CYIL vol. 7 (2016)

437

CYIL 7 ȍ2016Ȏ THE INTERNATIONAL LAWCOMMISSION AT THE END OF ITS QUINQUENNIUM…

THE INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION

AT THE END OF ITS QUINQUENNIUM:

AN EXCEPTIONAL SESSION AND POSITIVE RESULTS

Pavel Šturma*

1. Introduction and the organization of the sixty-eighth session of the ILC

As is well known, the International Law Commission is the United Nations body

which has as its object the promotion of the progressive development of international

law and its codification. The ILC consists of 34 members who shall be persons of

recognized competence in international law, elected by the General Assembly for

a term of five years. In 2016 the Commission completed its current term. This

contribution aims at presenting mainly the results of its work completed this year, as

well as on-going work and some new topics.

As usual, the session of the Commission took part in Geneva and was split in

two parts. The first part of the session (from 2 May till 10 June) was followed by

a month break. Then the Commission resumed its session on 4 July; the second part

lasted until 12 August 2016. This means that this session exceptionally extended to

12 weeks instead of the usual 10 weeks. This is because at the end of its quinquennium

the Commission tends to finalize as many topics as possible.

At its first meeting on 2 May 2016 the Commission elected the Chairman

of the ILC and other officers of the Bureau of the sixty-sixth session.

On some

occasions they meet also as an Enlarged Bureau, including in particular the Special

Rapporteurs and chairmen of Study Groups. The Commission also set up a Planning

Group under the chairmanship of Mr. Nolte. The ILC also established a Drafting

Committee which met this year for eight topics (out of the total of nine) where

some draft articles or conclusions were sent to it: (a) Protection of persons in the

event of disasters; (b) Identification of customary international law; (c) Subsequent

agreements and subsequent practice in relation to the interpretation of treaties;

(d) Crimes against humanity; (e) Protection of the atmosphere; (f ) Jus cogens; (g)

Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts; and (h) Provisional

application of treaties. Only in one topic, namely Immunity of State officials from

Prof. JUDr. Pavel Šturma, DrSc.

, is Head of the Department of International Law, Faculty of Law, Charles

University in Prague, senior research fellow at the Institute of Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences,

President of the Czech Society of International Law and member of the UN International Law Commission.

He is a co-author of the textbook Public International Law and author of many publications on codification

of international law, international criminal law, human rights and international investment law.

Chairman: Mr. Pedro Comissário Afonso (Mozambique), First Vice-Chairman: Mr. Georg Nolte

(Germany), Second Vice-Chairman: Mr. Gilberto Vergne Saboia, (Brazil), Chairman of the Drafting

Committee: Mr. Pavel Šturma (Czech Republic), Rapporteur: Mr. Ki Gab Park (Republic of Korea).