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Prof. Stephen C. McCaffrey

Mr. Stephen C. McCaffrey
Distinguished Professor and Scholar
University of the Pacific
McGeorge School of Law

Biography Biography in PDF
International Watercourses
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses
This lecture covers the 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.   It first provides an overview of the background and content of the Convention, then examines the Convention’s influence.

Original Lecture in English
Video | Audio
(30/6/2008, 28 minutes)

Lecture with simultaneous interpretation
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Recording facilities courtesy of the
University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law
International Watercourses
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses
Outline of Lecture PDF document (11.5 KB)
A. Jurisprudence
International Court of Justice, Gabčikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1997, p. 7.
B. Documents
General Assembly resolution 1401 (XIV) of 21 November 1959 (Preliminary Studies on the Legal Problems relating to the Utilization and Use of International Rivers).

General Assembly resolution 2669 (XXV) of 8 December 1970 (Progressive Development and Codification of the Rules of International Law relating to International Watercourses).

International Law Commission, Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (reproduced in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1994, vol. 2, Part II, p. 89).

International Law Commission, Resolution on Confined Transboundary Groundwater (reproduced in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 1994, vol. 2, Part II, p. 135).

Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin, Chiang Rai, 5 April 1995.

General Assembly resolution 51/29 of 21 May 1997 (Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses).

Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), Windhoek, 7 August 2000.

Charter of Water of the Senegal River, Mali/Mauritania/Senegal, 28 May 2002.

United Nations Economic and Social Council, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 15 (2002): The Right to Water, Geneva, 11-29 November 2002, E/C.12/2002/11.
C. Additional References
United Nations Legislative Series, Legislative Texts and Treaty Provisions concerning the Utilization of International Rivers for other Purposes than Navigation, United Nations, New York, 1963, Sales No. 63, vol. 4.

International Law Association, Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers, Helsinki, 20 August 1966.
D. Doctrine
S.C. McCaffrey, “The International Law Commission Adopts Draft Articles on International Watercourses”, American Journal of International Law, vol. 89, 1995, p. 395.

S.C. McCaffrey, The Law of International Watercourses, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007.

S.C. McCaffrey and M. Sinjela, “The 1997 United Nations Convention on International Watercourses”, American Journal of International Law, vol. 92, 1998, p. 97.