The Work of the International Law Commission on Identification of Customary International Law: A View from the Perspective of the Office of Legal Affairs

Abstract

1. The Asian-African membership of your Organization, its mandate – as well as its dynamism and remarkable contribution in the legal sphere – make it a precious and reliable partner of the United Nations in addressing contemporary challenges in international law. 2. The seeds of the cooperation between the United Nations and AALCO were sown as far back as the ninth session of the International Law Commission in 1957, within a year of AALCO's establishment. Considerable time is devoted by AALCO representatives, during the annual sessions of your Organization, to studying many topics, among which those under the consideration of the Commission. Indeed, the Commission has benefited in its work from AALCO and its member States’ contributions. Furthermore, the granting, in 1980, of observer status to AALCO, for it to participate in the sessions and in the work of the United Nations General Assembly, was both a fruitful culmination of cooperation spanning many years and a reaffirmation of its renewal.