4 Recent Work of the International Law Commission

Abstract

This chapter examines the International Law Commission's (ILC) recent consideration of the topic of jus cogens. It was not until 2015 that the ILC decided to include the topic in its program of work and appointed South African member Dire Tladi as special rapporteur for the topic. The initial report of Tladi addressed conceptual matters such as the nature and definition of jus cogens norms. At its 69th Session in 2017, the ILC had before it the second report submitted by the Special Rapporteur which aimed to set forth the criteria for the identification of peremptory norms, using the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) as a starting point. Meanwhile, the third report of the Special Rapporteur considered the consequences and legal effects of peremptory norms of general international law. Finally, the fourth report, presented in 2019, dealt with the question of the existence of regional jus cogens and the contentious issue of whether or not to include an illustrative list of jus cogens norms in the conclusions to the study.