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THE CZECHǧAUSTRIAN DECLARATION ON JURISDICTIONAL IMMUNITIES …
has only eight State Parties and the last ratification was by Germany in 1990.10 So the
“momentum” for gaining wider support across the Council of Europe membership is
definitely gone. The Czech Republic is not a State party to the European Convention.
The second codification attempt was undertaken on the universal level by the UN
bodies. The ILC started to work on the Draft Articles on Jurisdictional Immunities of
States and Their Property in 1978 and adopted them in 1991.11 After further efforts
within the UN General Assembly and subsequent involvement of the ILC, the UN
General Assembly established the Ad Hoc Committee on jurisdictional immunities
of States and their property,12 which, under the Chairmanship of Professor Gerhard
Hafner from Austria, successfully elaborated a generally acceptable instrument based
on these Draft Articles. The General Assembly, fulfilling its role under Art. 13(1)(a)
of the UN Charter,13 then adopted the UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities
of States and Their Property (hereinafter the “UN Convention”) on 2 December
2004,14 which was opened for signature at the UN Headquarters in New York on
17 January 2005.15 As of June 2015 the UN Convention has so far accumulated,
according to its depositary, 28 signatories and 18 contracting States,16 including
the Czech Republic. In order to enter into force the UN Convention needs thirty
States to deposit the instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.17
Although the UN Convention may not enter into force anytime soon, the number of
its contracting States is steadily growing – the last two States that ratified or acceded
to the UN Convention are the Czech Republic and Liechtenstein in 2015, while
other countries may follow suit (Slovakia has already launched its internal ratification
process). Finally, it should be pointed out that this treaty is the last instrument that
was transformed from the ILC draft articles into a “proper” UN Convention. Since
that time, there has been very little demand of States for new conventions codifying
and developing rules in other areas of international law (this is the case, e.g., of the
Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts).
10 See the website of the Council of Europe at: , CETS No. 074, the State
Parties of the European Convention of State Immunity are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany,
Luxemburg, Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
11 Report of the International Law Commission, 43rd session, 1991, UN Doc. A/46/10, pp. 8 et seq.
12 The UNGA Resolution No. 55/150, adopted on 12 December 2000, UN Doc. A/RES/55/150.
13 Art. 13(1)(a) of theUNCharter: “TheGeneral Assembly shall initiate studies andmake recommendations
for the purpose of promoting international co-operation and encouraging the progressive development
of international law and its codification.”
14 The UNGA Resolution No. 59/38, adopted on 2 December 2004, UN Doc. A/RES/59/38.
15 Id., Art. 28 and 33 of the UN Convention.
16 The database of the UN Treaty Office, available at: , the contracting States
of the UN Convention are: Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland.
17 See Art. 30 of the UN Convention.