CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

MAREK ZUKAL – JAN MAIS CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ Rather long negotiations took place under agenda item “Rule of law at the national and international levels”. During the informal consultations, led by the Legal Advisers of Mexico and Liechtenstein, most time was spent by the discussions on the subtopic of debate to be held under this agenda item during the 77 th session of the General Assembly. Several delegations supported the subtopic proposed by the Secretary-General in his report: “Promoting a people centred rule of law at the national and international levels as the foundation of our common agenda”. As this topic was unacceptable for some States, the delegations eventually found consensus on the subtopic “The impacts of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the rule of law at the national and international levels” 45 . Another agenda item – “Administration of justice at the United Nations” – is closely related to the topic of rule of law. This agenda item is traditionally allocated for consideration both to the Sixth Committee and to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary Committee). The outcome of the consideration by the Sixth Committee is a letter by the Chair of the Committee addressed to the Chair of the Fifth Committee, drawing the Fifth Committee’s attention to the legal aspects of the report of the Secretary-General on the administration of justice. The General Assembly then adopts a resolution upon the report by the Fifth Committee. In 2007, the General Assembly established a two-tier UN internal judicial system composed of the UN Disputes Tribunal and UN Appeals Tribunal (both operational since 2009). These tribunals deal with actions by the UN staff brought against the Organization, as these cannot be resolved by national courts due to the immunity of the UN from national jurisdictions 46 . Informal consultations on the text of the letter of the Chair of the Sixth Committee were led by the Legal Adviser of Croatia. Some delegations were expressing concerns about the position of the so called “non-staff personnel” of the UN. In the letter by the Chair of the Sixth Committee, it was emphasized that the United Nations should ensure that effective remedies are available to all categories of personnel, including non-staff personnel, and recommended to continue the work on ways to provide non-staff personnel with access to resolving disputes. The General Assembly amended the Regulations to give effect to Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations through its resolution 47 adopted under agenda item “Strengthening and promoting the international treaty framework”. Article 102 of the UN Charter provides that every treaty should be registered with the UN Secretariat, otherwise they cannot be invoked before any organ of the United Nations (including the International Court of Justice). 48 Some delegations in the Sixth Committee recalled that the obligation to register treaties had not yet been met by all Member States and that the treaty registrations were geographically imbalanced. (The Czech Republic also registers some of its bilateral treaties. 45 Resolution No. A/RES/76/117 adopted by the General Assembly on December 9, 2021. 46 See Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 13 February 1946 (available here: https://www.un.org/en/ethics/assets/pdfs/ Convention%20of%20Privileges-Immunities%20of%20the%20UN.pdf ). 47 Resolution No. A/RES/76/120 adopted by the General Assembly on December 9, 2021. 48 Article 102 (1) Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it. (2) No party to any such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty or agreement before any organ of the United Nations.

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