Chapter III. General review of the legal activities of the United Nations and related intergovernmental organizations

The Executive Committee encouraged both States and UNHCR to actively pursue the strategic and increased use of resettlement, and recalled the need for countries of origin to undertake all possible measures to prevent refugee situations, particularly those that may become protracted Further, the Executive Committee urged States to continue pursuing proactive measures with a view to reducing dependency and promoting self-sufficiency of refugees, and to pursue active and effective partnerships with humanitarian and development partners to implement durable solutions, and the objectives of the Delivering as One initiative

(b) United Nations Economic and Social Council

On 30 July 2009, the United Nations Economic and Social Council adopted decision 2009/252, entitled “Enlargement of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”, in which the Council recommended that the General Assembly, at its sixty-fourth session, decide on the question of enlarging the membership of the Executive Committee from seventy-eight to seventy-nine States

(c) General Assembly

On 18 December 2009, the General Assembly adopted, on the recommendation of the Third Committee, resolution 64/128, entitled “Enlargement of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees” 361 In

this resolution, the Assembly decided to increase the number of members of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from seventy-eight to seventy-nine States, and requested the Economic and Social Council to elect the additional member at its resumed organizational session in 2010

On the same day, the General Assembly adopted, also on the recommendation of the Third Committee, resolution 64/129, entitled “Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa”, in which the Assembly, inter alia, condemned all acts posing a threat to the well-being of refugees and asylum-seekers, as well as those threatening the security of staff in the Office of the High Commissioner and humanitarian organizations The Assembly also called upon the international community to intensify their support for African governments through appropriate capacity-building activities, and recognized that although voluntary repatriation is the pre-eminent solution, local integration and third-country resettlement are also viable options in the context of African refugees unable to return home

361 For other resolutions dealing with refugees, see resolution 64/127, entitled “Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees” adopted on the same date; resolution 64/87, entitled “Assistance to Palestine refugees” adopted on 10 December 2009; resolution 64/89, entitled “Operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East” adopted on 10 December 2009; and resolution 64/90, entitled “Palestine refugees’ properties and their revenues” adopted on

10 December 2009

chapter III 203

  1. international Court of Justice362

    (

    1. Organization of the Court

    On 6 February 2009, Judge Hisashi Owada (Japan) was elected President of the International Court of Justice, and Judge Peter Tomka (Slovakia) was elected Vice-President

    At the end of 2009, the composition of the Court was as follows:

    President: Hisashi Owada (Japan);

    Vice-President: Peter Tomka (Slovakia);

    Judges: Shi Jiuyong (China), Abdul G Koroma (Sierra Leone), Awn Shawkat AlKhasawneh (Jordan), Thomas Buergenthal (United States of America), Bruno Simma (Germany), Ronny Abraham (France), Kenneth Keith (New Zealand), Bernardo Sepúlveda-Amor (Mexico), Mohamed Bennouna (Morocco), Leonid Skotnikov (Russian Federation), Antônio A Cançado Trindade (Brazil), Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (Somalia), and Christopher Greenwood (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

    The Registrar of the Court is Mr Philippe Couvreur; the Deputy-Registrar is Ms Thérèse de Saint Phalle

    The Chamber of Summary Procedure, comprising five judges, including the President and Vice-President, and two substitutes, which is established annually by the Court in accordance with Article 29 of the Statute to ensure the speedy dispatch of business, is composed as follows:

    Members:

    President: Hisashi Owada;

    Vice-President: Peter Tomka;

    Judges: Abdul G Koroma, Thomas Buergenthal and Bruno Simma Substitute members:

    Judges: Bernardo Sepúlveda-Amor and Leonid Skotnikov

    (b) Jurisdiction of the Court363

    On 31 December 2009, 192 States were Parties to the Statute of the Court

    No declarations were made, in 2009, recognizing the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court as contemplated by Article 36, paragraph 2 of the Statute

    Thus, at the end of 2009, the following 66 States had recognized such compulsory jurisdiction: Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia,

