Top UN legal officer says some States are contemptuous of international law

The impressive body of international law that United Nations Member States have developed can be handed down to coming generations, but some governments are trying to belittle international efforts, the UN Legal Counsel said today on the eve of his departure from the job.

"The contribution to the body of international law of the past 10 years has been remarkable," Under-Secretary-General Hans Corell - who has said he will leave the UN in early March and return to his native Sweden - told a gathering of diplomats, UN staff and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the UN complex in Vienna, Austria.

Landmark events include the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1994, the establishment of the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, the introduction of new aspects of international commercial law and the increased focus on treaty law, he said. One of the most significant developments was the establishment of the International Criminal Court.

Sometimes international law is violated because of a lack of resources, "but all too often violations are intentional and committed with contempt," he observed.

"Today there is a threat to our common endeavour of a different kind: the attempts by some to belittle our efforts at the international level," Mr. Corell said. "There are those who even maintain that international law does not exist - unless it suits their interest to invoke it in a particular situation."

If these opinions are not vigorously rebutted, they risk damaging all that the UN stands for, said Mr. Corell, who has served 10 years as the world body's top legal official.

To suggest that international law does not exist or is a threat to democracy "is an insult to all the many, past and present, who have contributed to the development of a rule-based international society," he said.

Taking a broad view, the Under-Secretary-General found cause for optimism. "With the founding of the United Nations, the course for the rule of law among nations was set," he pointed out. "And if we stay this course, the prospects are favourable."