The Work of the International Law Commission on Shared Natural Resources: The Pursuit of Competence and Relevance

2006 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-338
Author(s):  
Juha Rainne
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Present Article ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Minimum Requirements ◽  
Difficult Challenge ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

AbstractA growing demand for rules that regulate the use of shared or transboundary natural resources is evident. The exploitation of water, oil or other transboundary natural resources in one state may often have consequences that delimit the possibilities of the neighbouring state to exploit the same resources. As natural resources in the boundary areas are expected to be a major source of controversy in the 21st century, it is reasonable to call for the development of norms that would set the minimum requirements for international co-operation and the maximum limits of state sovereignty in the utilisation of transboundary natural resources. The present article addresses the matter by analysing the work of the International Law Commission on the topic of shared natural resources. The Commission faces a difficult challenge as it undertakes to universally regulate a subject matter that is highly technical and politically sensitive and encompasses diverse regional situations. It is argued that the relevance of the work of the International Law Commission in this field and the competence of its legal experts can be questioned, as the Commission balances between too general and too technical an approach to the topic.

The Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers: The Process at the UN ILC

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raya Marina Stephan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Proper Management ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Law ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Transboundary Aquifers ◽  
Law Commission

AbstractIn 2002, the UN International Law Commission added to its program of work the topic of Shared Natural Resources: transboundary groundwater, oil and gas. Six years later, the UN ILC completed its work on the first sub-topic by adopting at second reading nineteen draft articles on the law of transboundary aquifers. The draft articles were then deferred to the UN General Assembly, which adopted Resolution A/RES/63/124 including the draft articles in annex. In the Resolution, the UN GA “encourages the States concerned to make appropriate bilateral or regional arrangements for the proper management of their transboundary aquifers, taking into account the provisions of these draft articles”.The paper will go through the main principles codified in the draft articles. The UN ILC had benefited from a unique cooperation on the science of hydrogeology from UNESCO’s International Hydrological Program; hence it considered and covered issues of main importance for hydrogeologists.

Codification and Development of International Law

1955 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lauterpacht
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Present Article ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Set Up ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
First Session

The object of the present article is to survey the problems and to assess the achievements and prospects of the codification of international law within the United Nations in the light of the experience of the first five years of the activity of the International Law Commission. The Charter, in Article 13, imposes upon the General Assembly the obligation to “initiate studies and to make recommendations … for the purpose of encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification.” In pursuance of that article the General Assembly set up the International Law Commission and adopted a Statute regulating its functions and organization. The first session of the Commission took place in 1949. Since then, it has been meeting in yearly sessions lasting between eight and eleven weeks.

The Fifty-Seventh Session of the International Law Commission

2006 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 416-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Diplomatic Protection ◽  
International Liability ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Fragmentation Of International Law ◽  
Law Commission

The International Law Commission held its fifty-seventh session in Geneva from May 2 to June 3, and from July 11 to August 5, 2005. The Commission continued its work on shared natural resources, reservations to treaties, responsibility of international organizations, unilateral acts of states, and fragmentation of international law. It began work on the effect of armed conflict on treaties and expulsion of aliens, and decided to begin work next year on the obligation to prosecute or extradite. It took no further action for the time being on diplomatic protection or on international liability for transboundary harm, pending the receipt of comments from governments on the texts adopted on first reading in 2004.

General Principles of Law: The First Debate within the International Law Commission and the Sixth Committee

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-172
Author(s):  
Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez ◽  
Alfredo Crosato
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Present Article ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
General Principles Of Law ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Law Commission

Abstract Continuing its work on the sources of international law, the International Law Commission decided, at its seventieth session, to include the topic “General principles of law” in its current programme of work. By taking up the topic, the Commission aims to shed light on various aspects of this source and provide guidance to States, international organizations, courts and tribunals and all others that may be called upon to deal with general principles of law. The present article provides an overview of the first debate on the topic that took place within the International Law Commission and the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the UN General Assembly in 2019, focusing on certain key issues that will be central to the treatment of the topic.

Sedentary Fisheries and Article 2(4) of the Convention on the Continental Shelf —A Plea for a Separate Regime

1969 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. F. E. Goldie
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
International Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
General Community ◽  
Law Commission

The open-endedness of the Continental Shelf Convention renders it vulnerable to misuse as a camouflage for extravagant claims by states seeking to extend their coastal jurisdiction far out into the abyss until, perhaps, they meet in an oceanic thalweg. The definition of the continental shelf in terms of exploitability and the inclusion of “sedentary species” among the “natural resources” of the continental shelf are the two greatest sources of this indeterminacy. Their elimination from the Convention would greatly reduce its fictional elements—the false colors it now provides for grandiose ambitions. On the other hand, the comment which follows does not purport to investigate the basic choice between accepting the exclusive competence of coastal states over sedentary fisheries and general community freedom from such competence. Assuming those issues to be beyond its scope, it is limited to the pragmatic evaluation of including sedentary fisheries within the scope of the continental shelf regime or, alternatively, of restoring a modified version of the Sedentary Fisheries Article which the International Law Commission proposed in 1951.

scholarly journals Horizontal Enforcement and the ILC’s Proposed Draft Articles on the Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 161-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chimène I. Keitner
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Basic Principle ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Responsible Government ◽  
The Individual ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

The Nuremberg principles affirmed by the U.N. General Assembly and formulated by the International Law Commission (ILC) provide that “[t]he fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him (sic) from responsibility under international law.” Few would dispute this basic principle. More contested is the question of who has authority to impose consequences on individuals for international crimes committed on behalf of states. This is because, if an individual has acted with actual or apparent state authority, imposing consequences on the individual without her state’s consent runs counter to traditional notions of state sovereignty and noninterference.

On the Road to Vienna

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Bruns
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Law ◽  
The Road ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
On The Road ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

This chapter focuses on the negotiations that preceded the 1961 Vienna Conference (which led to the conclusion of the VCDR). The author challenges the view that the successful codification was an obvious step and refers in this regard to a history of intense negotiation which spanned fifteen years. With particular reference to the International Law Commission (ILC), the chapter explores the difficult task faced by ILC members to strike a balance between the codification of existing practice and progressive development of diplomatic law. It reaches the finding that the ILC negotiations were crucial for the success of the Conference, but notes also that certain States supported a less-binding form of codification. The chapter also underlines the fact that many issues that had caused friction between the Cold War parties were settled during the preparatory meetings and remained largely untouched during the 1961 negotiations.

Approaches for Analysing Norm Relationships

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Intellectual Property ◽  
International Law ◽  
Structure Building ◽  
Analytical Structure ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Logical Order ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Rule Systems ◽  
Law Commission

This chapter discusses conflict-resolution tools and develops an analytical structure building on rules and principles in international intellectual property (IP) treaties, other rule-systems, and general international law to define norm relationships of interpretation and of conflict. Several tools are taken from the ‘toolbox’ developed in the Fragmentation Report of the International Law Commission and other fragmentation literature. Depending on the type of relationship at stake, the most appropriate legal tools to address them may vary. The ILC Report and Conclusions provide for some of the tools and to some extent for an analytical structure, a logical order for examining these relationships. As the chapter shows, for some types of legal relations other approaches are more adequate. They hence complement the ILC principles and need to be integrated in the set of tools available.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document