United Nations Decade of International Law, U.N. Doc. A/RES/50/44 (1995).


Fiftieth session
Agenda item 140

RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The General Assembly,

Recalling
its resolution 44/23 of 17 November 1989, by which it declared the period 1990-1999 the United Nations Decade of International Law,

Recalling also that the main purposes of the Decade, according to resolution 44/23, should be, inter alia:

(a) To promote acceptance of and respect for the principles of international law;

(b) To promote means and methods for the peaceful settlement of disputes between States, including resort to and full respect for the International Court of Justice;

(c) To encourage the progressive development of international law and its codification;

(d) To encourage the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law,

Recalling further its resolution 49/50 of 9 December 1994, to which was annexed the programme for the activities for the third term (1995-1996) of the Decade,

Expressing its appreciation to the Secretary-General for his report A/50/368 and Add.1-3. submitted pursuant to resolution 49/50,

Having considered the above-mentioned report,

Recalling that at the forty-fifth session of the General Assembly the Sixth Committee established the Working Group on the United Nations Decade of International Law with a view to preparing generally acceptable recommendations on the programme of activities for the Decade,

Noting that at the forty-sixth, forty-seventh, forty-eighth, forty-ninth and fiftieth sessions of the General Assembly the Sixth Committee reconvened the Working Group to continue its work in accordance with resolutions 45/40 of 28 November 1990, 46/53 of 9 December 1991, 47/32 of 25 November 1992, 48/30 of 9 December 1993 and 49/50,

Having considered the oral report of the Chairman of the Working Group submitted to the Sixth Committee, See A/C.6/50/SR.45.

1. Expresses its appreciation for the work done on the United Nations Decade of International Law at the current session, and requests the Working Group of the Sixth Committee to continue its work at the fifty- first session in accordance with its mandate and methods of work;

2. Also expresses its appreciation to States and international organizations and institutions that have undertaken activities in implementation of the programme for the activities for the third term (1995-1996) of the Decade, including sponsoring conferences on various subjects of international law;

3. Further expresses its appreciation to the Secretary-General for the successful organization of the United Nations Congress on Public International Law, held from 13 to 17 March 1995, noting with satisfaction that the Congress emphasized the importance of all aspects of international law and focused on the four main purposes of the Decade, as well as on new challenges and expectations for the twenty-first century, and requests the Secretary-General, within existing resources, to make the proceedings widely available;

4. Strongly welcomes the recent advances made by the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs of the Secretariat in its programme of computerization of the Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the SecretaryGeneral and the United Nations Treaty Series and looks forward to the early effective availability of the former on the Internet and the latter on-line to Member States and other users;

5. Invites all States and international organizations and institutions referred to in the programme to provide, update or supplement information on activities they have undertaken in implementation of it, as appropriate, to the Secretary-General, as well as to submit their views on possible activities for the next term of the Decade;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to submit, on the basis of such information as well as of new information on the activities of the United Nations relevant to the progressive development of international law and its codification, a report to the General Assembly at its fifty-first session on the implementation of the programme;

7. Encourages States to disseminate at the national level, as appropriate, information contained in the report of the Secretary-General;

8. Appeals to States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations working in the field of international law and to the private sector to make financial contributions or contributions in kind for the purpose of facilitating the implementation of the programme;

9. Encourages the Office of Legal Affairs to continue in its efforts to bring up to date the publication of the United Nations Treaty Series and the United Nations Juridical Yearbook;

10. Once again requests the Secretary-General to bring to the attention of States and international organizations and institutions working in the field of international law the programme annexed to resolution 49/50;

11. Invites the International Committee of the Red Cross to continue to report on activities undertaken by the Committee and other relevant bodies with regard to the protection of the environment in times of armed conflict, so that the information received may be included in the report to be prepared pursuant to paragraph 6 above;

12. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-first session the item entitled "United Nations Decade of International Law".

87th plenary meeting
11 December 1995 .


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