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Decolonisation as the Source of the Concepts of Jus Cogens and Obligations Erga Omnes

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Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law 2016

Part of the book series: Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law ((EtYIL,volume 2016))

Abstract

The scholarly consensus is that jus cogens emerged from the work of the UN International Law Commission on invalidation of treaties, and the International Court of Justice developed the concept of obligations erga omnes in its wake.

This study challenges that perspective by demonstrating that these concepts were developed to accommodate Newly Independent States during the decolonisation process. It takes issue with the recognised starting point of the development of jus cogens in the literature: the deeply problematic piece written by Verdross; and demonstrates that leading jurists of the 1960s recognised that jus cogens was “a political concession to the New States” rather than a technical imperative of the law of treaties.

The study considered the evolution of the litigation regarding Namibia before the International Court of Justice, demonstrating the communal interest which Ethiopia and Liberia sought to engage, so as to end the racist regime which South Africa instituted within its Mandate for South West Africa. The ultimate outcome, manifest in the dicta of the Barcelona Traction case, was to escape that specific litigation and transform the very fabric of international law, embedding a communal interest beyond the bilateralism of jus publicum Europeaum.

The author invites scholars to look anew to the sources of this communitarian interest and points to the writing of Judge Alejandro Alvarez as one possible staring point.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Schwarzenberger (1955), p. 220.

  2. 2.

    For consideration of the Nyerere Doctrine, see Yusuf (2014), pp. 116–118 and 132–139; and for the New International Economic Order, see Rajagopal (2003), pp. 73–94.

  3. 3.

    Preamble, The Mandate for South West Africa, as reproduced in Dugard (1973), p. 72.

  4. 4.

    Dugard (1973), pp. 89–90.

  5. 5.

    UNGA (1946) Resolution.

  6. 6.

    Dugard (1973), pp. 119–120.

  7. 7.

    UNGA (1949) Resolution.

  8. 8.

    ICJ, International Status of South-West Africa, Advisory Opinion, (1950), ICJ Rep 143 and 144.

  9. 9.

    Id., 175 and 176. Emphasis added.

  10. 10.

    See ICJ, Voting Procedure on Questions relating to Reports and Petitions concerning the Territory of South-West Africa, Advisory Opinion, (1955); and ICJ, Admissibility of Hearing of Petitions by the Committee on South-West Africa, Advisory Opinion (Dissenting Opinion), (1956).

  11. 11.

    UNGA (1958b), pp. 28–29.

  12. 12.

    The General Assembly also established a Good Offices Committee on South West Africa, which failed in its mission. See Article 80, United Nations, Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs, 2016, paras. 83 and 93; and UNGA (1958a) Resolution.

  13. 13.

    UNGA (1957) Resolution.

  14. 14.

    Id.

  15. 15.

    Id., pp. 5 and 6.

  16. 16.

    Speeches at the Plenary Sessions, Conference of Independent African States in Addis Ababa, June 14–24, 1960, Pankhurst (1960), pp. 295 and 305.

  17. 17.

    Resolution on the Question of South-West Africa, Resolutions of the Plenary Session of the Second Conference of Independent African States, held in Addis Ababa, adopted on June 24, 1960, as found in Sylvia Pankhurst (1960), p. 315.

  18. 18.

    UNGA I (1960), p. 3.

  19. 19.

    UNGA II (1960), para. 27.

  20. 20.

    UN (1961), p. 456.

  21. 21.

    UN (1962), p. 443.

  22. 22.

    ICJ, South West Africa (Liberia v South Africa), Application Instituting Proceedings by the Government of Liberia, (1960) ICJ Rep 26.

  23. 23.

    Id., p. 18.

  24. 24.

    Id., p. 4.

  25. 25.

    Id., pp. 6–12.

  26. 26.

    Abi-Saab (1996), p. 5.

  27. 27.

    ICJ, South West Africa (Ethiopia v South Africa), Judgment, (1962) ICJ Rep 11-12.

  28. 28.

    ICJ, South West Africa (Ethiopia v South Africa), Judgment, (1966) ICJ Rep 49.

  29. 29.

    ICJ, South West Africa (Ethiopia v South Africa), Judgment, (1962), ICJ Rep 134.

  30. 30.

    Id., p. 138.

  31. 31.

    ICJ, South West Africa (Ethiopia v South Africa), Judgment, (1962), ICJ Rep 256.

  32. 32.

    Kattan (2015), p. 346.

  33. 33.

    Id., p. 345.

  34. 34.

    ICJ, South West Africa (Ethiopia v South Africa), Judgment, (1966) ICJ Rep 18.

  35. 35.

    Id., p. 20.

  36. 36.

    Id., p. 45.

  37. 37.

    Id., p. 49.

  38. 38.

    Id., p. 325.

  39. 39.

    Id., p. 251.

  40. 40.

    Id., pp. 468-467.

  41. 41.

