Three Questions on Terrorism

1973 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
The Self ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Special Committee ◽  
Repeated Calls ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Creation

WE LIVE IN A TERRORISTIC AGE. FEW, EVEN AMONG THE MOST favoured and secure, can fail to be haunted by the ugly sights and ghastly dreams of terroristic murder, massacre, and torture and the suffering of the innocents. Numerous international organizations and the mass media at least agree in characterizing our era as one ‘full of dismal terror’. There have been repeated calls for serious scientific study of the nature and causes of terrorism culminating in the recent decision of the UN General Assembly to establish a special committee for this purpose. Many students of politics will suspect that the creation of ‘study committees’ by such organizations as the UN and the Socialist International will simply serve to reflect the self-interest of the national participants, or that they will simply turn into propaganda exercises.

The Case for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly as a Means of Promoting Just Security

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Cabrera
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Over Time

This chapter explores the case for a more formalized United Nations parliamentary assembly, including the potential oversight, accountability, and (ultimately) co-decision roles that such a body could play alongside the UN General Assembly. Given difficulties in expecting national parliamentarians to perform such functions continuously, a UN assembly is found to hold greater potential for promoting key UN system aims in the areas of security, justice, and democratic accountability, even as the existing Inter-Parliamentary Union continued to play some important complementary roles. Learning from relevant global and regional parliamentary bodies, the chapter outlines concrete steps toward developing a parliamentary assembly over time, including the creation of a more informal UN network of UN-focused national parliamentarians in the near term.

The Work of the International Law Commission, 2007–2011: Progress and Prospects

2012 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald McRae
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Law ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Transboundary Aquifers ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
The Way

On November 17, 2011, the UN General Assembly elected the members of the International Law Commission for the next five years. In the course of the quinquennium that was completed in August 2011 with the end of the sixty-third session, the Commission concluded four major topics on its agenda: the law of transboundary aquifers, the responsibility of international organizations, the effect of armed conflicts on treaties, and reservations to treaties. It was by any standard a substantial output. The beginning of a new quinquennium now provides an opportunity to assess what the Commission has achieved, to consider the way it operates, and to reflect on what lies ahead for it.

Conservation on the High Seas: Developing the Concept of the High Seas Marine Protected Areas

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 849-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen N. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
High Seas

Abstract This article explores developments in connection with marine protected areas (MPAs) on the high seas, beginning with a brief survey of existing high seas MPAs, recent initiatives such as the designation of the South Orkney Islands MPA, the creation of a network of OSPAR MPAs and the work undertaken by the UN General Assembly on developing a framework for oceans governance in areas beyond national jurisdiction. It considers: the absence of a clear legal basis for the creation of MPAs on the high seas; the relationship between MPA designation and traditional high seas freedoms; and the complex jurisdictional arrangements that govern activities on and in the high seas.

The Choice of a Treaty

2019 ◽  
pp. 100-118
Author(s):  
Alan Boyle
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Legal Effect ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
Multilateral Treaty

From a lawmaking perspective “soft law” is simply a convenient description for a variety of non-binding normatively worded instruments used in contemporary international relations by states and international organizations. Examples include UN conference declarations, appropriately worded resolutions and declarations adopted by the UN General Assembly or one of its subsidiary organs or specialized agencies, or codes of conduct, guidelines, and principles adopted by any of these UN organs. The main advantage of adopting rules and principles in soft-law form is that the process is simpler, faster, and potentially more inclusive than a multilateral treaty. The UN has pioneered the use of soft law, most obviously through the adoption of General Assembly resolutions that, inter alia, interpret and amplify the UN Charter, codify and progressively develop international law, provide evidence of opinio juris on new norms and general principles, or legitimize state practice. The functions of soft law in the international legal system—and in UN practice—are diverse, but it would be wrong to see the choice of instrument—treaty or soft law—in either/or terms. Non-binding soft law sometimes presents alternatives to lawmaking by treaty; at other times it complements and amplifies treaties while also providing different ways of understanding the legal effect of different kinds of treaties. But it is inconceivable that modern treaty regimes or international organizations such as the UN could function successfully without resort to soft law.

The Work of The International Law Commission on “Relations between States and International Organizations” Discontinued: an Assessment

1993 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H.F. Bekker
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

The UN General Assembly has recently decided to delete from the agenda of the International Law Commission the topic ‘Relations between States and International Organizations’.Over a period of 31 years, fourteen Reports by two successive Special Rapporteurs studied the topic in two parts. The First part of the topic (1963–1975) dealt with the privileges and immunities of representatives of states to international organizations, and resulted in a Convention, that has, however, not yet entered into force; the Second part of the topic (1976–1992) concentrated on the legal status and immunities of organizations themselves.The author analyzes the Draft Articles that have been submitted in the course of the ILC's study of the Second part. This is done by way of a three-step application of the functional necessity concept of organizational immunities:(1) Status, dealing with an organization's functions, legal personality and capacity-(2) Selection, defining a scale of organizational immunities for which an organization may be eligible - and (3) Scope, determining the extent of selected immunities. Finally, the author employs the two statutory functions of the ILC -the codification of international law and the progressive development of international law- to assess the contribution by the ILC to this field of international institutional law.

Legal Entitlements, Changing Circumstances and Intertemporality: A Comment on the Creation of Israel and the Status of Palestine

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-408
Author(s):  
Yuval Shany
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Legal Literature ◽  
The Status ◽  
General Assembly Resolution ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
State Of Israel

The events surrounding the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and the ensuing Palestinian naqba (disaster) have generated an abundance of legal literature. It is beyond the ambitions of this article to revisit all or most of the existing literature, or to strive and comprehensively discuss the various legal propositions they consider. Instead, it offers a critical assessment of some of the legal conclusions offered by one of the most influential experts in the field – Professor James Crawford – who, in the second edition of his seminal treatise The Creation of States in International Law, discusses at some length the events surrounding the creation of Israel and the status of Palestine. Section 2 of the article offers some general observations on the continued relevance of the events surrounding the creation of Israel. In particular, it raises the question of the relationship between the principles of ex injuria non oritur jus and ex factis oritur jus in the Israeli–Palestinian context. Section 3 examines the legal significance of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate and Crawford's position concerning its validity. Sections 4 and 5 adopt a similar examination with regard to two other historic events of potential legal significance, namely the 1947 UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (the Partition Resolution) and Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence. Section 5 also briefly examines Crawford's conclusions relating to the status of Palestine, and Section 6 concludes.

Staff Salaries in the UN Family

1957 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 635-648
Author(s):  
A. Loveday
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Special Committee ◽  
Review Committee ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
The United Nations

The salaries of international officials have again been under discussion in the General Assembly and, as the discussion is to continue during the twelfth session, this would seem to be an appropriate moment to review the situation. The eleventh Assembly had before it the report of a special committee requested to undertake “a comprehensive review of the United Nations salary, allowance and benefits system”. Although this report was praised in the debate, the Staff Council expressed the view that its “principal conclusions and recommendations are profoundly disappointing”. The committee, known as the Salary Review Committee (SRC), did not confine itself to salaries and allowances, but quite naturally dealt also with such questions as grading, recruitment and, to some extent, with pensions. Since Dr. R. N. Swift, in a recent article on personnel problems in this journal, has devoted sections to recruitment and salaries in the UN, I do not propose to consider recruitment policies, but to discuss the inter-related problems of salaries, grading and pensions in the wider setting of the whole UN family of international organizations.

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