CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

CYIL 15 ȍ2024Ȏ ACTIVITIES OF THE SIXTH COMMITTEE OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY … delegations try to use consensus as a veto, threatening to block the adoption of an outcome on which the rest of the membership could agree. Consensus means a general agreement of the whole, taking into account the minority view; on the other hand, a small minority (or even a single delegation) should not be able to block the will of the majority. In the end, however, the attempts to abuse consensus were unsuccessful and all resolutions submitted by coordinators were adopted without a vote. In general, the autumn part of the 78 th session was not as demanding as the previous session (two of the most demanding agenda items were considered during autumn 2022: crimes against humanity and responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts 2 ). However, some agenda items gave rise to a heated debate and lengthy negotiations – in particular the agenda item entitled “Responsibility of international organizations”; there were also very long negotiations on the draft resolution entitled “Peremptory rules of general international law ( jus cogens )”. A large part of the autumn session took the form of a working group considering the Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters. As usual, the fourth week of the autumn session was attended by Legal Advisers from capitals (from the respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs) and by many members of the International Law Commission. During this week, traditionally known as the International Law Week, the report of the ILC on its work during the 74 th session was considered. The following ILC projects were discussed: General principles of law (the draft conclusions adopted by the ILC on first reading), Sea-level rise in relation to international law, Succession of States in respect of State responsibility, Subsidiary means for the determination of rules of international law, Prevention and repression of piracy and armed robbery at sea, and Settlement of disputes to which international organizations are parties. The Czech Republic, together with the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the Council of Europe, organized a side-event during the International Law Week, entitled “Register of Damage Caused by the Russian Aggression Against Ukraine”. The aim of the side-event was to raise awareness of the Register, in particular among non-European States, and to present possibilities for participation of non-members of the Council of Europe. Presentations were made by Ms. Iryna Mudra (Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine), Mr. Jörg Polackiewicz (Legal Adviser of the Council of Europe), Mr. Markyian Kliuchkovskyi (Executive Director of the Register) and Mr. Emil Ruffer (Director of the International Law Department at the Czech MFA), and the event was moderated by the Legal Adviser of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic. Surprisingly, a representative of Russia took part in the event, including the discussion. During the autumn part of the Committee’s session, the election of five judges of the International Court of Justice also took place in both the General Assembly and the Security Council. After a long and arduous campaign of nine candidates nominated for the five vacancies, the following candidates were elected Judges of the International Court of Justice: Sarah Cleveland (United States of America, co-nominated by the Czech National Group at the Permanent Court of Arbitration), Hilary Charlesworth (Australia, re-elected), Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo Verduzco (Mexico), Bogdan Aurescu (Romania) and Dire Tladi

2 See details in ZUKAL, Marek and Anna MATOUŠKOVÁ. Activities of the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly during its 77 th session. In: ŠTURMA, Pavel (ed.). Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law . Prague: Czech Society of International Law, 2023, pp. 452–464. ISSN 1805-0565.

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