CYIL Vol. 7, 2016

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ THE INTERNATIONAL LAWCOMMISSION AT THE END OF ITS QUINQUENNIUM… was not able to adopt para. 2, proposed by the Special Rapporteur, which includes additional elements of jus cogens norms. 38 These elements may also be developed in separate draft conclusions. 2.7 Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflict Concerning this topic, the Commission had before it the third and last report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Marie Jacobsson, who is not candidate for re-election. 39 The report focused on identifying rules applicable in post-conflict situations but also addressed some preventive issues to be undertaken in the pre-conflict phase. Following the debate in Plenary, the Commission decided to refer the draft principles, as contained in the report of the Special Rapporteur, to the Drafting Committee. The Commission provisionally adopted the draft principles it had taken note of during its sixty-seventh session (2015), which had been renumbered and revised for technical reasons by the Drafting Committee at the present session, together with the commentaries thereto. 40 Those draft principles include principle 1 (Scope), principle 2 (Purpose), principle 5 (Designation of protected zones), principle 9 (General protection of natural environment during armed conflict), principle 10 (Application of the law of armed conflict to the natural environment), principle 11 (Environmental considerations shall be taken into account when applying the principle of proportionality and the rules on military necessity), principle 12 (Prohibition of reprisals against the natural environment) and principle 13 (Protected zones). Furthermore, the Commission received the report of the Drafting Committee and took note of additional eight draft principles, provisionally adopted by the Drafting Committee in 2016. 41 They concern implementation and enforcement, SOFA and other agreements with respect to the presence of forces, peace operations, rights of indigenous peoples (principles 4, 6, 7, 8), as well as peace processes and agreements, post-conflict environmental assessments and reviews, remnants of war and access to and sharing of information (principles 14 to 17). However, the future work on this topic remains uncertain, depending on the question of if and when a new Special Rapporteur will be appointed. 2.8 Immunity of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction In relation to this topic the Commission had before it the fifth report of the Special Rapporteur Ms. Concepción Escobar Hernández, which was focused on the question of limitations and exceptions to the immunity of State officials from foreign 38 „2. Norms of jus cogens protect the fundamental values of the international community, are hierarchically superior to other norms of international law and are universally applicable.“ (ibid., p. 5) 39 See doc. A/CN.4/700 (2016).

40 See doc. A/CN.4/L.888/Add.1 (2016). 41 See doc. A/CN.4/L.888 (2016), pp. 2-3.

447