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THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION IN 2013
THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL LAW
COMMISSION IN 2013
Pavel Šturma*
1. Introduction
It is a well-known fact that, according to Article 13, para. 1, of the Charter
of the United Nations, “the General Assembly shall initiate studies and make
recommendations for the purpose of: a. … encouraging the progressive development of
international law and its codification.” On 21 November 1947 the General Assembly
adopted Resolution 174 (II), establishing the International Law Commission and
approving its Statute. Article 1, para. 1, of the Statute of the ILC provides that the
“Commission shall have for its object the promotion of the progressive development
of international law and its codification”.
1
Article 15 of the Statute then specifies that the expression “codification of
international law” is used for the more precise formulation and systematization of rules
of international law in fields where there already has been extensive State practice,
precedents and doctrine. Conversely, “progressive development of international law”
is used as meaning the preparation of draft conventions on subjects which have not
yet been regulated by international law or in regard to which the law has not yet been
sufficiently developed in the practice of States.
2
The ILC consists of 34 members who shall be persons of recognized competence
in international law.They are elected by the General Assembly from the list of candidates
nominated by the Governments of States Members of the United Nations. No two
members of the Commission shall be nationals of the same State. They are elected
for five years and eligible for re-election. The Commission meets for its sessions at
the European Office of the United Nations at Geneva. The sessions, usually being
10 weeks in length, are split in two parts, one in May, the other in summer (July till
the beginning of August). This organization allows sufficient time for the preparation
of the commentaries on the texts (in particular draft articles) adopted during the first
part of the session.
3
*
Prof. JUDr. Pavel Šturma, DrSc.
, is Head of the Department of International Law and Vice-Dean of
the 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
International Law Commission. He is a co-author of the textbook Public International Law (Prague,
2008) and the author of publications on codification, international criminal law, human rights and
international investment law.
1
See The Work of the International Law Commission. Vol. I. Sixth ed., New York: United Nations,
2004, p. 245.
2
ibid.
, p. 247.
3
cf
. Report of the International Law Commission. Sixty-third session, GAOR Sixty-sixth session,
Supplement No. 10 (A/66/10), p. 294.