The United Nations Legal Counsel, Miguel de Serpa Soares, delivered a keynote address at the Colloquium “Formes du droit international: réflexions sur le devenir des travaux de la Commission du droit international des Nations Unies”, held in Paris on 22 June 2015.

On 22 June 2015, the United Nations Legal Counsel, Miguel de Serpa Soares, participated in the colloquium “Formes du droit international: réflexions sur le devenir des travaux de la Commission du droit international des Nations Unies”. The colloquium was held in Paris and was organized by the University Paris 8 with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development of France. The colloquium, which gathered several renowned international law scholars, including present and past members of the International Law Commission, was an opportunity for a reflexion on the work of the Commission.

The Legal Counsel delivered a keynote address on the topic “The formation of international law from the United Nations perspective”. Mr. Serpa Soares spoke about the contribution of the United Nations to the formation of international law, including in what regards the multilateral treaty-making process, the formation of customary international law, and the work of the International Law Commission – a United Nations subsidiary organ – and of the Codification Division – a department of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs. In his presentation, Mr. Serpa Soares underlined the importance of the contribution of the United Nations to the formation of the international law for the past seventy years as well as emphasised the continuing role that the International Law Commission plays in the formation of international law, concluding that, in his own words, “the fundamental role of the Commission has not changed and that the humankind needs – no less than before – the shelter that international law is capable of providing”.

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