ABSTRACT

The Vienna Convention contains its own procedures for settlement of disputes arising, inter alia, from claims of a unilateral right to terminate or suspend treaties. The International Law Commission, the Vienna Conference on the Law of Treaties refrained in most cases from indicating whether a particular provision was regarded as a codification of existing law or as a development of the law. In the Namibia case, the International Court of Justice was requested by the United Nations Security Council to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences for states of the continued presence of South Africain Namibia. The Court produces no evidence to support its allegation that a general principle of law establishes "a right of termination on account of breach". In a legal sense, the distinction between "a right to terminate" and "a right to invoke as a ground for termination" is not entirely dependent upon the availability of a forum with compulsory jurisdiction.