The International Law Commission's draft articles on international watercourses: an overview and commentary

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1996

Abstract

An important event for the field of international environmental law occurred in the fall of 1996 when the United Nations General Assembly (GA) convened a Working Group of the Whole to draw up a framework convention on the law of the non-navigational uses of international watercourses. Ths basis of this work was the 33 draft articles on the subject, together with a resolution on confined transboundary groundwater, adopted in 1994 by the International Law Commission (ILC or the Commission) of the United Nations. The draft articles as finally approved are similar in most respects to those the ILC adopted on first reading in 1991. However, several important changes were made. These modifications, together with the resolution on confined groundwater, enhance the ILC's contribution to the law in this field. This article summarizes the background to the draft articles (the draft). It then provides a general overview of the drafts' provisions, indicating the principal changes made to the articles adopted in 1991.

Publication Title

Review of European Community and International Environmental Law

ISSN

0962-8797

Volume

5

Issue

2

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-9388.1996.tb00256.x

First Page

89

Last Page

96

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