CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

PAVEL ŠTURMA CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ at sea”, in the Long-term programme of work. The second Working Group continued but not yet concluded its debate on methods of work of the Commission. At its meeting on 21 May 2019, the Commission established an open-ended Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law. This Study Group will be co-chaired, on a rotating basis, by Mr. Bogdan Aurescu, Mr. Yacouba Cissé, Ms. Patricia Galvão Teles, Ms. Nilüfer Oral, and Mr. Juan José Ruda Santolaria. The Commission also heard the address of Judge Yusuf, President of the International Court of Justice. In addition, the ILC had a number of meetings with representatives of other legal bodies, such as the Committee of Legal Advisors on Public International Law (CAHDI) of the Council of Europe, the Inter-American Juridical Committee, the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, and the AU Commission on International Law. In the same vein, an informal exchange of views was held between members of the Commission and the International Committee of the Red Cross on topics of mutual interest, on the occasion of the invitation to the premises of the ICRC Headquarters. Last but not the least, during the second part of the session of the ILC, the fifty-third session of the International Law Seminar took place at the Palais des Nations. A significant number of members of the Commission gave lectures on a large variety of topics. 2 2. The topics on the Agenda of the ILC In 2019, the Commission had a total number of seven topics on the agenda. In addition, two topics, “Protection of the atmosphere” and “Provisional application of treaties”, adopted on its first reading in 2018, awaiting for the second reading to take place in 2020. Nevertheless, informal consultations on Provisional application of treaties took place, with a view to discuss draft model clauses on the provisional application of treaties that appear in Annex A to the 2019 Report of the ILC. 3 During the 11-week session of 2019, the ILC was able to discuss the following topics: “Crimes against humanity”, “Peremptory norms of general international law ( jus cogens )”, “Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts”, “Succession of States in respect of State responsibility”, “Immunity of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction”, and “General principles of law”. Moreover, the newly established Study Group on “Sea-level rise” also met and presented an oral report to the plenary. The Commission successfully completed its debate and adopted, on its second reading, draft articles with commentaries on “Prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity”. Two other topics were completed on their first reading, namely the draft conclusions on Jus cogens and the draft principles on Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts. Other topics represent the work in progress, some of them are closer to final product, 2 The work of the International Law Commission (G. Nolte), The ILC viewed from outside (P. Galvão Teles), Evidence before international courts and tribunals (A. Rajput), Protection of the Atmosphere (S. Murase), Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Jurisdiction (C. Escobar Hernández), Peremptory norms of general international law (D. Tladi), Reparation to individuals for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law (C. Grossman Guiloff), Crimes Against Humanity (S. Murphy), General principles of law (M. Vázquez Bermúdez), and Provisional application of treaties (J.M. Gómez-Robledo). 3 See doc. A/CN.4/L.934/Add.1 (2019).

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