UN Decade National Response Column

Editor: Richard Hartzman assists the ASIL in carrying out its NGO observer status at the UN. He has done an outstanding job of obtaining information from the U.N., collating it into a useful format for UNDIG members, and timely forwarding that information to the Editor for dissemination to our Group.]

National and Organizational Responses to the U.N. Decade of
International Law
by Richard Hartzman, Esq., New York City.

Volume 1 No. 2 of this newsletter contained an article summarizing the national and organizational responses to the U.N. Decade of International Law as reported the Secretary General's August 1992 report on the U.N. Decade. A/47/384. Pursuant to General Assembly Resolution 47/32 a similar report was issued by the Secretary General on 26 August 1993. A/48/312. The 1993 report is summarized in this article.

By resolution 48/30, the General Assembly requested the Secretary General to prepare for the 49th Session of the General Assembly the same kind of report along with views on possible activities for the next 1995-96 term of the Decade. The Resolution also approved the convening of a congress on public international law to be held in 1995.

The 1993 report summarizes the responses from five states to requests for information on their activities related to the U.N. Decade: Australia, Austria, Finland (on behalf of the Nordic countries), Guyana, and Namibia. This compares with responses from thirteen states the year before. In addition, information was received for the 1993 report from more than a dozen U.N. bodies and more than a dozen other international bodies and organizations.

The Secretary General's report is divided into three sections: an introduction providing general background; an analytical presentation of the state and international organizational replies; and a summary of U.N. activities relevant to the progressive development of international law and its codification.

The analytic presentation, which is the major part of the report, follows the program format of the U.N. Decade. This article uses the same format, providing a comprehensive though not complete summary of reported activities. The broad range of reported activities may suggest future projects which can contribute to the fulfillment of the goals of the Decade.

A. Promotion of the acceptance of and respect for the principles of international law:

• Australia has developed an information kit in its effort to obtain greater regional harmonization in international trade law.
• Namibia noted that Article 144 of its constitution provides that general rules of international law and international treaties and agreements to which it is a party form part of the laws of Namibia without the need for legislative action.
• Austria and Guyana, as well as Australia and Namibia noted treaties and conventions to which they have become parties.
• Promotion of ratification of, and accession to international drug control treaties is a primary objective of the U.N. International Drug Control Programme. Similar efforts were reported by the African-Asian Legal Consultative Committee (AALCC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• The World Intellectual Property Organization (WLPO), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International
• Astronautical Federal (IAF), UNEP, and the International Union for Conversation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) regularly report on the status of multilateral treaties in their respective fields.
  

• Australia is informing regional countries about the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons, and is assisting those countries with implementation of the Convention.
• Austria will provide internships to students from developing countries to the International Development Law Institute.
• UNEP, WIPO, and ALCC provide financial assistance to developing countries to enable their participation in meetings concerning multilateral treaties.
• Technical legal assistance is provided by UNEP and the IUCN.
• The IUCN prepares studies, analysis, and explanatory guides to promote the adherence to and implementation of international environmental conventions. UNITAR is preparing a training program in international environmental law.
• The U.N. International Drug Control Programme has a program of workshops. It provides legal advice through assessment and planning missions, prepares model legislation, and gives training and other support in the implementation of new law.
  

• Namibia has charged its Department of Women Affairs with cooperating with other ministries in the implementation of the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
• Verification arrangements with regard to chemical weapons will be overseen by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to be established under the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention.
• The European Space Agency conducted a colloquium on the implementation of the ESA Convention in Florence Italy in October 1993.
• UNEP established an open-ended ad hoc committee for implementation of the 1989 Basal Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes.
• A multilateral fund for implementation of the 1987 Montreal Protocol was established by the parties to the Protocol.
• The U.N. International Drug Control Programme sends annual questionnaires to States regarding the implementation of drug control treaties, and makes available collections of national implementing laws to all States.
• The International Commission of Jurists has launched a campaign for the creation of a permanent International Penal Court. The Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers has sponsored seminars on the implementation of international legal standards. Its 1993 Yearbook focused on the implementation of international standards at the national level.
• The ICRC noted that procedures for implementing international humanitarian law have been strengthened by the creation of the International Fact-Finding Commission as envisaged in article 90 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions.

