The International Law Commission (ILC) is a body of experts responsible for helping develop and codify international law. It is composed of 34 individuals recognized for their expertise and qualifications in international law, who are elected by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) every five years.
The ideological roots of the ILC originated as early as the 19th century when the Congress of Vienna in Europe developed several international rules and principles to regulate conduct among its members. Following several attempts to develop and rationalize international law in the early 20th century, the ILC was formed in 1947 by the UNGA pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, which calls on the Assembly to help develop and systematize international law. The Commission held its first session in 1949, with its initial work influenced by the Second World War and subsequent concerns about international crimes such as genocide and acts of aggression.
The ILC has since held annual sessions at the U.N. Office at Geneva to discuss and debate various topics in international law and develop international legal principles accordingly. It is responsible for several foundational developments in international law, including the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which establishes a framework for forming and interpreting treaties, and the International Criminal Court, the first permanent tribunal tasked with adjudicating offenses such as genocide and crimes against humanity.
Origin Several attempts were made throughout history to codify international law, in particular the rules and principles of customary international law (a universal unwritten law that nonetheless binds sovereign states). The work that led to the International Law Commission was begun in the Resolution of the Assembly of the League of Nations of 22 September 1924, which established the Committee of Experts for the Progressive Codification of International Law, consisting of 17 members, for the purpose of making recommendations as to which issues required to be addressed in international law and the steps desirable to that end. The Committee's work led to the League of Nations Codification Conference 1930, which dealt mainly with the issues of nationality laws, territorial waters and state responsibility for damage caused to foreign nationals.
Many concepts of the 1930 conference were adopted in the Charter of the United Nations, which established the successor organization to the League. Article 13, Paragraph 1 therein states: 1. The General Assembly shall initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of: a. ... encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification. Pursuant to this provision, on December 11, 1946, the General Assembly passed Resolution 94, which called to establish a committee of legal experts to make recommendations to the UN Secretary-General on the ways the General Assembly could encourage the progressive development of international law and its codification. The committee of experts consisted of 17 members and convened from May 12 to June 17, 1947. It recommended to establish a permanent UN commission to promote these objectives.
On November 21, 1947, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 174, which provided for the creation of an "International Law Commission" in order to fulfill the obligations of the Charter. To the resolution was attached the statute of the Commission, which defined its purposes as: Promoting the codification of international law. Solving problems within both public and private international law. Working procedures for the Commission were elaborated in articles 16-26.
Under the leadership of Sir Michael Wood, the ILC undertook an authoritative effort to codify customary international law. The ILC produced the Conclusions on Identification of Customary International Law (ILC Conclusions), which seeks to clarify the process by which to identify customary international law.
Working procedures of the ILC The work of the Commission is regulated by its statute, which was initially approved by the General Assembly on November 21, 1947, and amended on December 12, 1950, December 3, 1955, and November 18, 1981.
It consists of 34 members (originally 15) who all must be experts on international law, elected to the position by the General Assembly from a list of candidates nominated by governments of member states in the UN. Members act as individuals and not as officials representing their respective states.
One venue of action for the commission in the codification of principles of international law is when requested to do so by the General Assembly. In that case, the commission appoints one of its members as Special Rapporteur on that subject and prepares a plan of work regarding the issue in question. Governments are requested to submit to the commission their written opinions on the issue in question, as specified in the plan of work. The rapporteur then writes a report of his or her recommendations on the subject under discussion and the report must be approved by the rest of the commission as well as by the UN Secretary-General before it becomes an official commission document. The commission then reconsiders the report after receiving additional written opinions from governments, and the report is submitted to the General Assembly for approval.
Another venue of action is when the commission is requested either by a government, an inter-governmental organization or a UN agency to draft proposals for international conventions on various issues. In that case, the commission formulates a plan of work and receives written opinions from governments on the issue in question. The final draft is also submitted to the General Assembly.
The commission also works independently of external requests by its regular work of considering questions of international law. Also in these cases, all recommendations for actions are submitted to the General Assembly for final approval. The commission's independent deliberations usually take place in its annual sessions.
