ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the direct and indirect role of the UN’s principal organs in the codification and progressive development of international law, as well as the evolution and flaws of this process. Next to giving consideration to the contribution of the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as, briefly, of the Economic and Social Council, in the field, the author addresses the role of the International Law Commission (ILC). Special attention is given to the pendulum shifting approaches taken by the ILC over the years between “conventional” and “soft law” forms of codification and progressive development of international law. The chapter also examines the contributions of the International Court of Justice and other international judicial bodies, including the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court, to the interpretation and development of international law. The analysis is based on the author’s assumption that knowing the international law-making process within the United Nations is the key to making considered decisions in the process going forward. Reflecting on the conventional and soft law approaches to international law-making, the author also offers policy concerns and emphasizes how the legal methodologies adopted are inextricably linked to the underlying social processes at any given point in time. On a long-term basis, the author’s view is that the two techniques may converge to become an integrated component of international law-making. Inasmuch as the UN Member States are the driving forces behind the codification, the increasing societal inhomogeneity in the international community may weaken the legal system. The final section pulls the string of the contribution focusing on policy aspects of the comparative analysis between conventional and non-conventional forms of codification of international law. The chapter ends with a call to revive confidence in the common language dimension of international law which has allowed for international dialogue and the reshaping of the rules of the game during the Cold War and decolonisation, as a prerequisite for effectively engaging into an integrated methodology for international law-making at a time of new global challenges.
