Concluding its resumed session today debating on whether to codify the International Law Commission’s draft articles on crimes against humanity into a convention, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard oral reports from co-facilitators on the draft articles’ five Thematic Clusters, as speakers emphasized the need to end such crimes, with some expressing readiness to negotiate a new international instrument.
Recommendations by the International Law Commission are not binding and accepting them is “entirely in the hands of Member States”, a United Nations senior principal legal officer told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today during its resumed session, as he briefed delegates on the Commission’s procedure with the General Assembly and its process in drafting the articles on prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its resumed session today to consider the International Law Commission’s recommendation to codify a convention on crimes against humanity, speakers deliberated over two clusters of draft articles addressing measures States should take on national platforms regarding those crimes, while also exploring the methods of international cooperation between countries when considering extradition of alleged offenders.
As the Sixth Committee’s (Legal) resumed session on its agenda item “Crimes against humanity” entered its second day, delegates grappled with the challenge of defining such crimes in a way that balances facilitating future development on the one hand and establishing legal certainty on the other — all in service of preventing and punishing some of the most serious international crimes.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) resumed its session on agenda item, “Crimes against humanity”, delegates debated whether a new convention on such crimes would close gaps in the current international legal framework and if that instrument, based on the draft articles by the International Law Commission, should be inspired by existing texts, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and international conventions addressing genocide and torture.
The following statement was issued today by the Bureau of the General Assembly's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:
The Disarmament Commission’s 2023 substantive session began today by bringing into sharp focus the nuclear risks faced by the international community, as speakers stressed the alarming increase of dangerous nuclear rhetoric amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine and the crucial need to prioritize disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control measures.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today wrapped up the first part of its resumed seventy-seventh session by sending the General Assembly one decision and four resolutions, including the first human resources management package in more than six years.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the High-Level Event of the General Assembly on the Zero-Waste Project, in New York today:
The General Assembly today adopted by consensus a resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the obligations of States in respect of climate change, with most speakers hailing the move as a milestone in their decades-long struggle for climate justice. The Assembly also adopted a resolution on the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict.
