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Mr. Chusei Yamada

Mr. Chusei Yamada
Former member
International Law Commission

Biography Biography in PDF

International Watercourses
Codification of the Law on Transboundary Aquifers (Groundwaters) by the
United Nations
Fresh waters, life supporting resources for the mankind, are located mostly underground and often across the boundaries. They are currently heavily exploited causing depletion and pollution crises. This lecture describes how the UN International Law Commission, a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly with the mandate of codification of customary international law, formulated Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers (groundwaters) for the proper management of the transboundary aquifers in order to attain the reasonable and equitable utilization through international cooperation.

Original Lecture in English
Video | Audio
(22/4/2010, 45 minutes)

Lecture with simultaneous interpretation
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International Watercourses
Codification of the Law on Transboundary Aquifers (Groundwaters)
by the United Nations
A. Legal Instruments
Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

Statute of the International Law Commission, General Assembly resolution 174 (II) of 21 November 1947, as amended by resolutions 485 (V) of 12 December 1950, 984 (X) of 3 December 1955, 985 (X) of 3 December 1955 and 36/39 of 18 November 1981.

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Vienna, 18 April 1961, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 500, p. 95.

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 993, p. 3.

Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Vienna, 24 April 1963, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 596, p. 261.

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Vienna, 23 May 1969, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1155, p. 331.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Montego Bay, 10 December 1982, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1833, p.3.

United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property, New York, 2 December 2004.

Convention on the Protection, Utilization, Recharge and Monitoring of Franco-Swiss Genevese Aquifer, Geneva, 18 December 2007.

International Law Commission, Draft articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers, 2008.
B. Documents
General Assembly resolution 1803 (XVII) of 14 December 1962 (Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources).

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

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

Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its Sixtieth session, 5 May-6 June and 7 July-8 August 2008 (A/63/10, reproduced in Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 2008, vol. II, Part Two), in particular paras. 34 to 79.

General Assembly resolution 63/124 of 11 December 2008 (The Law of Transboundary Aquifers).

Provisional agenda of the sixty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly, (A/66/150, 15 July 2011).
C. Doctrine
H. Darcy, Les Fontaines Publiques de la Ville de Dijon, Dalmont, Paris, 1856.