After deferring observer status requests to the seventy‑seventh session, delegates in the Sixth Committee (Legal) today, in the debate on revitalizing the work of the General Assembly, stressed the need to strengthen the Committee’s prized tradition of consensus by including substantive discussions and constructive dialogue.
After approving three draft resolutions, the Sixth Committee (Legal) took up the report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country today, with many speakers stressing that visa and travel restrictions imposed on the delegations of certain States ‑ motivated by these States’ bilateral relations with the host country ‑ threaten their ability to participate fully in United Nations activities.
Delegates in the Sixth Committee (Legal) today offered various proposals in response to concerns about the abuse of the Charter of the United Nations and the impact of sanctions, as the Committee concluded its debate on the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization, also known as the Special Charter Committee.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) concluded its debate on the third cluster of topics from the International Law Commission’s report today — thus completing its consideration of the report as a whole — delegates pointed out the Commission’s work on succession of States in respect of State responsibility hinges on considerations of continued legal personality for which uniform State practice does not exist.
Concluding the second cluster of topics from the International Law Commission report, the Sixth Committee (Legal) today took up the third and final cluster, with delegates welcoming the Special Rapporteur’s decision to replace “civilized nations” in the draft articles on “General Principles of Law”.
Against the backdrop of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, speakers today in the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued their review of the International Law Commission report’s second cluster of topics, offering detailed accounts of both national and regional initiatives to address the urgent and life-threatening crisis posed by rising sea-levels.
Stressing the importance of reflection over reflexive judgement, the President of the International Court of Justice told the Sixth Committee (Legal) today that it is the genuine airing of a variety of perspectives which makes that institution truly a world court.
After taking action on a request for observer status in the General Assembly, the Sixth Committee (Legal) today concluded the first cluster of topics of the International Law Commission reports and took up the second cluster, with delegates debating what role the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea should play in addressing rising sea levels resulting from climate change, an existential threat to many island and low-lying States not contemplated when that Convention was signed in 1982.
Continuing their consideration of the International Law Commission’s report today, delegates in the Sixth Committee (Legal) proposed changes to the Commission’s working methods and programme of work, while also considering the draft guidelines on the protection of atmosphere and provisional application of treaties.
As the Sixth Committee (Legal) continued its consideration of the first cluster of topics from the International Law Commission’s report today, delegates, tackling “Provisional application of treaties,” highlighted the complex process of incorporating international treaty obligations into national law in the uncertain context of applying such instruments provisionally. (For background, see Press Release GA/L/3643.)
