CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

MAREK ZUKAL (South Africa). On the other hand, Chaloka Beyani (Zambia), Ahmed Amin Fathalla (Egypt), Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Kirill Gevorgian (Russia, candidate for re-election) were not elected. The election of ICJ judges is not based on the distribution of seats among the regional groups, so it can be considered a success that the Eastern European Group retained its seat in this election. It is also noteworthy that a candidate of a permanent member of the UN Security Council was not elected. The practice whereby permanent members of the Security Council were always represented by their nominee on the ICJ’s bench was first broken in 2017 in the case of the candidate of the United Kingdom. Responsibility of international organizations Under the topic “Responsibility of international organizations” the Sixth Committee considers whether to initiate a process to elaborate a convention on the basis of the Draft Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations 3 (DARIO). The General Assembly took note of DARIO in 2011 4 and has been considering the ILC’s recommendation to elaborate a convention triennially. In 2023, the countries intervening in the debate again divided into two groups: those in favor of a convention and those opposed. The composition of these groups was very similar to those that formed in 2022 (and previous years) during the consideration of the topic “Responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts” 5 . The most vocal supporters of negotiating a convention were Russia (joined by Belarus, Iran and Cuba), as well as Colombia and Mexico. According to these delegations, DARIO reflect customary international law and the conclusion of a convention would increase legal certainty and could prevent fragmentation of jurisprudence. Russia also cited the precedent of a resumed session of the Sixth Committee, convened to consider the topic of crimes against humanity 6 , as a good example ( sic! ) and demanded that a resumed session of the Committee also be convened to consider the way forward on DARIO. The reason why Russia attaches great importance to this issue is that international organizations, allegedly, commit internationally wrongful acts – examples of the establishment of IIIM 7 and IIMM 8 by the General Assembly were cited. Opponents of negotiating a convention on the basis of DARIO, on the other hand, argued that the customary law status of the provisions contained in DARIO was not so clear (they considered them to be more in the area of progressive development of international law). Portugal, a strong supporter of the initiative to negotiate a convention on responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts, stated that it would be preferable to deal first 3 Draft Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations, adopted by the International Law Commission at its sixty-third session, in 2011. Available here: https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft_ articles/9_11_2011.pdf. 4 Resolution of the General Assembly A/RES/66/100, adopted on 9 December 2011. Available here: https:// documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n11/464/82/pdf/n1146482.pdf?token=3JDNIF8oRUQ7IPNfoH&fe=true. 5 See ZUKAL, Marek and Anna MATOUŠKOVÁ, op. cit. 6 Resolution of the General Assembly A/RES/77/249, adopted on 30 December 2022. Available here: https:// documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n23/004/85/pdf/n2300485.pdf?token=CAeLriE5Hjyua7b72o&fe=true. 7 International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011. 8 Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.

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