United Nations International Law Commission

The International Law Commission was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 for the "promotion of the progressive development of international law and its codification."

It holds an annual session at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Several attempts have been made in the effort to codify international law. 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 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:

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.

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.

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