CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

MAREK ZUKAL The absence of a hierarchy between general principles of law and other sources of international law in the draft conclusions, as suggested by draft conclusion 11 33 , also gave rise to discussion. The absence of hierarchy was supported by the majority of States, but some States rejected the idea of implicitly placing general principles of law on the same level as customary international law or treaty obligations. The draft conclusions should be finalized in 2025, when the ILC is expected to adopt them on second reading. The Sixth Committee will then have to decide on their future fate, also on the basis of the Commission’s recommendation. Concluding remarks The 2023 session of the Sixth Committee was not as demanding as previous sessions. Suffice it to recall that in the autumn of 2022, the future fate of Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA) was considered or a resolution on crimes against humanity was negotiated 34 , which eventually allowed the Committee to meet for two resumed sessions. However, the relatively lighter agenda has allowed for substantive and in-depth discussions on some topics - such as the Draft Articles on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters. The return of substantive discussion to the deliberations of the Sixth Committee is more than desirable. States need to deal with the proposals put before them by the ILC and not just passively observe the activities of the Commission and repeatedly discuss its outputs without any result. If substantive discussion on DAPPED or DACAH is a sign of a revitalization of the work of the Sixth Committee, that is only a good thing. However, the real test of the willingness of States to play the role of legislator in the framework of the Sixth Committee will come in the next two years. In the autumn of 2024, the Committee will have to decide on the future fate of the Draft Articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity. It will then return to consideration of the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts in 2025, and the ILC is also expected to submit Draft Articles on the Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction. Finding consensus among the 193 States on these issues will certainly not be easy. It will therefore be interesting to see whether this revitalization of the work of the Sixth Committee will continue and whether the unwritten rule of taking decisions only by consensus can be maintained.

33 Draft conclusion 11: “(1) General principles of law, as a source of international law, are not in a hierarchical relationship with treaties and customary international law. /…/” (Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its seventy-fourth session (document A/78/10), para. 40. Available here: https://legal.un.org/ilc/ reports/2023/english/chp9.pdf ). 34 See ZUKAL, Marek and Anna MATOUŠKOVÁ, op. cit.

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