The Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its consideration of the International Law Commission’s draft articles on “Crimes against humanity” today, with delegates further illustrating the nuance required to approach international codification on such crimes as they debated provisions seeking to establish safeguards before turning to the larger issue — the Commission’s recommendation to elaborate a convention on this topic.
Adopting a presidential statement today, the Security Council stressed its ongoing determination to combat impunity and ensure that all persons indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda — including the remaining fugitives — are brought to justice.
The Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization concluded its annual session today without the adoption of a full draft report due to disagreements on language concerning the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The Committee approved Chapter I of the report and forwarded it to the General Assembly.
Speakers disagreed on sanctions, the rules governing self-defence, the role of the International Court of Justice and the work of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization as that Committee opened its 2024 session with a spirited debate on how to best implement the Organization’s founding document.
The following General Statement issued today is attributable to the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the Order of the International Court of Justice in the case of South Africa against Israel on the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip:
NEW YORK, 18 January 2024 (Office of Legal Affairs) — On 16 January 2024, principals of organizations participating in UN-Oceans endorsed a statement of commitments to strengthen and promote coordination and coherence of United Nations system activities in relation to the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).
In Syria, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today expressed concern about the impact on civilians of escalating hostilities in the north-west of the country — as well as the potential for the violence to jeopardize cross-border missions by United Nations staff.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The court set up to carry out remaining functions of the criminal tribunals that investigated and prosecuted serious crimes committed during the Yugoslav wars and the 1994 Rwanda genocide has finally transitioned to its truly residual phase, its President said today as she detailed plans to restructure and streamline its internal framework, while speakers underscored that the conclusion of the latest trials in no way diminishes its relevance.
Delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today voiced their concerns with the Secretariat’s proposal to decrease the 2024 budget of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals by 22 per cent to $63.9 million while cutting dozens of posts without following General Assembly resolutions on the nationalization of staff.