    362 For more information about the Court, see the reports of the International Court of Justice to the General Assembly, Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty‑fourth session, Supplement No. 4, (A/64/4) (for the period 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009) and Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty‑ fifth session, Supplement No. 4, (A/65/4) (for the period 1 August 2009 to 31 July 2010) (forthcoming)

    363 For further information regarding the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, see chapter I of Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary‑General, available on the website http://treaties un org/Pages/ParticipationStatus aspx

    Cameroon, Canada, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Japan, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Guinea, Senegal, Slovakia, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Uganda, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Uruguay

    (c) General Assembly

    On 29 October 2009, the General Assembly adopted, without reference to a Main Committee, decision 64/508, in which it took note of the report of the International Court of Justice for the period from 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009 364

    On 2 December 2009, the General Assembly adopted, on the recommendation of the First Committee, resolution 64/55 entitled “Follow-up to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons” The Assembly underlined once again the unanimous conclusion of the International Court of Justice that there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control, and called once again upon all States immediately to fulfil that obligation by commencing multilateral negotiations leading to an early conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention prohibiting the development, production, testing, deployment, stockpiling, transfer, threat or use of nuclear weapons and providing for their elimination The Assembly further requested all States to inform the Secretary-General of the efforts and measures they have taken on the implementation of that resolution and nuclear disarmament, and requests the Secretary-General to apprise the General Assembly of that information at its sixty-fifth session

  2. international Law Commission365

    (

    1. Membership of the Commission

    On 4 May 2009, the Commission elected Mr Shinya Murase (Japan) to fill the casual vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr Chusei Yamada 366

    The membership of the International Law Commission at its sixty-first session consisted of Mr Ali Mohsen Fetais Al-Marri (Qatar), Mr Lucius Caflisch (Switzerland), Mr Enrique Candioti (Argentina), Mr Pedro Comissário Afonso (Mozambique), Mr Christopher John Robert Dugard (South Africa), Ms Paula Escarameia (Portugal), Mr Salifou Fomba (Mali), Mr Giorgio Gaja (Italy), Mr Zdzislaw Galicki (Poland), Mr Hussein A

    364 For the text of the decisions, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty‑fourth session, Supplement No. 4, (A/64/49)

    365 Detailed information and documents relating to the work of the International Law Commission may be found on the Commission’s website at http://www un org/law/ilc/

    366 A/CN 4/613 and Add 1

    chapter III 205

    Hassouna (Egypt), Mr Mahmoud D Hmoud (Jordan), Ms Marie G Jacobsson (Sweden), Mr Maurice Kamto (Cameroon), Mr Fathi Kemicha (Tunisia), Mr Roman Anatolyevitch Kolodkin (Russian Federation), Mr Donald M McRae (Canada), Mr Teodor Viorel Melescanu (Romania), Mr Shinya Murase (Japan), Mr Bernd H Niehaus (Costa Rica), Mr Georg Nolte (Germany) Mr Bayo Ojo (Nigeria), Mr Alain Pellet (France), Mr A Rohan Perera (Sri Lanka), Mr Ernest Petrič (Slovenia), Mr Gilberto Vergne Saboia (Brazil), Mr Narinder Singh (India), Mr Eduardo Valencia-Ospina (Colombia), Mr Edmundo Vargas Carreño (Chile), Mr Stephen C Vasciannie (Jamaica), Mr Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez (Ecuador), Mr Amos S Wako (Kenya), Mr Nugroho Wisnumurti (Indonesia), Mr Michael Wood (United Kingdom) and Ms Hanqin Xue (China)

    (b) Sixty-first session of the International Law Commission

    The International Law Commission held, at its seat at the United Nations Office in Geneva, the first part of its sixty-first session from 4 May to 5 June 2009, and the second part of the session from 6 July to 7 August 2009 367 The Commission considered the topics entitled “Responsibility of international organizations”, “Reservations to treaties”, “Expulsion of aliens”, “Protection of persons in the event of disasters”, “Shared natural resources”, “The obligation to extradite or prosecute (aut dedere aut judicare)”, “The...

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