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Slovenia at International Law Week in New York

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs
On 7 November 2019, the Slovenian delegation concluded their participation in the International Law Week as part of the UN General Assembly Sixth Committee session in New York. Members of the delegation took part in discussions on topical international law issues and expressed staunch support for the International Criminal Court.

Ambassador Borut Mahnič, Head of the International Law Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In dialogue with the UN International Law Commission, the Slovenian representatives participated in the process of drafting new guidelines and rules in international law. The Slovenian delegation stressed the importance of the development of and respect for international law, including decisions of international courts and tribunals, which remains the fundamental framework of international relations determining the rights and obligations between entities governed by international law.

Many topics were raised during the session, including crimes against humanity, peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens), immunity of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, environment protection in armed conflict, sea-level rise in relation to international law, state succession in the context of internationally wrongful acts and provisional application of treaties. In the focus of the traditional dialogue of legal advisers were the use of veto with regard to war crimes and crimes against humanity, use of force in international law and the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. A dialogue was also held with the President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, who raised the issue of non-written sources of international law in the Court’s case law.

The UN General Assembly discussed the reports of the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the International Criminal Court, respectively. Slovenia expressed strong support for the work of the International Criminal Court and outlined the Court’s achievements in the past year as well as the challenges it faces.

On the margins of the International Law Week, Slovenia co-organised a side event on the MLA Initiative, i.e. the initiative for a new treaty on mutual legal assistance and extradition in the case of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Slovenia and the other countries that launched the initiative – Argentina, Belgium, Mongolia, the Netherlands and Senegal – announced a diplomatic negotiation conference to be held in Slovenia in June 2020.  

More on the MLA Initiative.