Sixth Committee (Legal) — 80th session
Responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts (Provisional agenda item 78)
- Authority: resolution 77/97
Documentation
- A/80/76 — Procedural options regarding action taken on products of the International Law Commission: Note by the Secretariat
Summary of work
Background (source: A/80/100)
At its fifty-sixth session, the General Assembly, under the item entitled “Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-third session”, considered chapter IV of the report of the Commission, which contained the draft articles on responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts, together with a recommendation that the Assembly take note of the draft articles and that it consider, at a later stage, the possibility of convening an international conference of plenipotentiaries to examine the draft articles with a view to concluding a convention on the topic. At the same session, the Assembly decided to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-ninth session an item entitled “Responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts” (resolution 56/83).
At its seventy-seventh session, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to invite Governments to submit further written comments on any future action regarding the articles and to provide the Assembly, at its eightieth session, with a report on all procedural options based on precedents regarding actions taken on other products of the International Law Commission, without prejudice to the question of whether such possible action was appropriate, and took note of the discussions on procedural precedents for such action, including all views, comments and concerns expressed thereon. The Assembly also requested the Secretary-General to update once again the compilation of decisions of international courts, tribunals and other bodies referring to the articles and to invite Governments to submit information on their practice in that regard, and also requested the Secretary-General to submit that material well in advance of its eightieth session. The Assembly further requested the Secretary-General to update the technical report listing, in a tabular format, the references to the articles contained in the compilation of decisions of international courts, tribunals and other bodies referring to the articles prepared since 2001, and further requested the Secretary-General to submit such material during its eightieth session. The Assembly decided to include in the provisional agenda of its eightieth session the item entitled “Responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts” and to further examine, within the framework of a working group of the Sixth Committee and with a view to taking a decision, the question of a convention on responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts or other appropriate action on the basis of the articles (resolution 77/97).
