CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ ACTIVITIES OF THE SIXTH COMMITTEE OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY … Czech Mission (see for example a similar article by Petr Válek 4 from 2012 on activities of the Sixth Committee during the 66 th session of the UN General Assembly 5 ). Overview of Sixth Committee’s session in 2021 The session of the Sixth Committee in 2021 was held from October 4 to November 18, 2021. Its bureau was composed of representatives of Qatar (Chair of the Committee), Lithuania, Spain, Egypt (Vice-Chairs) andCosta Rica (Rapporteur).The work of the Committee concluded with the adoption of 19 resolutions (or, more precisely, reports for the General Assembly, which then adopted respective resolutions in December 2021 as recommended in these reports). All resolutions were adopted without a vote, i.e., by consensus. The Sixth Committee traditionally operates on the basis of consensus. The consensus based decision making is a long-established practice. There is, however, nothing that would prevent the Committee from recurring to voting, as the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly apply to its sessions. The reasoning behind aiming at consensus is that consensus ensures the widest possible agreement among the UN Member States, that takes into consideration different points of view and that ensures that delegations work in the spirit of a compromise. Consensus is seen not only as a working method, but as a value in itself, given that the process of codification and progressive development of international law should aim for adopting universal rules of international law. On the other hand, with some agenda items, consensus-based decision making has led to a cycle of inaction and lack of any progress on them; consensus is driven by engagement of delegations and by inclusiveness, which are sometimes lacking. This was obvious for example with the topic of crimes against humanity (see below). The fourth week of the Committee’s session was traditionally devoted to gathering of capital-based Legal Advisers of respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs, so called International LawWeek. During that week, the report of the International Law Commission was discussed in the Sixth Committee, focusing on topics such as Succession of States in Respect of State Responsibility 6 , Immunities of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction, Provisional Application of Treaties, Sea-Level Rise in Relation to International Law etc. Legal Advisers of respective Permanent Missions to the UN were also kept busy by several election campaigns as elections to the International Law Commission and by-election of the judge of the International Court of Justice took place during the session. Especially during the International Law Week, most Legal Advisers had number of bilateral meetings with candidates to those organs who tried to convince them that they are the most suitable ones to hold the positions in question. On November 5, 2021, Hilary Charlesworth of Australia was elected judge of the International Court of Justice by both the UN Security Council and the General Assembly and on November 12, 2021, the General Assembly elected 34 new members of the ILC for the 2022–2026 quinquennium. 4 Petr Válek was Legal Adviser at the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations in New York from 2009 to 2012. He currently serves as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. 5 VÁLEK, Petr. The Activities of the Sixth Committee During the 66 th Session of the UN General Assembly: Business as Usual? In: ŠTURMA, Pavel (ed.). Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law . Prague: Czech Society of International Law, 2012, pp. 293-319. ISSN 1805-0565. 6 A topic for which Professor Pavel Šturma, the Editor-in-chief of this Yearbook, is a Special Rapporteur.

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