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60th Meeting of Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs
On 24 and 25 March 2021, a delegation of the Republic of Slovenia and Acting Director-General for International Law and Protection of Interests Marko Rakovec participated in the 60th meeting of the Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI) of the Council of Europe.

CAHDI is a unique and inclusive forum for the exchange of experience and good practices on topical issues in public international law, bringing together the Council of Europe member states as well as observer states, such as the US, Australia, Belarus, Israel, and New Zealand. The 60th meeting touched on major international law topics, such as the immunity of states and international organisations, peaceful settlement of disputes, functioning of the Council of Europe, functions of the Office of the Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, functioning of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and important cases before the ECHR involving issues of public international law, reservations concerning international treaties, and current issues of international criminal law and international humanitarian law. 

Next on the agenda was a discussion with leading representatives of various international tribunals and courts, such as President of ECHR Robert Spano, President of the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration Emmanuel Decaux, and Registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Peter Lewis.

During the discussion, the Ministry's Chief Legal Adviser, Acting Director-General Marko Rakovec outlined Slovenia's views on the ECHR decision in the inter-state dispute between Slovenia and Croatia and on the issue of reservations to international treaties excluding individual states from territorial application of multilateral conventions. Mr Rakovec voiced support for the activities of the ICC and advocated for the implementation of the recommendations of the ICC independent expert review.

On the margins of the CAHDI meeting, an expert seminar on non-binding international legal instruments was held on 26 March 2021.