CYIL vol. 16 (2025)

MAREK ZUKAL ACTIVITIES OF THE SIXTH COMMITTEE OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY DURING ITS 79 TH SESSION Marek Zukal* The 2024 session of the UN General Assembly’s Sixth Committee (Legal Committee) cannot be described as “business as usual”. On the contrary, after more than two decades, the Committee agreed to convene a codification conference to elaborate an international convention on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity. The Committee also adopted a resolution providing for the elaboration of another legally binding instrument – this time on the protection of persons in the event of disasters, possibly also through a codification conference. Both resolutions were adopted by consensus after dramatic negotiations. This outcome of the Committee’s session is a breakthrough in the cycle of inactivity (the last codification conference convened by the Sixth Committee was the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court in 1998). The Committee also considered other items on its agenda, including the Report of the International Law Commission. There were interesting debates on issues such as the Immunity of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, Non-legally binding international agreements or the Succession of States in respect of responsibility. After considering all the agenda items allocated to it, the Sixth Committee recommended that the General Assembly adopt 16 resolutions and 12 decisions. It has become established practice for the Legal Advisers of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations to provide an overview of the Committee’s work in the Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law. 1 This article is a continuation of that practice, providing a brief summary of the developments in the Committee from a first-hand perspective. * JUDr. Ing. Marek Zukal, Ph.D., Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, is the Legal Adviser at the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations in New York. Prior to that, he worked as a legal officer in the International Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. He studied at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague (Mgr. – 2017, JUDr. – 2018, Ph.D. – 2025) and the University of Economics and Business in Prague (Ing. – 2018). E-mail: m.zukal@icloud.com. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily correspond with the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and do not bind this institution in any way. 1 See for example, 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 . Volume 3. Prague: Czech Society of International Law, 2012, pp. 293-319; ZUKAL, Marek and Jan MAIS. Activities of the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly during its 76 th session. In: ŠTURMA, Pavel (ed.). Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law. Volume 13 . Prague: Czech Society of International Law, 2022, pp. 386-401; 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. Volume 14 . Prague: Czech Society of International Law, 2023, pp. 452-464, and ZUKAL, Marek. Activities of the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly during its 78 th session. In: ŠTURMA, Pavel (ed.). Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law. Volume 15 . Prague: Czech Society of International Law, 2024, pp. 262-272.

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