Membership The members of the Commission for the 2023–2027 term are:
Name Nationality TermDapo Akande Carlos J. Argüello Gómez 2023–2027Masahiko Asada 2023–2027Bogdan Aurescu 2023–2027Yacouba Cissé 2023–2027Ahmed Amin Fathalla 2023–2027Rolf Einar Fife 2023–2027Mathias Forteau 2023–2027George Rodrigo Bandeira Galindo 2023–2027Patrícia Galvão Teles 2023–2027Claudio Grossman Guiloff 2023–2027Huikang Huang 2023–2027Charles C. Jalloh 2023–2027Ahmed Laraba 2023–2027Keun-Gwan Lee 2023–2027Vilawan Mangklatanakul 2023–2027Andreas D. Mavroyiannis 2023–2027Ivon Mingashang 2023–2027Giuseppe Nesi 2023–2027Hong Thao Nguyen 2023–2027Phoebe Okowa 2023–2027Nilüfer Oral 2023–2027Hassan Ouazzani Chahdi 2023–2027Mario Oyarzábal 2023–2027Mārtiņš Paparinskis 2023–2027Bimal N. Patel 2023–2027August Reinisch 2023–2027Penelope Ridings 2023–2027Juan José Ruda Santolaria 2023–2027Alioune Sall 2023–2027Louis Savadogo 2023–2027Munkh-Orgil Tsend 2023–2027Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez 2023–2027Evgeny Zagaynov 2023–2027
Annual sessions of the commission The commission's main function since its establishment has been its annual sessions, starting from 1949. At first, the proceedings of these sessions were kept in a mimeographed form and were not available to the public, but on December 3, 1955, the General Assembly passed resolution 987, which required the publication of a summary of the proceedings of these meetings in a special yearbook designated for this purpose, and this in order to make the information available to both public and governments. For the 1st session, proceedings have been published in one volume, but starting from the 2nd session, proceedings have been published in two volumes – the first containing a summary of the deliberations and the second containing documents adopted at that session.
At the beginning of each session, the commission elects one of its members to serve as its chairman until the next session.
1940s sessions 1st session, 1949 The 1st session was held in Lake Success, New York from April 12 to June 9, 1949. The agenda for the first session was prepared by the General Assembly throughout 1947–1948. In resolution 177 (November 21, 1947), the Assembly charged the commission with formulating principles based on the judgement of the Nuremberg Tribunal and drafting a new code of offences against the peace of mankind. Resolution 178 (of the same day) charged the commission with preparing a document on the rights and duties of states in international law. Resolution 260 (December 9, 1948) instructed the commission to consider the establishment of a criminal chamber within the International Court of Justice, for prosecuting political leaders guilty of crimes against international law.
The election of the 15 commission members by the General Assembly took place on November 3, 1948.
The first session of the commission was held in Lake Success, New York, United States, from April 12 to June 9, 1949. The agenda for the session consisted of six items: Making a general survey of topics of international law that require codification into treaties and conventions. The rights and duties of states. The Nuremberg Principles and the definition of crimes against the peace of mankind. Possibility of establishing a judicial body to prosecute leaders guilty of genocide. Finding ways to make the rules and documents of international law more available to the public and scholars. Cooperation by the ILC with other UN agencies.
At the very first meeting, US commission member Manley O. Hudson was elected chairman of the commission for the duration of that session, while the Soviet member Vladimir Koretsky was elected first vice-chairman and Indian member Benegal Rau was elected second vice-chairman.
During that session, disagreement arose between the members as to whether the commission was entitled to include a topic on its agenda without prior consent of the General Assembly. On this issue, the commission decided that it was competent to do so, by a vote of 10 to 3.Yearbook of the ILC, 1949, p. 32
Regarding the range of issues to be included in the agenda for the codification of international law, the commission decided to start working on a limited number of subjects at first. For that reason, it was decided to exclude at the time the issue of laws of war from the commission's discussions. The highest priority was given to the topics of law of treaties, arbitration, and regime of the sea, and rapporteurs were elected accordingly.
Another topic under discussion was the declaration of the rights and duties of states. It was decided to exclude the issue of right of asylum from the proposed draft, and to discuss the matter further at the 2nd session.
Other issues postponed until the 2nd session were: The formulation of the Nuremberg Principles and the list of offences against the peace of mankind. The issue of universal criminal jurisdiction. Making texts of international law more available. Cooperation with governments and UN agencies.
The commission approved a Draft Declaration on the Rights and Duties of States, which was the main legal document adopted at that session."Draft Declaration on Rights and Duties of States", 1949. International Law Commission. A large portion of the work on this issue was done by the Panamanian representative Ricardo Joaquín Alfaro Jované. The draft declaration was referred to the General Assembly for further deliberations, but in its resolution 596 of December 7, 1951, the Assembly decided to postpone any further discussions on the document.
The commission also decided about the time and place of the 2nd session to be held. It was decided to hold it in Geneva, starting from May 1950, for a maximum period of 10 weeks.
1950s sessions 2nd session, 1950