B. Promotion of the peaceful settlement of disputes:

• Australia has suggested that it might be timely for the Sixth Committee of the General Assemble to review the working methods and resources of the International Court of Justice in order to encourage its use in the peaceful settlement of disputes.
• Austria and the Nordic countries emphasized the need to develop measures for dispute prevention and settlement in the environmental field. The Austrian Foreign Ministry conducted a seminar on U.N. "Green Helmets" - a model system for the prevention and settlement of environmental disputes. The Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution organized a four week civilian training program on peace-keeping and peace building for the fall of 1993.
• Guyana encourages appropriate recourse to regional organizations as a practical measure for dispute settlement.
• Nordic countries observed that the capacity of the U.N. system to mount combined peacemaking and humanitarian operation should be strengthened. They have organized a number of special publications, seminars and courses devoted to the pacific settlement of disputes.
  

• WIPO's Committee of Experts is developing a draft treaty on the settlement of intellectual property disputes between states.
• UNEP indicated that the Montevideo Programme for the periodic review of environmental law addresses dispute avoidance and settlement.
• UNITAR has introduced a fellowship program in peace-making and preventive diplomacy for U.N. staff and others. It also organizes with GATT workshops on dispute settlement procedures used at GATT, and is working on funding for courses in international law and peaceful resolution of conflicts for civil servants from developing countries.
• AALCC will undertake a detailed consideration of the Secretary-General's "Agenda for Peace". It organized a International Conference on International Law to be held in Qatar in March 1994.
• The International Court of Arbitration holds that the ICC arbitration clause is an instrument for the prevention and settlement of disputes. The Court noted that participation by parties and arbitrators from Central and Eastern Europe has increased.
• Adjudication and arbitration of disputes regarding space activities is to be considered in 1993-1994 by the International Institute of Space Law.
• The Institute of International Law will request a small group to identify basic problems in the area of dispute settlement.
• IUCN and the International Council of Environmental Law has prepared a draft covenant on environment and development, of which article 52 requires the peaceful settlement of disputes.

C. Progressive development and codification of international law:

• Austria expressed the opinion that norms relating to international environmental and humanitarian law particularly require progressive development.
• Namibia noted that the further codification of refugee law should be a priority.
• The Nordic countries listed the listed the following as areas which should be given attention: protection of the environment during armed conflict; reservations to multilateral treaties; particularly to human rights conventions; humanitarian law; State immunity; resolution of problems involving the deep-seabed mining provisions of the Law of the Sea Convention; and the creation of an international criminal court.
• The International Maritime Organization pointed to the adoption of protocols to various maritime conventions.
• WIPO is involved in the revision and preparation of treaties regarding patent and trademark law harmonization, a protocol to the Berne Convention, and the rights of performers and producers of phonogram.
• The World Bank has prepared a set of non-binding guidelines for the treatment of foreign direct investment.
• AALCC is expecting to make further progress on legal aspects of the privatization of State-owned enterprises, and on model legislation on refugees.
• ICRC encourages efforts regarding the law of armed conflicts at sea, the law relating to weapons that may cause unnecessary suffering, and on protection of the environment during armed conflict. It suggests the establishment of an ad hoc international criminal tribunal as a step towards a permanent court.
• The International Commission of Jurists is working on the elaboration of Arab and Asian Human Rights conventions, and on the establishment of habeas corpus as a non-derogable right.
• The World Federalist Movement calls for the creation of a directly elected U.N. parliament as a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.
• The International Council of Environmental Law has been working on the law concerning the protection of designated natural and cultural heritage sites and urges that rules concerning this field be given high priority in the program of the U.N. Decade.