    Anand (1969), pp. 144–145. Recently James Crawford has written that “the fallout from the judgement was severe and deserved”. See Crawford (2013), p. 536.

  42. 42.

    UNGA (1966).

  43. 43.

    Jarirtundu Kozonguizi, former President of the South West African National Union as quoted in Dugard (1973), p. 377.

  44. 44.

    UNSC (1970).

  45. 45.

    ICJ, Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, (1971) ICJ Rep 58.

  46. 46.

    UN (1998), p. 183; and, more generally, Pellet (1998), pp. 583–612.

  47. 47.

    See Daudet (2000), p. 114.

  48. 48.

    See Abi-Saab (1963), p. 10; where he states: “codification can serve as a means of consolidating customary international law. The participation of the new states in such an endeavour would reduce psychologically their distrust of customary international law, and would give them a part in the elaboration of its written version”.

  49. 49.

    See, for instance, Tomuschat (2015), p. 14.

  50. 50.

    Verdross (1937), p. 571.

  51. 51.

    Id., p. 572.

  52. 52.

    See Anghie (2007), pp. 84–87; and more generally, Gong (1984).

  53. 53.

    Verdross (1937), p. 572.

  54. 54.

    Id., p. 573.

  55. 55.

    Id., p. 574. Emphasis in the original.

  56. 56.

    During 1950s and 1960s, with momentum of the decolonisation process only starting to gain pace, it was impossible for jurists from Africa or within other colonial settings to impact on the technical evolution of jus cogens within the International Law Commission. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that there was little to no literature emerging from colonial states on the issue of jus cogens before independence.

    In a geography survey of writings on jus cogens in 1974, it was noted that: “the opinions on the subject prevailing in Africa, Asia, and Latin America cannot be ascertained with much precision. By the time the ILC began the discussion on jus cogens there was virtually no literature from these continents, touching specifically upon the subject. As for more recent literature (after 1965), this author is aware of about a dozen publications by authors from Africa, Asia and Latin America, which are directly relevant to the subject. Insofar as this material allows for generalization, one may note a strong support for the concept of jus cogens after its having been introduced by the ILC”. Sztucki (1974), p. 93. Emphasis in the original.

  57. 57.

    Villiger (2009), p. 667.

  58. 58.

    UN (1969), p. 95. The concerns of Western States were address through the compromised provisions of Article 66(a) which created compulsory jurisdiction in regard to disputes arising from the possible invalidation of a treaty as a result of jus cogens.

  59. 59.

    Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1965), p. 17.

  60. 60.

    Id., p. 22.

  61. 61.

    Abi-Saab (1967), p. 14.

  62. 62.

    Suy (1967), p. 17.

  63. 63.

    Members or former Members of the International Law Commission in attendance at the 1965 and/or 1967 Carnegie Conferences were Ionasco, Ruda, Tunkin and Ustor.

  64. 64.

    Suy (1967), p. 59.

  65. 65.

    Id., p. 59. See also mention within the “Summary Record of the Discussion on the Concept of Jus Cogens in Public International Law”, id., at p. 107 (Amerasinghe).

  66. 66.

    Suy (1967), p. 18.

  67. 67.

    Crawford (2006), 2007, pp. 410–411.

  68. 68.

    Id., p. 410.

  69. 69.

    ICJ, Case concerning the Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited, Judgement, (1970).

  70. 70.

    See generally Onuma (2010).

  71. 71.

    ILC (2001), pp. 111–112.

  72. 72.

    Id., p. 111.

  73. 73.

    Id., p. 127.

  74. 74.

    See generally Articles 40 and 41 of the 2001 Articles on State Responsibility.

  75. 75.

    Crawford (2011), p. 240.

  76. 76.

    Article 1(a), Obligations and Rights Erga Omnes in International Law, Institute of International Law, 2005.

  77. 77.

    On Latin American emancipation see Alejandro Alvarez, Le Droit International Américain, 1910, pp. 23–36.

  78. 78.

    Alvarez (1959), pp. 11–33.

  79. 79.

    Id., p. 605. Emphasis in the original.

  80. 80.

    ICJ, Conditions of Admission of a State to Membership in the United Nations (Article 4 of the Charter), Advisory Opinion, (1948), ICJ Rep 68. Emphasis added.

  81. 81.

    ICJ, Judge Alvarez, International Status of South West Africa, Advisory Opinion, (1950) ICJ Rep 177. Emphasis added.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Jean Allain

  2. Faculty of Law, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Jean Allain

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  1. Jean Allain
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Correspondence to Jean Allain .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom

    Zeray Yihdego

  2. Faculty of Business, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom

    Melaku Geboye Desta

  3. College of Law and Governance Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Fikremarkos Merso

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Allain, J. (2017). Decolonisation as the Source of the Concepts of Jus Cogens and Obligations Erga Omnes . In: Yihdego, Z., Desta, M., Merso, F. (eds) Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law 2016. Ethiopian Yearbook of International Law, vol 2016. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55898-1_3

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