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of the parties, it is doubtful that it can still be sustained in view of a host of UN General Assembly resolutions, adopted since 2000, calling for fish stocks to be restored or maintained at levels of MSY ‘as determined by their biological characteristics’, without mention of possible qualification by environmental or economic factors. 61 Although the parties to UNCLOS and members of the General
( opinio juris sive necessitates )’); United Nations General Assembly Resolution 203 (73rd Sess) (11 January 2019) ‘Identification of customary international law’ A/RES/73/203 and Annex ‘Identification of customary international law’, Conclusion 2 (‘[t]o determine the existence and content of a rule of customary international law, it is necessary to ascertain whether there is a general practice that is accepted as law ( opinio juris )’). Even the nuanced approach that the International Law Association adopts speaks of the two elements: see International Law Association
use of relevant resolutions by States and other international actors. It follows that any inquiry into the evidentiary value of General Assembly resolutions as either general practice or opinio juris should be complemented by an empirical study of the systemic character groups of resolutions have acquired over time. The following section presents an original database of General Assembly practice with a view to assessing the relevant findings in the light of the methodology devised by the International Law Commission to detect the presence of custom. 3 Case study
: ‘Report of the Expert of the Secretary-General, Ms Graça Machel, submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 48/175’, UN Docs A/51/306 and A/51/306/Add.1. 2 Ibid ., at para. 58. 3 See Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
the Use of Force Professor Brownlie relied on Article 2(4) and the General Assembly Resolutions on Friendly Relations 32 and Aggression 33 which reaffirm the principle of non-intervention in order to dismiss the argument that the Kosovo operation was humanitarian intervention which, otherwise, ‘would require consistent and substantial evidence’. 34 Similarly, in the Nicaragua case, the ICJ
-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel of February 8, 2016, for comments and information relating to the draft articles on the responsibility of international organizations pursuant to UN General Assembly resolution 69/126 (2014)’, available online at http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law-oxio/e204.013.1/law-oxio-e204-regGroup-1-law-oxio-e204-source.pdf . See also the reference, in Chapter 12 in the present volume, to legal opinions published by secretariats of international organizations; as another example, Veber points in Chapter 13 to
personnel against national liberation movements. It should be borne in mind that General Assembly resolutions lack binding legal force and amount only to recommendations, while the resolutions of the Security Council are obligatory only if they are framed as decisions under Chapter VII of the Charter relating to action with respect to threats to the peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression. Even
of the Almaty Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted in 2003. 51 The Declaration repeats the affirmation of the rights of landlocked and transit States as set out in the UN General Assembly Resolutions referred to above. It encourages those States to strengthen their collaborative efforts to address transit transport issues, and calls on other States to assist them. The objectives of the Programme of Action are to
in demobilisation programmes. Reintegration programmes should re-establish contact between child soldiers and their families and communities. Education, especially the completion of primary schooling, should be a priority, with vocational training and preparation for employment being provided for older children. 35 General Assembly resolution 51/77, in addition to welcoming the publication of the Machel report
); SR Ratner , ‘ The Cambodia Settlements Agreements ’, American Journal of International Law 87 , 10 , 12 – 25 ( 1993 ). 65 See Australian Refugee Review Tribunal, Case No N95/08421 , Decision and Reasons for Decision, [1997] RRTA 729 (4 Mar 1997) (appearing to view UNTAC as the government of Cambodia for purposes of a refugee status determination). 66 The United Nations revoked the South African mandate over Namibia in 1966, see United Nations General Assembly Resolutions 2145 (XXI) (27 October 1966); 2248 (19 May 1967); 2372 (12 June 1968