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The draft articles on the law of international watercourses adopted by the International Law Commission: an overview and some remarks on selected issues
Author(s) -
Arcari Maurizio
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
natural resources forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1477-8947
pISSN - 0165-0203
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-8947.1997.tb00690.x
Subject(s) - law , commission , international law , general assembly , political science , convention , united nations convention on the law of the sea , work (physics) , law of the sea , international waters , public international law , aviation law , engineering , mechanical engineering
In 1994, after more than twenty years of work, the International Law Commission of the United Nations adopted a set of thirty‐three draft articles on the Law of the Non‐Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. In the same year, the draft articles were submitted to the General Assembly with a view to the adoption of an international convention. The present paper analyzes and comments upon some of the major issues dealt with in the draft articles, devoting special attention to the substantive legal principles governing the utilization of international rivers and the protection of related ecosystems. Various questions still remain open for consideration by the Working Group convened by the General Assembly in 1996–1997 for the elaboration of a definitive convention. In spite of this, the draft articles adopted by the International Law Commission stand as an important achievement in the effort at codification of the law of international water resources. The present article was written within the framework of the research project “Technical aspects of the international law of the sea” which is being carried out at the Faculty of Law, University of Milan, Italy.