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23 October 2013
Delegations meeting on 21 October at the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly were unable to agree on whether steps should be taken to transform the ILC Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States into a Convention.
Some delegates considered that ‘a convention would create legal certainty’ and that ‘[f]urther codification of the articles would strengthen multilateralism’, but others insisted that ‘it [was] more important to preserve the authority of the articles in practice than to codify them in a convention that may not achieve universality’ and that ‘opening them up to negotiation might upset the delicate consensus that currently existed’.
In any case, ‘virtually all delegates agreed that the draft articles were a key contribution to the development of international law and being broadly used as reference by international and national tribunals and Governments’.
Source: United Nations General Assembly | GA/L/3463 | Sixty-eighth General Assembly | Sixth Committee | 15th Meeting (AM) | Noting Key Role in International Law, Sixth Committee Delegates Disagree over ‘Fate’ of Drafts on State Responsibility, Diplomatic Protection | 21 October 2013
23 October 2013
According to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, the United Nations has asked Norway to eliminate Syrian chemical weapons. According to news reports this follows up on an earlier request made by Russia and the United States.
The Jerusalem Post had a story on this 20 days ago, see here.
Source: The Washington Post | Norway mulls taking and destroying the bulk of Syria’s chemical arsenal
22 October 2013
From 27 – 29 March 2014, the Åbo Akademi Institute for Human Rights will host the GLOTHRO Final Conference ‘Beyond State Obligations in International Human Rights Law – Towards Common Principles on the Obligations of Multiple Global Actors’.
Since its establishment in 2010, the RNP GLOTHRO (Beyond Territoriality: Globalisation and Transnational Human Rights Obligations) has sought to widen the circle of human rights duty-bearers beyond the territorial state, by bringing together the separate fields of study respectively on the human rights obligations of transnational corporations, international organisations and non-territorial states while also involving other disciplines in order to identify common principles determining the human rights obligations of the respective actors within an overall human rights obligations framework.
The conference is the concluding science meeting of the Research Networking Programme and will provide a critical overview of its findings while also indicating any remaining research gaps and future research opportunities. More information can be found on www.glothro.org.
Source: GLOTHRO | Globalisation and Transnational Human Rights Obligations
21 October 2013
On the occasion of the European Anti-Trafficking Day, the importance of partnerships was called the ‘backbone’ of global efforts to tackle the scourge of human trafficking by the human rights experts from the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe. It was emphasised that ‘Cooperation between origin, transit and destination countries, but also with regional and international mechanisms, as well as private stakeholders such as multi-national corporations and civil society organizations, is essential for comprehensive responses to trafficking in persons.’
Source: OHCHR | Victims of trafficking: “Human beings with human rights that must be protected” European Anti-Trafficking Day, Friday 18 October 2013
21 October 2013
The United States has embarked on a new strategy to train and advise indigenous forces to tackle emerging terrorist threats and other security risks. The New York Times reports that US troops will conduct more than 100 missions in Africa over the next year, ranging from small sniper teams to larger teams conducting airborne and humanitarian exercises.
The programme for Africa is the test case for the new programme of regionally aligned brigades that will eventually extend to all of the US commands worldwide, including in Europe and Latin America in 2015. General Ray Odierno, the army chief of staff, said in an interview that the goal was to field an army that could be ‘engaged regionally in all the combatant commands to help them shape their theaters, set their theaters, in order to sustain and execute our national security strategy.’
Source: The New York Times | U.S. Army Hones Antiterror Strategy for Africa, in Kansas