Legal

As the nature of armed conflicts continued to transform, international humanitarian law should serve as the bedrock for protecting the victims of conflict and returning to peace, said Sixth Committee (Legal) delegates. In today’s debate on the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols, El Salvador’s representative said that international humanitarian law could no longer be an unattainable goal.

The Sixth Committee (Legal) met this morning to consider an oral report by the Coordinator of the informal consultations on the administration of justice at the United Nations. Thomas Fitschen (Germany) gave a comprehensive review of the informal meetings, held 15, 16 and 18 October. He noted that the Secretariat had already responded to a number of questions that had arisen during the consultations, thus allowing for the timely conclusion of work on the topic.

Although universal jurisdiction served to fight impunity, it should only be used in exceptional circumstances when other means of justice had been exhausted, delegates told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today as it concluded its debate on the scope and application of the principle of universal jurisdiction.

Asserting that the Sixth Committee (Legal) was the frontline guardian of the Organization’s Charter, Vuk Jeremić, President of the General Assembly, told its delegates today that international law was the backbone of effective multilateral relations.

The Sixth Committee met this morning to take up five requests for observer status in the work of the General Assembly, of which two had been deferred from the Committee’s sixty-sixth session.

The work of UNCITRAL was essential to upholding the rule of law and could only be realized when States put binding legal texts into action, Hrvoje Sikirić, Chairperson of the Commission’s forty-fifth session, told the Sixth Committee (Legal) as it considered the Commission’s report and concluded its debate on two additional items: criminal accountability of the Organization’s officials and experts on mission; and the administration of justice at the United Nations.

Arbitrary, unilateral sanctions infringed on development, violated human rights, defied the rule of law and harmed innocent people and States, delegates told the Sixth Committee (Legal), today, as it concluded its debate on the Special Committee on the Charter and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization and began consideration of criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission.

The rule of law could never be realized if States continued to threaten and disrupt the internal affairs of others, support extremists abroad, and apply unilateral sanctions, Syria’s delegate told the Sixth Committee (Legal) as it concluded its debate on the rule of law and began consideration of the Special Committee on the Charter and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.

The United Nations had brought neutrality and global profundity to the progression of international law, which resulted in the first High-level Meeting on the subject and a declaration that exhibited the will of States, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the Sixth Committee as it began its debate on the rule of law at the international and national levels.

A phenomenon that had grown in scope, sophistication and complexity, terrorism could only be combated through the eradication of its root causes, adherence to relevant instruments of international law and global and regional partnerships, delegates told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today as it concluded its debate on measures to eliminate terrorism.