CYIL 2012

THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SIXTH COMMITTEE DURING THE 66 TH SESSION … articles. In 2000, the GA, upon the recommendation of the Sixth Committee, took note of the Articles on Nationality in Relation to Succession of States and annexed them to its resolution. Furthermore, the GA invited Governments “to take into account, as appropriate, the provisions contained in the articles in dealing with issues of nationality in relation to succession of States” and recommended that “all efforts be made for the wide dissemination of the text of the articles”. 26 This invitation was reiterated by the GA in 2004 27 and 2008. 28 Since then, the GA used the procedure of annexing the articles to its resolutions on a number of other topics finalized by the ILC and submitted to the GA. In chronological order, this practice has been followed in the case of the Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, 29 the Principles on the Allocation of Loss in the Case of Transboundary Harm Arising out of Hazardous Activities, 30 the Articles on Diplomatic Protection 31 (although the ILC preferred the form of a convention for these Articles), the Articles on Prevention of Transboundary Harm From Hazardous Activities, 32 the Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, 33 and most recently in the case of the Articles on Effects of Armed Conflicts on Treaties 34 and the Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations. 35 In the general debate on the Articles on Nationality of Natural Persons in Relation to Succession of States in the Sixth Committee, the UN Members expressed different views on how to proceed. While Russian Federation, El Salvador, Iran and Trinidad and Tobago preferred to elaborate a convention on the basis of these Articles, Japan, Slovenia, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Malaysia spoke in favor of a “soft law solution”, i.e, either to keep them as an annex to the GA resolution, or to adopt a declaration proposed by the ILC. Hungary stated that these Articles will continue to serve the purpose for which they were prepared in their current form and proposed to conclude the consideration of this item. The United States delivered a statement without addressing the issue of the form of the Articles. Another important element of this debate was a relatively low number of speakers (only 12 States), demonstrating the fact that the UN Members are losing their interest in this issue and that the momentum of the nineties is definitely gone. A mixed message on this question came out also from the Note of the Secretariat containing the comments of sixteen States, 26 Resolution of the GA No. 55/153 of December 12, 2000, UN Doc. A/RES/55/153. 27 Resolution of the GA No. 59/34 of December 2, 2004, UN Doc. A/RES/59/34. 28 Resolution of the GA No. 63/118 of December 11, 2008, UN Doc. A/RES/63/118. 29 Resolution of the GA No. 56/83 of December 12, 2001, UN Doc. A/RES/56/83. 30 Resolution of the GA No. 61/36 of December 4, 2006, UN Doc. A/RES/61/36. 31 Resolution of the GA No. 62/67 of December 6, 2007, UN Doc. A/RES/62/67. 32 Resolution of the GA No. 62/68 of December 6, 2007, UN Doc. A/RES/62/68. 33 Resolution of the GA No. 63/124 of December 11, 2008, UN Doc. A/RES/63/124. 34 Resolution of the GA No. 66/99 of December 9, 2011, UN Doc. A/RES/66/99. 35 Resolution of the GA No. 66/100 of December 9, 2011, UN Doc. A/RES/66/100.

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