly, Bolivia had become party to a series of international conventions.

In the context of the promotion and general acceptance of international law, he drew attention to a series of seminars that had been convened in order to disseminate information on international legal issues.

Bolivia would sign the additional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, he announced.

ALBERT HOFFMANN (South Africa) reviewed the discussions of a seminar his country had hosted in Pretoria in commemoration of the 1899 Peace Conference. It had brought together members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and representatives of all sectors of society. He said the Hague Conference had been motivated by the concerns of European nations who had seen their continent ravaged by war; it had been an exclusive gathering from which Africa and most other continents had been excluded. The South African seminar had accordingly sought to re-evaluate the aims and aspirations of the Hague Conference in the light of the specific problems and needs of the continent and the subregion.

With the passing of the cold war, there could be optimism about further progress towards realization of the disarmament aspirations of the First Peace Conference, he said. However, in the smaller nations, the occurrence and threat of conflicts had not decreased, and the potential use of weapons of mass destruction remained an ever-present, real threat. Furthermore, the majority of wars were being fought with small arms, whose use and proliferation posed a particular threat in Africa. The most effective way to reduce and regulate their use was through regional cooperation, for which there was a growing willingness in the southern African region.

A major weakness of the Hague Conference had been its failure to address the laws or principles relating to internal armed conflict, he said. The fact that the Second Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention had left it to the States to define an internal conflict had generated much discussion at the Pretoria seminar. "Frequently, States are reluctant to concede that there is a state of conflict, with the result that combatants in internal armed conflict are categorized as transgressors and criminal terrorists and treated as such by the government of the day, which is completely contrary to the rules of international humanitarian law."

It was especially important that the rules of international humanitarian law become relevant to the new century, to the African continent and to his subregion, he said. States must add substance and content to those rules, both internationally and within their national legal systems. The updated rules must be publicized and made accessible to soldiers. The advisory services of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) should be engaged in promotion and dissemination in this area.

He said that regionalism could be one of the main driving forces in dispute resolution; the Pretoria seminar had called for the African continent to rise to the challenge. Meanwhile, every State, every region and the international community as a whole had a responsibility to ensure that continuing trends based on the old cliché of "might is right" were halted.

VALERY ZHDANOVICH (Belarus) pointed to the growing attention being given by the international community to the development of international law. He stressed the need for attention to be focused on concrete action to implement the programme of the Decade. He was pleased that the programme was being implemented, as seen in the reports of the Secretary-General. Belarus had been actively implementing the programme at the national level. It had formalized its participation in a number of conventions, including the International Labour Organization Convention on the prohibition of forced labour and the Convention on the prohibition, development and stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction. It intended to work actively towards acceding to further other multilateral instruments.

The adoption of the Constitution of Belarus, since its independence, had been an important event. The Constitution guaranteed respect for international law and recognized its primacy over domestic legislation where there was conflict. Belarus considered the accession to multilateral instruments a priority. International law was taught as an academic discipline in his country’s universities.

Belarus favoured the adoption of a new international legal instrument on the peaceful settlement of disputes, taking into account today’s realities. He expressed the hope that efforts to develop international law would continue even after the end of the Decade.

S. RAMA RAO, observer for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), said the objectives of the Decade were close to the nature and functions of WIPO, a specialized agency that was engaged in international lawmaking and the administration of covenants relating to intellectual property law. The WIPO was uniquely placed among international institutions in that it provided direct access to private innovators and industry for registration of patents, trademarks and industrial designs for the purpose of international recognition. Currently, there were twenty-two treaties within WIPO jurisdiction. As a norm-setting body in its field, WIPO undertook the correlative function of dissemination of intellectual property law and training of personnel in developing countries.

In recognition of the need for quick and inexpensive ways of settling commercial disputes involving intellectual property rights, and providing private parties with an alternative to lengthy and costly court proceedings, WIPO had established an Arbritration and Mediation Center. The Center maintained a list of over 800 mediators from over 70 countries. In updating the information on WIPO in the report of the Secretary-General on activities by agencies during the Decade, he said the Internet Conference on Assigned Names and Numbers had adopted most of the recommendations made by WIPO to protect intellectual property owners on the internet and to regulate abusers of those rights. Further, the WIPO Global Conference on Intellectual Property and Electronic Commerce had met last month in Geneva and adopted a ten-point digital agenda.

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