CYIL 2012

THE INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION AT THE BEGINNING OF ITS NEW QUINQUENNIUM THE INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION AT THE BEGINNING OF ITS NEW QUINQUENNIUM

Pavel Šturma

1. Introduction It is a well-known fact that, according to Article 13, paragraph 1, of the Charter of the United Nations, “the General Assembly shall initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of: a. …encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification.” On 21 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted resolution 174 (II), establishing the International Law Commission and approving its Statute. Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Statute of the ILC provides that the “Commission shall have for its object the promotion of the progressive development of international law and its codification”. 1 Article 15 of the Statute then specifies that the expression “codification of international law” is used for the more precise formulation and systematization of rules of international law in fields where there already has been extensive State practice, precedents and doctrine. Conversely, “progressive development of international law” is used as meaning the preparation of draft conventions on subjects which have not yet been regulated by international law or in regard to which the law has not yet been sufficiently developed in the practice of States. 2 The ILC consists of 34 members who shall be persons of recognized competence in international law. They are elected by the General Assembly from the list of candidates nominated by the Governments of States Members of the United Nations. No two members of the Commission shall be nationals of the same State. They are elected for five years and eligible for re-election. The Commission meets for its sessions at the European Office of the United Nations at Geneva. The sessions, being usually in length of 10 weeks, are split in two parts, one in May, the other in Summer (July till the beginning of August). This organization allows sufficient time for the preparation of the commentaries on the texts (in particular draft articles) adopted during the first part of the session. 3 2. The new membership of the Commission The above mentioned information based on the Statute means that the membership of the ILC may and indeed does change, at least partly, for each period. The last year of the quinquennium (2011) the old Commission had a longer session than usual (in 1 See The Work of the International Law Commission. Vol. I. Sixth ed., New York: United Nations, 2004, p. 245. 2 Ibid., p. 247. 3 Cf. Report of the International Law Commission. Sixty-third session, GAOR Sixty-sixth session, Supplement No. 10 (A/66/10), p. 294.

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