COMMITTEE OF LEGAL ADVISERS ON PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW
(CAHDI)

26th meeting, Strasbourg, 18-19 September 2003

List of items discussed and decisions taken

1. The Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI) held its 26th meeting in Strasbourg, 18-19 September 2003. The meeting was chaired by Ambassador Michel (Switzerland), Chairman of the CAHDI. The list of participants can be consulted in the meeting report (doc. CAHDI (2003) 14 prov) and the agenda appears in Appendix I.

2. The CAHDI was informed by the Head of the Public Law Department about recent developments concerning the Council of Europe.

3. In accordance with the request by the Committee of Ministers, the CAHDI adopted a preliminary opinion on Recommendation 1602 (2003) on Immunities of members of the Parliamentary Assembly as it appears in Appendix II and decided to revert to the matter at its next meeting in the light of further information.

4. In the context of its operation as European Observatory of Reservations to International Treaties, the CAHDI considered a list of outstanding declarations and reservations to international treaties and several delegations advised the Committee about the follow-up they envisaged to give some of the reservations and declarations considered. In the context of this activity, the CAHDI also considered reservations to international treaties applicable to the fight against terrorism in accordance with the decision of the Committee of Ministers of 21 September 2001 (CM/Del/Dec (2001) 765 bis, Item 2.1).

5. The CAHDI considered the implementation of the Pilot-Project on State practice regarding State immunities and took note that a preliminary draft analytical report, elaborated by three Research Institutes, will be submitted to it at the next meeting. Moreover, it invited delegation to provide any complementary information as soon as possible.

6. The CAHDI considered the work of the 55th session of the International Law Commission (ILC) and the preparation of the forthcoming session of the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

7. The CAHDI considered developments concerning the International Criminal Court (ICC). In this context, Mr Walter Schwimmer, Secretary General of the Council of Europe made a statement reproduced in Appendix III. Further to that, the CAHDI had an exchange of views with Mr Philippe KIRSCH, President of the ICC whose statement is reproduced in Appendix V of document CAHDI (2003) 14 prov. Finally, the CAHDI also considered the conclusions of the third Multilateral Consultation on the Implications for Council of Europe member States of the Ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

8. The CAHDI also had an exchange of views with Mr Jean-Paul Costa, Vice-Chair of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on recent developments in the ECHR.

9. The CADHI considered developments concerning the implementation of international instruments protecting the victims of armed conflicts, and those concerning the implementation and the functioning of the Tribunals established by UN Security Council Resolutions 927 (1993) and 955 (1994).

10. The Secretariat informed the members of the CAHDI about developments concerning the work undertaken by the Council of Europe in the field of the fight against terrorism.

11. The CAHDI re-elected Ambassador Michel (Switzerland) and elected Mrs Dascalopoulou-Livada (Greece) respectively Chair and Vice-Chair for one year.

12. The CAHDI considered the requests for observer status of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Subject to approval by the Committee of Ministers, the CAHDI agreed to admit the ICRC as observer to the CAHDI for the whole duration of the Committee and decided to pursue consideration of the CERN's request at its next meeting.

13. The CAHDI decided to hold its next meeting in Strasbourg, from 18 to 19 March 2004 and adopted the preliminary draft agenda as it appears in Appendix IV.