Sixth Committee

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) began its consideration of the International Law Commission’s draft articles on crimes against humanity, speakers debated on whether or not a convention, based on those texts, should be elaborated.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) began consideration of the annual reports on criminal accountability for United Nations officials and experts on mission today, some speakers called on Member States whose nationals were alleged to have committed a crime to provide previously requested information on those cases, while other stressed that primary jurisdictional responsibility laid with the alleged perpetrators’ State of nationality.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its consideration of measures to eliminate international terrorism, delegates held a heated debate, describing the challenges to their countries and their efforts to address and combat the global threat inside and outside their national borders.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its debate on measures to eliminate international terrorism, speakers grappled with the amorphous nature of the global threat, highlighting how — absent a comprehensive international convention — defining and then taking appropriate measures to combat the phenomenon, which continues to defy categorization, remained challenging. 

The COVID‑19 pandemic has aggravated the challenges of fighting international terrorism, exacerbating conditions conducive to the threat and increasing the climate of misinformation and distrust, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard today as it took up the Secretary‑General’s report on the subject and approved its work programme for the seventy‑fifth General Assembly session.

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) concluded its seventy‑fourth session today by taking action via its tradition of consensus on 12 draft resolutions, 1 draft decision and 3 requests for observer status, several delegates expressed regret over a lack of forward progress in the development of international law, while others distanced themselves from certain provisions in those texts because of terminology or tacit endorsements of certain mechanisms.

After hearing the oral reports of its working groups, the Sixth Committee (Legal) today approved without a vote three draft resolutions concerning international trade law and one on transboundary harm and allocation of loss.

Delegates urged the International Law Commission to proceed with caution on their work addressing “Succession of States in respect of State responsibility” due to a dearth of State practice in this area and a need for consistency with the Commission’s previous work in adjacent fields, as the Sixth Committee (Legal) concluded its consideration of Cluster III from that body’s annual report today.  (For background, see Press Release GA/L/3610.)

As the Sixth Committee (Legal) concluded consideration of Cluster II from the International Law Commission’s Report, delegates expressed varying opinions about the draft principles on “Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts”, with some cautioning against the broad scope of the drafts while others stating that the provisions furthered the international community’s efforts to safeguard the environment.

In response to the evolution of international law and the expansion of international society, the International Court of Justice has creatively employed the primary sources of law applicable in cases before the Court — international customary law and general principles of law — the Court’s President told delegates today during his annual address to the Sixth Committee.