Origin
Several attempts have been made in the effort to codify international law. The work which 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 of 1930, which dealt mainly with the issues of nationality laws, territorial waters and state responsibility to damage caused to foreign nationals.
The United Nations adopted many concepts of the League's resolution in Article 13, Paragraph 1 of the Charter of the United Nations, which stated:
"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."
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 being:
- 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.
The Commission consists of 34 members elected by the General Assembly. Members act as individuals and not as officials representing their respective states.
Read more about this topic: International Law Commission
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