D. Encouraging teaching, study, and dissemination of international law:

• Austria makes regular contributions to this program. UNITAR noted that 20 fellowships are available under the Hague Fellowship Programme and that 160 applications were received for the program in 1993.

• Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a program of guest lectures at university law schools; conducts a Security Council simulation exercise; supports participation in the Jessup Moot Court competition; provides texts on international law and treaties to developing countries; and suggested introductory courses on international law in secondary schools.
• International law is a constituent part of the law school curricula of the faculties of political science and economics, and of the Austrian diplomatic academy.
• The newly formed university of Namibia will teach international law in its law school curriculum.
• WIPO encourages teaching and research in the law of intellectual property through the organization of seminars, assistance in the creation of curricula content, preparation of teaching material, professional training of law professors. It also facilitates participation of professors and researchers from developing countries in meetings.
• UNESCO is creating a number of UNESCO chairs of international law which would form an integrated network. The goal is to introduce advanced courses in international law, promote cooperation between institutions of higher learning, and provide assistance to developing countries in establishing programs in international law.
• ICRC is attempting to make the media and the general public more aware of humanitarian law.
• The Institute of International Law established a committee to consider the question of the teaching of international law with results to be presented in 1993.

• A wide range of such activities were reported on by Australia, the Nordic countries, ICAO, the Commission of the European Communities, AALCC, ICRC, the International Court of Arbitration, the Andean Tribunal of Justice, ESA, the International Astronautical Federation, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Association for Water Law, and the IUCN.

• Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade requires all graduate entrants to the Department to take a semester-long course in international law and sponsors participation int he course by foreign ministry officials from other countries. Australia has established a scholarship to assist in international law training for government lawyers from Pacific Island countries.
• UNCITRAL has devised an extensive training and assistance program for lawyers, government officials, the trading community and scholars.

• The Australian Yearbook of International Law includes a section on Australian Practice. Likewise, an Austrian Repertory of Practice is published as part of the Austrian Journal of Public and International Law in German and English.
• UNIDO is considering the systematic publication of treaties involving UNIDO.
• ILO, WIPO, and the Commission of the European Communities reported on the various publications relating to their legal practice.

• Many U.N. organs and international organizations reported on their many legally oriented publications, including treaty texts, electronic databases, research studies, seminar presentations, resolutions, and soft law texts.
• Publication of the U.N. Juridical Yearbook has been resumed after interruption caused by the financial crisis. The backlog is expected to be eliminated by the end of 1995. The U.N. is also working to eliminate the backlog in publishing the U.N. Treaty Series.
• The U.N. Legal Office is pursuing computerization of the Treaty Series. If approved by the General Assembly, the contents of the Series will be available through on-line access. An automated super index of the Series has been prepared and will be made available on CD-ROM.
  

E. Procedures and Organizational Aspects of the U.N. Decade:

• Austria suggested that a working group of the Sixth Committee should serve as a "steering body" for the U.N. Decade to develop recommendations and monitor activities related to the Decade.
• The proposal for a U.N. Congress on public international law which has since been approved by the General Assembly was endorsed by Austria, the Nordic countries, International Astronautical Federations, International Institute of Space Law, and the World Federalist Movement.
• Nordic countries stressed that the focus of activities for the Decade should be on the national level.
• None of the responses to the Secretary-General's questionnaire addressed the question of adequate financing for U.N. Decade activities.
  
  

  F. U.N. Activities Relevant to the Progressive Development of International Law and Its Codification.

  This final part of the Secretary-General's report has sections on U.N. activities in various areas of substantive law. They include human rights law, disarmament, outer space, economic development, international trade, drug control, crime prevention and criminal justice, environment, and the law of the sea.
  
  

  In addition, the part reports on current activities of the International Law Commission, the work of the Sixth Committee, and on the Special Committee on the Charter of the U.N. and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization.
  
  

  

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  Copyright 1997 American Society of International Law